Washing and Storing Your Fruits and Vegetables

By Denise Balkissoon

Everyone’s trying to get more fresh fruits and vegetables into their diet, but it’s difficult when everything seems to spoil so fast. We’re lucky we have such an abundance of produce from around the world available to us, but it does make it difficult to know how to care for everything properly. This cheat sheet will help you figure out the best ways of washing and storing your leafy, colourful bounty, so that all those vitamins go into your body, and not your trashcan.

Fridge vs. Counter
One of the trickiest things to figure out is which fruits and veggies should be kept in the refrigerator, and which are better stored at room temperature.

It’s important not to put under ripe produce into the fridge too quickly—many will never ripen in the cold, controlled air, losing flavour, texture and occasionally some health benefits as well (the antioxidants in unripe tomatoes are destroyed by the refrigerator).

Most fruit should be kept on the counter, out of direct sunlight, until ripe, then transferred to the fridge for longevity. This doesn’t go for very delicate fruits, such as berries: these are best refrigerated from the very beginning, in a vented container. Most veggies can go right into the fridge. But don’t chill potatoes, garlic, onions and squash, which can change colour or develop a hard, inedible core if stored too cold. Keep these in a dark, cool space, inside a cupboard, but well-ventilated. Anything that’s been cut open needs to be covered, sealed, and kept inside the fridge.

Apple Acceleration
If you’d like a piece of produce to ripen faster, pop it into a perforated paper bag with a whole ripe apple, and store it at room temperature for a day or two. The apple produces ethylene gas (although not enough if it’s a Fuji or a Granny Smith) that speeds up the ripening process.

Inside the Fridge
Fruits and vegetable should be separated so that fruit-produced ethylene doesn’t encourage rotten vegetables. Most fruits can be left unwrapped, again excepting fragile items, such as peaches and berries. Sealed plastic bags keep vegetables crisp longer—leaves such as spinach and lettuce will keep longer if wrapped first in dry paper towel, which absorbs moisture. Unless you’ll be using your root vegetables within three days, trim the leafy tops so they don’t leach moisture from the roots.

Clean-Up Job
It’s best to leave most of your produce unwashed until you’re ready to use it—water usually speeds up the spoiling process. There are differing opinions as to what’s best to use in washing up; some say that water alone isn’t enough to remove waxes and soil, but others opine that detergents and soaps are themselves dangerous and inedible. Your best choice is probably a commercial fruit and vegetable wash, most of which are formulated to removed some surface microbes and pesticides, while being gentle on the digestive tract. Wash your hands before the process.

Lettuce, kale, bok choy and anything remotely leafy must be first taken apart, immersed in a sink of water and then rinsed, one leaf at a time, to completely eliminate the chance of an unpleasant mouthful of sand. Even if you aren’t using the rind of a melon or citrus fruit, still wash it before peeling, since surface dirt can make it onto the fruit and into your belly.

The Herbal Exception
Some herbs can be pre-washed, which makes them simpler to use at dinner time. Large-leaved herbs such as basil and parsley can be washed and plucked, then refrigerated in a plastic bag with a dry paper towel. All herbs will last longer if you stand them on end in a glass or mug of cold water, covered with a plastic bag. This works for asparagus, too: trim an inch or so off the bottom, and then stand the fresh ends in a shallow dish of fresh water.

When to Toss
It’s true that one bad apple spoils the bunch—so make sure to discard any moldy or spoiled produce before the rest of the batch goes off, too. An hour-long ice water bath can occasionally save droopy carrots or wilting greens, but anything slimy is absolutely done for.