When you buy fresh fruit and vegetables, you want to make sure that they last as long as possible. The last thing anyone wants is for their fresh produce to go bad before you manage to enjoy all that nutrition and delicious flavour. The good news is that there are a few steps you can take in order to maintain the just picked freshness. Here are some tips that you can apply to your daily life.
Keep some foods separate
Not all vegetables and fruit should be kept close together. Even if they look great in that fruit basket, they cause premature perishing if they are too close to one another. Some fresh fruits and vegetables release ethylene as they ripen. This substance can cause other fresh produce to ripen or even over-ripen. In other words, they will cause the rest of your fruit to spoil fast. Foods that produce ethylene include bananas, avocados, mangoes, kiwis, tomatoes, and peaches. Some foods that are particularly sensitive to ethylene include carrots, watermelons, apples, green beans, and lettuce. For this reason, it’s important to keep these foods separate. That said, if you want to help certain foods ripen, you can place them next to foods that release ethylene until they ripen.
You don’t have to refrigerate everything
Contrary to popular believe, not all fresh produce needs to be refrigerated. In fact, the colder temperatures can even be harmful. Tomatoes are often stored in the fridge but they are in fact better off left at room temperature instead.
Unripe and ripe
When waiting for your fruit to ripen, you should leave it out on the worktop or table at room temperature. Once it is ripe, you can refrigerate the fruit to keep it ripe and fresh for longer. Bananas can be refrigerated but this will make to skin turn black. Do not be turned off by this. The fruit is still sweet and delicious inside!
Citrus
Citrus fruits are best kept in a cool and dark place. This ensures that they last longer. If you place them in a mesh bag, you can store them in the fridge too.
Pineapples
There’s a great trick when it comes to pineapples. If you cut off the leafy tops and turn them upside down, they will keep for longer. The sugars inside the fruit are redistributed which helps them last.
Discard spoiled produce
As soon as any fruit or vegetable starts to go bad, it’s good to get rid of it before it causes the rest of the fresh produce to rot. If you can save part of the fruit or vegetable, this is great. However, if it’s not possible, it’s best to toss the entire thing. If you like, you can put rotting produce to good use by starting your very own compost heap.