How to Keep Fruits & Vegetables Fresh for Longer?
In this Blog, we will discuss some of the intelligent and practical ways of storing
different food items in the kitchen so that they can stay naturally fresh and flavourful
for longer. If you have a small fridge or you find organizing your fridge problematic,
this video shall be helpful. So without any further delay, let’s get started.
Surprisingly, there are some food items which need not be kept in the fridge. This one can be a gamechanger not only for someone who has a small fridge but also if you wish to get the flavor back into your food.
First are the spices
How often do we open a packet of the spice and toss it in the refrigerator? The number one enemy of spices is humidity which not only changes their texture but also robs their flavor. Spices are not meant to be kept in the fridge.
They will serve you the best if kept in the cupboard in an airtight
container where the environment is dark and dry. Airtight is important if you want them to stay
fresh for at least 6 months.
Pickles and sauces, since they have natural preservatives in them
remain the most flavourful when kept out of the fridge.
Then many people tend to keep nuts and seeds in the fridge. It’s unnecessary. Air is the number one enemy of any dry fruit's shelf life. The solution is to keep them in airtight containers where they will easily serve you for a year. If you tend to store the nuts in non-airtight containers in the fridge or elsewhere you are asking for their overall texture and flavour to be ruined.
Oils like that of mustard, sesame, coconut, peanut and even ghee need not be kept in the fridge. They are better kept in a dark and dry place. Oils being reactive stay best when kept in glass bottles or containers rather than in plastic or metal containers. In fact, ayurvedic scriptures suggest that ghee if properly stored in airtight glass, ceramic or mud containers gets more medicinal with time. Then potatoes, onions and garlic which are on top of the grocery list of most people prefer room temperature. Cold temperature breaks down the starches in potatoes, making them unpleasantly sweet. The humidity of the refrigerator makes onions mouldy and mushy. Garlic can’t stand cold temperatures either.
To retain their powerful flavour, keep them in a well-ventilated place outside the fridge.
Citrus fruits like lemons and oranges remain fresh and juicy for longer if kept outside the fridge.
In fact, ask your grandmother and she will tell you that keeping the lemons wrapped in newspaper
or any paper bag helps preserve them for longer. She would also strictly suggest you to keep ginger
out of the fridge. That’s the place it gets mouldy. Outside, with time ginger might get
dry but doesn’t lose its flavour and medicinal properties.
Melons like watermelon and muskmelon are also pretty sturdy and can easily remain fresh for a long time without refrigeration. Of course, they taste best when a bit cool. So, you can keep them in the fridge 1 hour before eating or opt for the old ways where there used to be soaked in water before eating.
Even mangoes are recommended to be soaked in water before hopping on. Cucumbers rot faster in the cold. It’s better to keep them out. Eggplants can’t stand cold either causing them to become soft very quickly.
Keeping bread in the fridge is also not the best idea because, at lower temperatures,
water evaporates significantly faster and so the bread will become dry and brittle.
Bread is best kept in a firmly closed box or simply tie it tightly with a rubber band.
Next, let’s talk about the food items which are better kept in the fridge.
Most of us keep milk and milk products at the side door of the fridge but this isn’t a great
place to store them. As the door gets frequently opened, it is prone to temperature fluctuations
which are not ideal for the shelf life of milk and milk products like butter, curd and paneer.
They stay better if kept at the back side of the fridge shelf which is relatively cooler.
The leafy greens will also serve you for longer if kept in the fridge. However, they rot faster
in humid conditions of the fridge. So, to increase their shelf life roughly cut their stems off and
store them either in paper bags or keep them in an airtight container with tissue paper. Cutting the
stems slows their ageing and tissue paper helps them stay dry.
Similarly, to keep chillies fresh
for longer, remove their buds, wrap them in tissue paper and store them in an airtight container.
Talking tomatoes, if they are not fully ripened which means they are still yellowish, are better
kept outside the fridge. However, if they are completely red and juicy, to prolong their shelf
life refrigeration is better. Generally speaking, other vegetables like the gourd family, capsicum,
cauliflower, carrots, cabbage and beetroot will remain fresher for longer when refrigerated.
There are some foods that seek your special attention. Bananas are one of them. They naturally
emit a high amount of ethylene gas which is why if any other fruit or vegetable is kept alongside it,
it ripens faster. So, as a thumb rule, keep bananas separate. Bananas ripen the fastest
if not kept open. Bananas will serve you for longer if hanged. Investing in a banana hanger
is a wise decision. Apples are another example of high ethylene emitting food. Keep them separate
outside the fridge.
One should be careful with mushrooms. If washed and placed on the counter,
they will rot faster. It’s best that they stay in their plastic packaging in the fridge,
and be washed with hot water only before cooking. On the flipside, carrots will
remain crispier for longer if stored in water. There are certain food items that love darkness.
Apart from the already discussed foods like oils, potatoes, onions and garlic, tea, coffee and honey
have an aversion for light. All these begin to lose their flavour and medicinal properties when
exposed to light.
Tea, coffee and honey also tend to absorb flavours from the environment.
So, they are best kept in airtight containers in the kitchen cupboards. Honey is quite reactive,
so it will stay the best if stored in a glass jar. Opaque containers are better for tea and coffee.
Before we wrap up let’s quickly run through a few golden rules of food storage. Foremost,
it is recommended to avoid low-grade plastic polybags for food storage as they don’t let the
ethylene gas to escape rotting the food faster. Investing in breathable cotton or jute mesh bags
will naturally enhance the shelf life of most fruits and vegetables. Second, don’t overdepend
on the fridge. It’s a facility that comes at a cost. So buy fresh whenever possible.
So, these were some of the easy and practical ways to keep your food fresher for longer. Of course,
the above points are more relevant in the hot weather as one can strive to completely avoid
fridge in the winter season. For your convenience, I have also attached a PDF of the same
which you can download and stick somewhere in the kitchen. If this blog was helpful
then please do give it a big thumbs up.
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