SIMPLE RULES FOR STORING
FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
When you've returned home after
selecting
the season's finest bounty there's no point keeping it in sub-optimal
conditions only to throw it into a fridge-clearing soup or even worse, the bin.
Follow a few simple rules, keep that produce in tip-top condition and enjoy
crispy carrots and springy silver beet all week.
Always store
fruit and vegetables separately, Fruit emits much more ethylene than vegetables
and vegetables are much more sensitive to ethylene than fruit, so, always store
fruit and vegetables in separate drawers. Otherwise you'll understand why they say
one bad apple will spoil the whole barrel. Divide all fruit and vegetable into
those that like the cold and those that don't.
Fruit
Out of the fridge: If a fruit grew in the tropics then you can happily assume
it won't like the cold. Bananas, pineapples, mangoes, melons, lychees,
pomegranates, coconuts, mangos teen, guava and papaya prefer the fruit bowl.
Watermelon, however, prefers to be alone; it's highly sensitive to ethylene and
will deteriorate much faster in company. Grapes are similarly sensitive.
In
the fridge: Fruits which prefer the cold or will
last a decent time if kept in the fridge include apples, pears, berries, grapes
and oranges. Strangely, although you can freeze every other variety of orange,
if you freeze a navel orange it will turn bitter. Stone fruits are a particular lot and if
you refrigerate them before they are ripe they will turn mealy and lose
flavour. However, once they are ripe you can keep them in the crisper for a
couple of days. Just remember to always bring fruit to room temperature for
eating so you get the best flavour.
Vegetables
Out of the fridge: Potatoes
store best in dirt, it's a natural preservative, instead of digging storage
mounds outside like it's the olden days just be happy to buy unwashed potatoes
and store them dirty somewhere very dark. Onions like somewhere dark with
good air circulation, whole pumpkins and sweet potatoes are also best stored
this way.
In the fridge: All
the hardy greens like silver beet and kale like a bit of humidity to keep them
fresh and love to be wrapped in a damp cloth in the crisper. Delicate greens
like go through the roof, however, will turn to mush at the first sign of water,
make sure these ones are stored wrapped in a dry cloth in the fridge. Although
root vegetable look pretty with their green leaves make sure you remove the
tops, otherwise the leaves will continue to grow causing the root to soften and
lose flavor
POSTED BY PASCAL J BAPRM 47634
