My kitchen is the heart of my home. My friends all like to hang out in there instead of in my more spacious living room.
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My kitchen is the heart of my home. My friends all like to hang out in there instead of in my more spacious living room.
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Like most people, I'm heavily reliant on the fridge. I can't imagine being without it. On those rare occasions when it breaks down, I'm completely lost, and the few times I've been camping I've learned the hard way that preserving food isn't so easy without one. It may seem strange, but this useful appliance for preventing the wastage of food can sometimes be the cause of even more waste. Things go off over time, even in the best of fridges. Anonymous jars and packets lurk at the back, counting the days until their use-by date. I've always known there are rules and guidelines to preserving food in the fridge, but they seemed too complicated, and for a long time I simply didn't want to be bothered with them. A few days ago I found a slimy old iceberg lettuce at the bottom of my veg drawer. That's it, I thought, and finally decided to get my act together. I cleaned out the fridge and put everything back according to the rules. How cold is cold?The fridge should be cold enough to prevent food from rotting, but at the same time temperatures shouldn't be low enough to freeze. The best advice is to keep the temperature between 1C/33.8F and 4C/39.2F Everything in its placeWhenever my fridge gets full, I tend to slot the new stuff into whatever gaps are left between the old stuff. My juggling of bottles and jars is all about trying to find space, and the resulting chaos flies in the face of rules designed to prevent cross-contamination. Here's a quick, easy guide to where to store things in the fridge
Not Everything Goes In the Fridge! Although the temptation is to stick everything in the fridge, there are some things that shouldn't go in there. Here Are the Top 12 No-Fridge FoodsOils Most oils turn solid in a cold environment. If this happens to you, don't worry – it's enough to leave it at room temperature and it'll soon turn back into a liquid. (Hint: if you'd like to know if your extra virgin olive oil is good quality, put half a glass of it in the fridge. The more solid it goes, the better the quality!) Tomatoes, onions and potatoes Not all vegetables like it cold. Tomatoes, for example. Cold temperatures give a tomato an unpleasant mushy texture. Likewise onions, which go mushy and mouldy if stored for too long. Sliced onions should be wrapped in clingfilm to stop the cut surfaces drying up, but even then this won't prevent the onion smell spreading to everything else in the fridge. As for potatoes, it's starch that gives this beloved tuber its familiar texture, but low temperatures break this down. The result is gritty potatoes, which don't taste good no matter what recipe you're using. Garlic Don't be fooled by it's normal appearance – only when you slice it will you discover that garlic at low temperatures becomes mouldy and rubbery. Fresh herbs They absorb smells and afterwards it's impossible to regain their original flavour. If you have to keep them in the fridge, the best advice is to keep them in a sealed container or wrap them in clingfilm. Bananas yes, bananas no Low temperatures slow down the ripening process, so putting green bananas in the fridge means they will stay green for a longer time. Ripe bananas, on the other hand, are OK to store in the fridge. Don't be put off by the horrible brown or black colour of the skin, the fruit inside will remain perfect. Melon Researchers advise keeping a whole melon at room temperature. This helps to keep up its levels of antioxidant. Once sliced, however, it's best kept in the fridge. Avocado If you're a guacamole fan and you just can't wait for your avocado to reach just the right stage of ripeness, don't put it in the fridge. Like bananas, low temperatures slow the ripening process. Honey Honey is one of our most ancient preserving ingredients. Storing honey in the fridge increases the speed of crystallization, turning runny honey into stiff, impossible-to-spread dough. Coffee You should never store coffee, either beans or ground, in the fridge. Coffee acts like a smell sponge, absorbing any lingering aromas, which ruins its flavour. (Hint: if you've got a smelly fridge, put a tablespoon of ground coffee on a small plate and leave it at the back. A day or so later and the smell has gone away!) Bread While you can freeze a loaf and then thaw it later to preserve the fresh-baked crispness, storing bread in the fridge makes it tough and chewy and it'll go stale all the sooner. If you have leftover sandwiches, on the other hand, these are OK to put in the fridge. It may seem silly to worry about the occasional wasted potato, but it's been worked out that in 2016, £13bn worth of food was wasted in the UK alone. Taking the time and trouble to store food correctly helps save the environment, AND your wallet. Why not give it a go?
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AuthorI love cooking, and when it comes to quality I'm quite fussy. Archives
February 2018
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