Prolonging Your Produce

How many times have we set something on a shelf in the fridge or placed it inside the crisper, only to come back not even two days later to find it has gone bad? Thankfully, prolonging the life of your organic produce is not as hard as you’d think. It all starts from the moment it enters your home.

The cleaner your produce is before it enters your fridge, the longer it will last. As a side note, the cleaner your fridge is, the longer your food will last as well. Gently wash and dry all produce before storing it, even those with protective skins on them like oranges and bananas.

 I recommend using a solution of 3 parts water to 1 part vinegar, the vinegar works as an anti-bacterial and keeps the produce from breaking down as quickly. For an even more complete clean, try adding a tablespoon of baking soda and a squeeze or two of lemon juice.

The baking soda and vinegar will react together, helping to actively clean the produce by forming bubbles of hydrogen dioxide. The lemon acts as an astringent, helping to close the pores of the exposed plant tissue and prevent access to invading bacteria.

Once washed, spread your produce on a flat surface and separate all your leafy greens from everything else. Interesting fact, if you put spinach or kale in the same bin as apples or peaches, the greens will become yellow and limp within a day or two.

The reason for this is differences in production and reactions to Ethylene gas. By keeping your leafy vegetables separate, you are actually prolonging their life in your fridge.

On to storage! Keep the locations that you store you produce dry. Some people prefer to wrap each leafy vegetable in paper towels until they are ready to be used. This is a good method and helps to absorb the water, keep the leaves cooler, while still letting them breathe.

Another greener alternative is to invest in some new produce dedicated dishtowels. Wash the dishtowels in the same vinegar/baking soda/lemon solution as I mentioned earlier, rinse well and let them air dry.

Line the bottom of each bin with a dish towel and then, once the greens have been placed in the bin, place another dry dishtowel on top. You can layer additional towels as needed. By using dishtowels, you can easily switch out a damp towel for a dry one and lower your paper usage footprint.

If you are interested in finding out the optimum temperatures and storage for a specific type of produce or knowing more about which types of produce are sensitive to Ethylene (like Avocados and Carrots), please check out this produce storage table.

Fruit and Vegetable Storage Tips

We've posted this information before, but we get a lot of questions about how best to store your organic produce to ensure it lasts longer. Organic fruits and vegetables can sometimes go bad a little faster than their chemically-treated equivalents, so storing them correctly becomes all that more important. Correct storage can also ensure that their flavours are at their peak.

Most of the time it is best to store unripe fruit at room temperature but out of direct sunlight until ripe, then refrigerate until ready to use. Store both fruits and vegetables without washing them first and clean them only just before using.

Generally, fruits and vegetables should be stored separately. Fruits are usually high ethylene producers, which means they let off a lot of the natural chemical that cause produce to ripen and, eventually, to rot. Vegetables are usually more sensitive to ethylene, so they will keep better if stored away from fruit.

Here are some other helpful storage tips:

Apples: Remove any bruised or soft apples promptly – one bad apple really can spoil the bunch. Store away from onions and garlic, as apples will readily absorb their odours. Also store away from potatoes, as they will spoil each other more quickly.

Apricots: Store at room temperature until ripe. Once ripened, store in the refrigerator.

Avocados: Store unripe avocados at room temperature out of direct sunlight. To hasten the ripening of green avocados, close them in a paper bag with a ripe tomato or apple. This takes advantage of ethylene to trigger ripening, so check the avocado every day. Once ripe, avocados can be moved to the refrigerator, where they will last up to a week, depending on how ripe they are when refrigerated. Once cut, sprinkle the exposed surface with lemon juice, lime juice, or white vinegar, and store in an airtight container. Use within two days.

Bananas: Bananas also should not be refrigerated, as they will not ripen correctly if they get too cold. The paper bag trick that works with avocados can also be used to speed up the ripening of bananas.

Beets: If beets arrive with their greens still attached, cut the greens off and store them separately, preferably in the crisper section of the fridge. Eat greens within a few days; beets will last much longer, if separated from their greens.

Eggplant: Eggplants are easily damaged by severe cold, so try storing them in the refrigerator door instead of the body of the fridge.

Garlic: Store in a dark, cool, dry place with lots of ventilation; stored correctly, garlic can last from several weeks up to one year. Ideally, however, use fresh garlic within a few weeks and do not refrigerate unless the garlic has been peeled or chopped.

Potatoes: Potatoes should be kept in a cool, dark place in a paper bag or other breathable container (not in a plastic bag). They shouldn't be refrigerated, as that will turn the starch into sugars and make them too sweet. Don't wash them until it is time to cook them. Don't store them with onions, as the ethylene put off by onions can cause potatoes to sprout and even spoil. Remove any shriveled, soft, or sprouted potatoes promptly.

Tomatoes: Refrigerating tomatoes will decrease their flavour. Store whole ripe tomatoes at a cool room temperature – away from heat sources - in a breathable container. Store cut tomatoes in the refrigerator and use soon.