Greens question

[obsessed]

I picked some collards and some lettuce and put it in the fridge. I got busy with the kids and couldn't clean them right away. the next day they were all wilty. So how do I prevent the wiltyness?

 

[Greenthumb18]

I would wash it well, pat dry. Then put it in a ziplock type bag. You must keep it from the air, as the fridge tends to remove the moisture unless you keep it in an air tight bag. See if that works.

Hope this helps

 

[patandchickens]

I don't normally store lettuce (I usually pick only as many leaves as I need) but when I mis-estimate, it keeps well for me for at least a day and a half if I:

1) wash and salad-spinner it (you could pat dry with towels)
2) roll up in a single layer in very slightly damp tea-towel or paper towels
3) put the damp roll of towels-with-greens-rolled-up-inside in a plastic bag in fridge, but do not close the end of the bag.

Collards you could probably just freeze, it might be simpler, since you will presumably be cooking them anyways.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[obsessed]

Thanks for the advice! I didn't think about freezing the collards.

 

[djsdustyattic]

Make sure they are dry and put a paper towel into the bag with them.

 

[Kim_NC]

Use cereal bags. Save them from your breakfast cereals, then store refrigerated veggies and fruits in them. Your produce will last 3 times as long...for example, lettuces and greens at least a week, as crisp as the day you picked them.

Here's why it works...
In the 70s there was a big movement to remove preservatives from breakfast cereals. I mean big...a lot of hoopla (and rightly so) about preservatives in the cereals being bad for children, etc, etc. The cereal industry's answer was to move the preservative into the bags. Those 'green bags' you see advertised are using the same basic technology.

 

[patandchickens]

Use cereal bags. Save them from your breakfast cereals, then store refrigerated veggies and fruits in them. Your produce will last 3 times as long...for example, lettuces and greens at least a week, as crisp as the day you picked them.

Here's why it works...
In the 70s there was a big movement to remove preservatives from breakfast cereals. I mean big...a lot of hoopla (and rightly so) about preservatives in the cereals being bad for children, etc, etc. The cereal industry's answer was to move the preservative into the bags. Those 'green bags' you see advertised are using the same basic technology.

Hm, that's very interesting. Really you're sure it's true? What DO they put in the bags then?

I've used cereal bags for a few years now, for produce and cheese, because they are free and do seem to work well, but had attributed the "working well" to being non-floppy so they allow more air circulation around the food.

Hm.

I will have to do some googling...

Pat

 

[Kim_NC]

Use cereal bags. Save them from your breakfast cereals, then store refrigerated veggies and fruits in them. Your produce will last 3 times as long...for example, lettuces and greens at least a week, as crisp as the day you picked them.

Here's why it works...
In the 70s there was a big movement to remove preservatives from breakfast cereals. I mean big...a lot of hoopla (and rightly so) about preservatives in the cereals being bad for children, etc, etc. The cereal industry's answer was to move the preservative into the bags. Those 'green bags' you see advertised are using the same basic technology.

Hm, that's very interesting. Really you're sure it's true? What DO they put in the bags then?

I've used cereal bags for a few years now, for produce and cheese, because they are free and do seem to work well, but had attributed the "working well" to being non-floppy so they allow more air circulation around the food.

Hm.

I will have to do some googling...

Pat

The most common one is BHT.

Here's an about.com that mentions it:
http://chemistry.about.com/od/foodcookingchemistry/a/bha-bht-preservatives.htm

I first learned about cereal bags several years ago from ladies at my Mother's church (PA) who had worked in school cafeterias...back in the 70s/80s when the cafeteria cooks still cooked instead of being given prepacked and frozen foods to serve. The info was shared with them, and they used the bags extensively to store fresh produce in the cafeteria refrigerators.

 

[hoodat]

It's wilting because it's losing water. Wrap the ends of the leaves in a wet paper towel held on with a rubber band. The leaves will take up moisture from the wet paper towels.

 

[boggybranch]

Last year, early spring, I worked with a produce farmer. We would gather an order for greens in the afternoon, bundle them, wet em down real good and cover them with a blanket (which we wet down, also). The next morning, we would load them up, wet em down, cover with the wet blanket and deliver. They looked like they had JUST been gathered.

I know that at the local grocery stores around here, they will take wilted greens to "the back", rinse them in cold water, stick in the cooler for a short period and reshelve. They look fresh as ever.