How to give your fruit and vegetables a fresh look?
You forgot your salad, carrots, pears or oranges somewhere in your kitchen or in the fridge? Don’t panic! Damaged or tired produce are not condemned to end their life as trash. Our small and bigger tricks to keep fruits and vegetables longer.
Replenish soft vegetables
When vegetables have softened, it is possible to bring back from freshness thanks to a basic and affordable trick: a large bowl of cold water - with some ice if you have any. Soak them for a few minutes and more often than not, you’ll notice they have regained some vitality. It works with chicory, green beans, radish, broccoli… Not with salad though! It likes to be in the water but not iced right away: when it is all soft, better put them in warm water (not boiling!) first, then very cold water. Of course, this would not work with fruits and vegetables that are already rotten: once one is spoiled, you better throw it away quickly so as not to contaminate its neighbours.
Get cookin’
Some fruits and vegetables are better kept at room temperature. That way their taste is better than when kept in the fridge. The issue is that they tend to ripen faster and often soften. For instance, tomatoes should be kept at room temperature to keep their sweet flavour but then you won’t keep them as long. The solution is to cook them as soon as you notice them softening. They are great in a sauce, a coulis or even in a ratatouille or tians with other seasonal vegetables (zucchini, eggplants, peppers, onions…). A bit of advice: for a candied result, cook them slowly on low heat. Generally, recipes requiring heat are ideal to recycle tired fruits and vegetables: soups, stir fries, sauces, jams… Wash them, remove the damaged parts if necessary and here you go! Of course, any vegetables that are already cut should be kept in the fridge and eaten shortly thereafter.
Boost conservation
Finally, to avoid always having ripe produce, you should eat them quickly or freeze them before it’s too late (you can even freeze fruits!), or simply adopt the right conservation practices. Some are logical: keep in a place where the temperature is neither too high nor too low; put some absorbing paper at the bottom of the vegetable tray to regulate humidity; put small fruits on top of bigger ones in the fruit basket… Others are lesser known. For instance, bananas are better kept with other bananas; one or two apples in the potato bag will make them last longer by producing a gas called ethylene; avocados can be frozen in freezing bags or plastic containers after being turned into a mash with some lemon juice. Cherry on top: preserving fruits and vegetables in the right way is great to avoid food waste!