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Local and seasonal-minded chef Nathan Lyon shares a few insider tips on how to store some of your fresh fruit and vegetables to make them go the distance, saving you money in the process.
- Don’t put tomatoes in the refrigerator. “That’s the worst thing you can do,” Lyon says. “That’s disrespecting the integrity of the tomato.” Keep them on the counter instead.
- Once ripe, leave a few pieces of stone fruit, such as peaches and nectarines, on the counter for easy access and store the rest of them in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator. Pull them out of the fridge and bring to room temperature just before you’re ready to eat them.
- “My strawberries last more than two weeks, while most people’s only last a few days because they make the mistake of washing them,” Lyon says. Once a strawberry starts to break down, the sugar acts as a catalyst for growing mold. You want to actually pull moisture away from the strawberries. Place all berries in a resealable container lined with a few dry paper towels, spreading out the berries and then covering them with another dry paper towel. Then store the container closed in the fridge. If one berry starts to break down, the liquid is absorbed by the paper towels.
- Keep oranges in the refrigerator. “If you juiced oranges, you wouldn’t leave that juice on the counter. You would put the orange juice in the refrigerator, and that’s why I store oranges in the refrigerator.”
- Beets, with greens intact, and spinach should be stored in the refrigerator in a sealed plastic bag with a dry paper towel for about 10 days.
- Apples will last longer if kept in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. Lyon adds, “Apples are a fall fruit. When you go to the grocery store, most of the apples that you’re buying are most likely last year’s crop since apples can be stored up to 15 months. They’re kept just above freezing with all of the ethylene gas filtered out, which is the precursor for ripening.”
Bonus web recipe: Cook up Nathan Lyon’s French Green Lentils.
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