Tips To Keep Your Produce Fresh Longer!

Does this sound familiar … You go in your fridge for a piece of fruit and boom its rotten. Or you plan a meal with potatoes and they’re sprouting flowers. I just bought those!!! You say. Yep - super annoying right?! This happens to use too - so we decided to do some research to figure out exactly how we should store our fruits and veggies so that they stay fresh and don’t rot right away! Here’s what we found.

Temperature zones in your fridge.

Did you know that your fridge has different temperature zones? No wonder my spinach was frozen the other day! I stored it in the wrong place! Knowing the temperatures in your fridge can help you understand where to store your fruit and vegetables so they don’t go bad or freeze.

The coldest part of your fridge is the top and middle shelves at the back of the fridge. These temps usually can be found as low as 33 degrees. 

The more moderate temps around 37 degrees or higher are found at the front of the fridge from the middle to the bottom shelves.

The humid part of the fridge - the crisper drawers - is where you can control the humidity to help keep your produce from spoiling. A humid environment helps keep produce with a higher water content from shriveling and rotting, but be sure you control the humidity and ensure its not too high otherwise water can build up and speed up the spoiling. Use the vents in each drawer to control the temperature.

Ethylene Gas

This is a type of gas released by some fruits and vegetables that cause produce to ripen faster. The produce that has the highest ethylene content are: apples, bananas (especially ripe ones), avocados, tomatoes, cantaloupe, peaches, pears, plums, nectarines, apricots, papayas, and figs. These types of produce should be stored away from other produce so they don’t spoil.

Where to store what! (information taken from the American Heart Association

Here’s a graph on storing your produce to keep them fresh longer!

Fruit	How To Store
Apples	Store them away from other produce because they produce ethylene gas. You can store them on the counter for a week or in the fridge for a bit longer
Avocado	Ripen on the counter (if you need them ripe faster put them in a paper bag!) then put the fridge once ripe.
Bananas	Keep them on the counter or a banana hanger to ripen
Berries	Store in the fridge in dry covered containers
Cherries and grapes	Keep them in their container and store in the fridge
Citrus fruit	Store them in the crisper drawer or in a mesh bag.
Melons	Store in the fridge either whole or cut up
Stone fruit	Put in a paper bag to ripen on the counter then store in the fridge
Tomatoes	Store at room temp and keep them loose in a bowl away from the sun

Vegetables	How To Store
Broccoli and Cauliflower	Store separately or in a sealed container away from other ethylene producing produce as they’re sensitive.
Celery	Store in fridge and wrap in foil out of a plastic bag
Corn	Store in the fridge inside their husks
Cucumbers	Store in the fridge and wrap in plastic wrap. Store away from other ethylene producing produce.
Eggplant	Store in the fridge up to 7 days
Green beans	Store unwashed in a mesh bag
Leafy greens	Store loosely in the fridge in a mesh bag
Onion family	Store in a cool dry and dark place but away from ethylene producers like potatoes
Mushrooms	Keep unwashed in the fridge
Peppers	Store whole in crisper in low humidity
Root Vegetables	Carrots, beets, radishes can be stored in the fridge but potatoes and winter squashes can be stored in a pantry or cellar in a cool dark place.

Other tips for fresher produce!

*Information taken from American Test Kitchen

Asparagus, Broccoli, Scallion, and Celery: Cut the stems and store in a jar in an inch or two of water and loosely covered with plastic wrap to maintain freshness and taste!

Lettuce and leafy greens: Store leafy greens that come in their original bags in the crisper drawer. For those without packaging, store wrapped in a moist paper towel in a partially open plastic bag

Cucumbers and squashes: Wrap tightly in plastic wrap to help keep them crisp and minimize moisture loss. 

Grapes: Don’t rinse them before eating and leave them on the stems until you’re ready to eat them to avoid spoiling and mold. This will help them last longer in the fridge up to two weeks.

Carrots: Did you know carrots continue to feed their leafy tops in storage, which causes them to lose moisture faster and lose their firmness? Trim your carrot tops and then place them in an open plastic bag. This will help them stay firm for weeks. 

We hope this helps keep your produce fresher longer!