Keep Fruits and Vegetables Fresher Longer

 Storage Hacks to Keep Fruits and Vegetables Fresher Longer

I always feel guilty throwing out leftovers that have been sitting in the fridge, especially if it's a meal we all enjoyed. But nothing makes me feel worse in the kitchen than throwing out spoiled fresh produce in my fridge. Whether it's pushed to the back of the fridge or we can't eat it before it goes bad, I always feel terrible about tossing produce in the compost pile.

But there are things you can do to slow down the process that leads to food spoilage. Depending on the fruit or vegetable, there may be better ways to store it so it lasts longer. It is also essential to know how ethylene affects each type of produce. Read Cheryl's piece on what foods not to store together; It was a real eye-opener. To help you reduce food waste in your kitchen, we've put together some useful hacks to keep some popular vegetables and fruits fresher for longer.

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1. Bananas

Oh, bananas, it always starts in a small place and before you know it, you're making banana bread because they're too far to peel and eat.

Cover your banana stems in foil to slow down the ripening process. Ethylene is released from the stems, and sealing them will give your bananas a few extra days to start looking good. In our house, bananas that have been on the counter for more than three days are peeled and put in a bag in the freezer. These frozen bananas go into our breakfast smoothies so we don't have to worry about wasting them.

2. Tomatoes

For most things, if you want them to last longer, refrigerate them. Keeping things cold helps slow down the enzymes that cause food spoilage.

Except where tomatoes are concerned.

Tomatoes break down quickly when kept in the refrigerator. Enzymes in tomatoes attack the cell wall, leading to soft, crisp tomatoes. Blech! And you can forget the taste.

Tomatoes produce other enzymes that have that wonderful vine-ripe tomato flavor, but when stored below 55 degrees, those enzymes are not produced. For best-tasting tomatoes that last longer, keep them on the counter away from ethylene-producing fruit.

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3. Celery

Celery seemed to get a bad reputation in the 80s as nothing more than diet food. But this fibrous vegetable, with its crunch and built-in scoop for dip and hummus, is the perfect chip substitute. But after a few days in the fridge, it often becomes wilted and soft.

This is easily remedied.

To boost celery vigor, cut off the base and stand the stalks in a jar of cold water. Place everything in the fridge and you'll have crisp celery back in a few hours. To keep your celery crisp once it's revived, wrap it tightly in tin foil in your crisp drawer.

A bonus – letting the celery stalks stand in cold water will help remove bitterness if you find a bunch of celery that hasn't been blanched in the field for too long.

4. Mushrooms

When you buy mushrooms at the grocery store, they come in a small plastic container or a styrofoam tray covered in plastic. Most of us immediately put this container directly in the refrigerator. But if you want your mushrooms to last more than a day or two. That is not the way to go. Despite what most people think, mushrooms don't like to be too wet.

And putting them in plastic-covered containers is a surefire way to have rotting fungi on your hands. Transfer the mushrooms to a paper bag when you get home from the store. Bagging mushrooms will allow them to retain just the right amount of moisture so they don't dry out so wet they rot.

5. Salad greens

I discovered this hack years ago when I got sick of buying boxed salad greens and pitching half the container because the greens were all mushy and rotten. Using my method, I can easily eat two weeks of fresh, crisp salad greens. You can read the whole tutorial here, but the idea is to transfer them from the box they come into a larger container (or containers) before putting them in the fridge. Add a paper towel to absorb excess moisture and you've got very happy spinach.

Those small, tender leaves are very fragile and can easily start rotting when they are boxed from the store and packed in an airtight box. Transferring them to larger containers will save you money and reduce food waste.

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6. Asparagus

Have you ever planned a nice dinner with asparagus on the menu, only to discover at dinner that the asparagus tips are starting to shrivel and the stalks are getting bent? No one wants to eat it, so they go in the trash. To last a few extra days and ensure you have fresh, crisp asparagus, store the stalks in a mason jar an inch or two below the water.

Keep the jar in the fridge until you're ready to cook, and you'll be enjoying butter-braised asparagus with Parmesan curls before you know it.

7. Carrot

Once carrots are harvested, they last for a while. However, they don't always look as attractive or taste great when stored in a plastic bag in your crisper drawer.

For sweet, soft, and crunchy carrots, submerge them in a small bowl of water in the refrigerator. Harder flesh won't be juicy, and you won't have carrots with a dry crusty appearance. The taste is sweet and lasts for a long time. Ethylene makes carrots taste bitter and can often be affected by other items stored in the refrigerator. By storing them in water, you prevent them from absorbing ethylene. Change the water every few days for fresh carrots.

8. Avocados

Avocados are probably one of the most volatile fruits we bring home from the store. One minute they're hard as a rock, the next minute, they're in their prime and need to be thrown away. What do you do if you want to eat half? No matter what ridiculous gadgets you try, it's impossible to keep the other half brown and oxidized.

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