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How to store vegetables
Safe frozen vegetables
When you buy frozen vegetables, put them in a thermal isolating bag and place them in a freezer as soon as possible. The frozen vegetables removed from the freezer will last shorter than fresh produce. Clotted frozen fruit means they have been stored in inappropriate temperatures.
Don’t always store vegetables in the fridge
The cold of the fridge always speeds up the spoiling process in tomatoes, cucumbers and bell peppers. The most optimal temperature for tomatoes is just like in a cellar, between 10-13 Centigrades, for cucumbers – not higher than 7 C. All radical vegetables, like potatoes and also fruits which will last longer, can be stored in a cabinet for a couple of days. Potatoes store well in cellar temperature, about 10 C, but if we can’t provide them with such temperatures, we should buy them fresh. Lettuce is fine in the cool, also radical vegetables like beets, carrots, parsley roots and radish. Tomatoes and bell peppers shouldn’t be stored with lettuce and cucumbers as they will turn yellow quicker when next to each other.
Exposure to oxygen
Generally, food should not be exposed to air – since oxygen accelerates chemical change in food, which leads to its spoiling. It’s worth buying vacuum-packed food. Special air-tight containers can also be used.
Lettuce and carrots like the air
A lack of air is not always profitable. When we store spinach with no access to oxygen, we speed up the spoiling process. Lettuce especially needs the air in order not to start breathing without oxygen. Some vegetables like leeks, parsley, radish, and fennel have the ability to cumulate nitrate, since they need nitrogen to produce proteins. Nitrates are also cumulated in radical vegetables, e.g. carrots and beets, especially the rote. These vegetables need to be sprinkled with water, so they don’t dry out or lose elasticity and should be stored on open or perforated bag, or simply wrapped up in paper.
Time for storing vegetables:
- half a year (temperature 1 Centigrade) – cabbage, celery roots, leeks, radishes, carrots, onions, garlic, beets
- for a couple of weeks (temp. 10-15 C) – Chinese cabbage, cauliflower, zucchini, aubergine, bell peppers, celery
- up to 2 weeks (temp. 10-12 C) – broad bean, long beans, broccoli, cucumbers
- up to 3 days (temp. app.11 C) - tomatoes, fresh herbs, radishes, lettuce, spinach, asparagus
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