Tips for Keeping Fruit and Vegetables Fresh

To cook the tastiest dishes, you need to know how to store your ingredients properly. Learn these handy tips from VN Cooking.

1. Fresh herbs

DO: wrap them in paper towels to absorb moisture and put them in a plastic bag in the fridge's crisper drawer. 

DON'T: refrigerate basil, which is easily damaged by cold; stand it in water on a sunny windowsill instead.

2. Tomatoes

DO: keep cherry and grape tomatoes in their original container in the fridge. 

DON'T: leave ripe tomatoes near vegetables. 

3. Alliums (onions, shallots, garlic)

DO: keep them somewhere warm and dry, such as on the kitchen counter.

DON'T: store them near ripe fruit; they contain strong sulfur compounds that can easily spoil other produce. And don't put them in the fridge, where the humidity makes them rot and sprout roots. 

 4. Watermelon

DO: let watermelon ripen on the kitchen counter for about a week. Refrigerate it for up to a day once you've cut it open. 

DON'T: keep it near other fruit. Watermelon is easily spoiled by ethylene, a substance that makes fruit ripen faster and also go bad sooner. 

5. Mushrooms

DO: put unwashed mushrooms in a paper bag and refrigerate them. Keeping them cool and dry limits bacterial growth, while the paper bag helps keep them from drying out. 

DON'T: wash them before storing.

6. Stone fruit (peaches, plums)

DO: let them ripen on the counter, then move them to the fridge. To make them last longer, remove the pits, simmer the fruit in sugar syrup for a few minutes, let it cool and freeze it in an airtight container.

DON'T: refrigerate them before they are ripe, or they will never ripen. 

7. Grapes

DO: keep them in their original ventilated plastic bag, discard any bruised or damaged grapes, and wrap them in paper towels to absorb excess moisture, which encourages mold.

DON'T: wash them until just before eating, as washing only encourages mold. 

8. Leafy greens

DO: make sure they are dry before storing, as too much moisture makes them spoil quickly. Wrap them in paper towels, put them in a plastic bag and store them in the crisper drawer.

DON'T: keep them near fruit that gives off a lot of ethylene gas, such as tomatoes. 

9. Berries (strawberries, raspberries...)

DO: keep them in their original containers for better ventilation. Remove any crushed or moldy berries, as they speed up spoilage of the rest.

DON'T: wash them before storing – same as grapes.

10. Apples

DO: keep them in a plastic bag in the crisper drawer. Apples puréed with sugar can be frozen, and sliced apples dipped in lemon juice won't brown.

DON'T: keep them near leafy greens, as the ethylene from apples easily spoils the greens. 

 11. Potatoes

DO: keep baking potatoes in a cool, dark place, and smaller varieties in the fridge. 

DON'T: leave baking potatoes in direct sunlight, which triggers the production of a toxin that can be very dangerous. Keep smaller potatoes away from apples and pears. 

12. Asparagus

DO: store it upright in the fridge with a damp paper towel wrapped around the base and a plastic bag loosely over the top.

DON'T: soak the spears in water, as this encourages bacteria and speeds up spoilage.

13. Carrots

DO: remove the leafy tops so the carrots keep longer. Small peeled carrots can go anywhere in the fridge, while large unpeeled carrots are more sensitive to ethylene. 

DON'T: keep large carrots near fruit; after just 1–2 weeks the ethylene from the fruit will make them bitter and almost inedible. 

14. Bananas

DO: keep bananas away from ethylene-sensitive foods such as berries, cucumbers, leafy greens, sweet potatoes and watermelon, so those don't ripen and spoil too quickly. Separate the bananas and wrap each stem end (where most of the ethylene is released, making bananas ripen and spoil faster). 

DON'T: put them in the fridge. The cold stops bananas from ripening and turns them brown.