I know spring is coming the moment that nectarines start showing up in the grocery store produce section. From a wider selection at the grocery store to farmers markets I stay stocked up on berries and seasonal produce and everything else I can get my hands on. The only problem with produce? It tends to go bad if you don’t eat it. So we all need to know how to keep produce fresh.
There isn’t any type of one-size-fits-all approach to keeping your spring produce fresh. Which sucks, because if I could just chuck everything in the fridge and call it a day that’d be great. Keeping your produce fresh longer also helps out on busy days and nights when you need to grab a quick snack or get food on the table fast. Here are the best ways to keep your favorite foods fresh for longer.
No more moldy berries
Berries go moldy fast. Doing a vinegar bath is my favorite method for slowing that annoying process down. It’s simple enough, all you do is add vinegar and cold water into a large bowl, dunk your berries, then rinse and dry. Store them in your fridge and they should last about a week! I do this for all of my berries and grapes too. Conventional advice is to use a 1:8 ratio for vinegar to water, but I usually just glug however much looks right into a bowl and go with that.
Keeping your avocados fresh
Oh, avocados. Not ready, not ready, not ready, then overripe. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Place your unripened avocados next to your bananas on the counter, and watch the magic as they ripen up in a day or maybe 2. Ripe bananas produce a hormone called ethylene, which can cause mature fruits to start ripening. If you aren’t ready to use your avocado when it’s ripe just pop it in the fridge and it should last another 3-4 days.
Juicy peaches and nectarines
This is the time of year when my hands are sticky with nectarine juice about 73% of the time. Peach juice accounts for the other 27%. Since these suckers are usually only available for a short period of time out of the year, you don’t want to let them go bad. Since nectarines and peaches produce ethylene too, keeping them in a bag on the counter should help them ripen up in a day or two. Not ready to eat once they’re ripe? Store them in the fridge for up to 3 days and you’ll be good to go.
Spring and summer bring some of my all-time favorite foods to the table. It took me longer than I’d care to admit to learn how to keep produce fresh, so don’t make the same mistakes I did. Store your produce correctly and get the most out of your seasonal favorites.
