The usual practice is to throw foods and fruits into the fridge in a bid to make them last longer. But by doing that, you end up destroying them because some foods lose their taste and texture, and sometimes blacken when refrigerated?
These tips, culled from DailyMail’s FEMAIL, shows how best to store some of these foods:
TOMATOES
Ever bitten in to a tomato and found it doesn’t taste all that nice? Chances are you’ve been keeping it in the fridge.
Tomatoes lose all of their flavour in the fridge, while the cold air stops the ripening process.
The temperature also alters the texture of the tomato, leaving the fruit soft and pitted on the surface.
Keep your cherry tomatoes on the counter in your kitchen, and enjoy them at their best.
BASIL
While many people are guilty of keeping their basil in the side compartments of the fridge, research shows that this is actually not good for it.
Refrigerating basil will not only make it wilt faster; it will also absorb all of the other smells around it.
If you want to store the herb in the best way possible, sit it inside a cup of fresh water, like flowers.
POTATOES
Keeping a potato in the fridge turns its starch into sugar more quickly, so then you’ll be left with a sweet, gritty potato when cooked.
Instead, they do best in a paper bag in a cool place like a pantry.
BREAD
Many people think keeping bread in the fridge is a shortcut to making it last longer while staying fresh.
But, in fact, the cool temperature causes the starch to crystalise far more rapidly than it would at room temperature, speeding up the process that makes bread hard and stale.
While freezing bread really does delay it going off, bread fares best when left out of the fridge.
COFFEE
Want coffee that’s fresh, strong and filled with flavour? Avoid the fridge like the plague.
Coffee actually loses its flavour inside the refrigerator, taking on some of the odours of other foods.
Keep it in a cool, dark place like a cupboard, and if you have large quantities put it in your freezer.
OPEN CANS
According to the National Health Service in Britain, you should never put an open can into the fridge.
Doing so could cause metals from the can to leach into the food.
Transfer the leftover contents of your baked beans, Diet Coke or lentils to a glass or storage container. It will keep your things fresher and healthier.
BANANAS
Bananas are a tropical fruit, so they work best in warm temperatures.
Cold temperatures interrupt their ripening process for good, so many say that green bananas refrigerated means green bananas forever.
As well as this, when refrigerated, bananas’ skins will turn black. Invest in a fruit bowl if you’re partial to the yellow fruit. They don’t just look pretty.
WATERMELONS
Last but not least, a study from the US Department of Agriculture found that watermelons kept at room temperature had significantly more antioxidants than melons stored in the fridge.
Researchers also say that the fruit last longer outside of the fridge than they do inside.
They might taste nicer juicy and cold having been in the fridge for a few days, but they’ll be better for you having been in the fruit bowl.
