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I've noticed that when you put a bag of potatoes in the fridge, they will still keep far shorter than if you had them in a dedicated potato cellar. Likewise, mo
by kebman 6y ago
I've noticed that when you put a bag of potatoes in the fridge, they will still keep far shorter than if you had them in a dedicated potato cellar. Likewise, most of the old houses around the farmstead I grew up had unheated walk-in pantries next to the entrance. Often vegetables keep for far longer in those pantries than in the fridge. But of course the fridge beats out storing the veggies on the counter every time. Many of those farms also had standalone earthen cellars that served as "fridges" during the summer, often in conjunction with a small brook flowing with cold mountain water, where perishable things such as milk pails could be sunk into during warm summer days. Really wish I could have something like that in the city lol.
- nicoburns 6y agoPotatoes will keep for weeks as long as you keep them dark. They don't need to be particularly cold. Do people really keep potatoes in the fridge?
- brnt 6y agoIf you don't wash em, and ideally get them with a good coat of soil, potatoes can be stored till next summer.
- saiya-jin 6y agothat's how my parents & ancestors kept potatoes, one of staple foods in central/eastern europe - dirty with bits of earth, in non-heated dark room/place. They get the only wash just before cooking. Same for other crop like carrots, onions etc. They lasted from autumn harvest till, well, next autumn. Yes, they were a bit sprouty and wrinkled, but very much eadible.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- marci 6y agoIs there anything about potatoes that makes it obvious that a fridge is not required?
- asdff 6y agoThe fact you can leave a potato out for two weeks and its fine to use?
- marci 6y agoIF you don't have prior knowledge, you then have to either forget to store them in the fridge or make the experiment. And personally, I've had things go bad, and most of the times I just think "I'll try to eat that sooner next time", without really thinking hard about how long I had it.
- Symbiote 6y agoSupermarkets don't keep them in fridges.
- marci 6y agoIn many countries supermarkets don't keep eggs in a fridge, whereas in others they do. Apples can be kept for months in a fridge. Salads don't last long outside of one. Supermarkets don't keep them in fridges (unless they've been processed).
- phonypc 6y agoIn those countries where supermarkets don't refrigerate eggs, they don't need to be refrigerated at home either. Apples can be kept for months outside a fridge. Depending on season and variety, they might be 6 months old before they even get to your supermarket.
- marci 6y agoOnly in places where you have cold seasons, and only during those, unless you have a cellar/basement, or something that can work as a proxy for one, but then you need knowledge about what's best stored where anyway.
- numpad0 6y agoLots of people put every food in the home time-freezing device called fridge, from tropical fruits to potatoes to jar of peanut butter, very few recognize that that's not how things work.
- hutzlibu 6y agoWell, on a general base, the concept that cooling things, prevents degrading is quite true. It just not works for everything, for certain reasons. But if you would have a potato only fridge, with low humidity, that you never open - I think that would work quite well, too.
- volkl48 6y agoPeanut butter absolutely works that way. It lasts longer in the fridge once opened: https://www.nationalpeanutboard.org/wellness/how-long-will-that-peanut-butter-last.htm https://www.nationalpeanutboard.org/wellness/how-long-will-t... Now, most people are likely to use it up before that becomes an issue, but it is a food for which the fridge applies your "time-slowing" mechanism. Also, if you buy the natural kind, it keeps the oil from separating back out once you've mixed it.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- dawnerd 6y agoI regularly have peanut butter thats been unrefrigerated for very long times and haven't noticed anything off about it. The jar I just used was from pre-pandemic (costco size) and it's still fine. I never put peanut putter in the fridge, that's just weird.
- adrianN 6y agoDoes your peanut butter contain ingredients other than peanuts? Because the peanut butter I buy is really just peanuts and it keeps way better in the fridge.
- zikzak 6y agoTemperature can change the starch/sugar balance in the potatoes as well.
- infinite8s 6y agoIn fact, it's recommended to refrigerate potatoes the day before you want to fry them since that triggers a conversion of the starch to sugar.
- omginternets 6y agoIn the US people are super paranoid about food as compared to most of the EU (and probably other places as well). Americans keep eggs, fruit, cured meats and jam in the fridge as well.
- jasonwatkinspdx 6y agoIn the US eggs sold retail are required to be pressure washed. This removes the waxy coating that makes the egg airtight. So in the US eggs absolutely do need to go in the fridge, unless you have your own chickens or such. At room temp they'll spoil within about 2 days. It depends on the fruit but many of them will last longer in the fridge. Same goes for cured meat and jams. Especially with jam you may not eat it often enough to stop it from molding at room temps. I get making fun of stupid American habits is an EU pastime, but this is some pretty dumb stereotyping. There's rational reasons behind what most people are doing, even if it's a little different from the habits where you live.
- omginternets 6y ago>but this is some pretty dumb stereotyping It's hardly stereotyping. By your own admission, its representative of the norm. But your explanation is well-taken. Nevertheless, it speaks to the greater point: people (especially in the US) have become disconnected from their foods. Much of this appears to be structural, as you have pointed out.
- jasonwatkinspdx 6y agoIt's easy to overgeneralize. If you want to believe that everyone is disconnected from food, you'll find confirmation of that. If instead you point to the farm to table movement, and the huge popularity of authentic/artisanal foods among anyone in the US with disposable income, and you'd come to the opposite conclusion. Both are painting with too broad a brush.
- ajnin 6y ago> In the US eggs sold retail are required to be pressure washed. That's interesting. In France it is actually illegal to sell washed eggs. As a result they can be kept easily a month without refrigeration. I wonder why there is such a different practice.
- masklinn 6y ago> I've noticed that when you put a bag of potatoes in the fridge, they will still keep far shorter than if you had them in a dedicated potato cellar. That's because fridges are entirely the wrong place to store potatoes, potatoes react to light, you're better off keeping them at ambient temperature in the dark (and regularly trimming the sprouts) than you are keeping them in a fridge which gets lit up 15 times a day. For other veggies, it might be that they're e.g. ethylene-reactive, a fridge is a sealed environment so any gas is going to stay around. Humidity is also a factor.
- vram22 6y agoInteresting points. Didn't know some of them. My 2c: in India, I don't think anyone stores potatoes in the fridge, even though we have quite hot weather in many parts of the country. Does trimming the sprouts prevent them from rotting?
- masklinn 6y agoI don't think it prevents rotting, but it temporarily stops and slows the sprouting process, which is actively converting potato to sprouts and ultimately a plant (so the potato gets all shriveled, and you've got greening spread from the sprouting site which is full of bitter and somewhat toxic compounds).
- vram22 6y agoGot it now, thanks. Yes, I've heard that the greenish parts of the potato tuber are toxic and should be discarded. Contain some alkaloids, likely. The potato is a plant in the Solanaceae family, which includes common edible plants like potato, tomato, eggplant, chillies, bell peppers, etc., as well as some poisonous ones like datura. In fact, I was surprised to see how huge and diverse the family is: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanaceae https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanaceae
- vector_spaces 6y agoYeah, the green parts of the potato are rich in chlorophyll due to light exposure, and the presence of high levels of chlorophyll implies the presence of toxic levels of nasty alkaloids like solanine
- wunderflix 6y agoI also noticed that vegetables don't keep long in our fridge. I think one reason is they get stacked on top of each other and through the pressure they get damaged. And that's how they get moldy quickly.
- loonster 6y agoMy old (90s) GE fridge didn't keep vegetables very long, but my new GE does. The model I got doesn't have a fancy dual coil either.