Healthy and safely: How to preserve vegetables and fruits properly?
- Yara Mohamed
- 27 May, 2022
Housewives usually suffer from quick spoiling of vegetables in the refrigerator, which causes confusion about the reasons. Therefore, it is important that each housewife gets educated about the causes of such problems and how to solve each. Chef Najla El-Shershaby said that there are some mistakes that most women make and, consequently lead to having rotten vegetables on the refrigerator’s shelves, as follows: Preservation in bags El Shershaby said that vegetables should not be stored directly in the refrigerator in market bags. Instead, they should be divided so that a section of it would be placed on the refrigerator for the day’s use while the rest should be preserved in a proper way, in food packages in the freezer. In all cases, the storage containers should be sealed properly so that the vegetables do not get wet or spoiled. Overcrowding Overcrowding of vegetables in the refrigerator is one of the main reasons that most of them got rotten as each one should be preserved in a different method. El Shershaby also added that each type of vegetable must be separated to keep it fresh for the longest period of time as each type has a different storage period. It is not preferable to wash vegetables before keeping them in the refrigerator, El Shershaby mentioned. It is better to store them in food containers without washing alongside kitchen towels, to absorb moisture and excess water from them. This way helps keep fruits and vegetables fresh without damage for the longest possible period. Preservation became an urgent matter nowadays, especially after the spread of Covid-19 and Omicron. Hence, as for the medical aspect, it has become urgent to know how to sterilize vegetables and fruits. Walaa Gharib, a nutritionist, recommended following some steps to cleansing fruits and vegetables from germs. “Washing should take place under running water and follow by rubbing well to get rid of dust residues and microbes on the surface”. Gharib added that for extra safety, it’s better to leave vegetables and fruits in vinegar and water for a quarter of an hour, then rub them well with a brush. Gharib mentioned that leafy vegetables such as lettuce may contain small insects inside, and therefore, should be soaked in a mixture, consisting of 2 cups of water and 2 tablespoons of salt and lemon then left for one to five minutes at most. Then they should be soaked in water for 15 minutes, washed under running water, and left to dry. In the case of sensitive fruits whose taste could be affected, such as berries, Gharib said they should be sprinkled with diluted lemon juice, which is a mixture of 2 cups of water and half a cup of lemon, then the berries should be left in pure water for 15 minutes, dried and placed in the refrigerator.
Washing
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