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Don't store your cucumbers in the fridge (2012)
- bberenberg 2y agoI am always amazed at how ignorant I am about simple things in my life like this.
- ycombinete 2y agoSome basic things like this are counterintuitive. For instance bread stored in the fridge will go stale; bread in the freezer will not.
- exe34 2y agoBut bread (and most things) in the freezer can get freezer burn! Discovered it when I was finally desperate enough to use the spare frozen bread. Now I simply keep them on rotation, use the oldest one at any time.
- account42 2y agoUgh, you sound like my mom - never would let us have any of the delicious soft fresh bread if there was still old bread left.
- exe34 2y agohaha, it's sliced bread, I find it's good enough after toasting. if I keep it out, half of it goes bad before I can get to it. I only have two slices in the morning. I do like putting other bread in the oven for 5 minutes to breathe some life back into them though.
- justinclift 2y ago> For instance bread stored in the fridge will go stale Unless it's in an airtight container.
- raisedbyninjas 2y agoThen parts touching the condesation get soggy.
- justinclift 2y agoI don't recall seeing that happen. Why would there be condensation?
- ycombinete 2y agoI don’t think this makes much of a difference. AFAIK retrogradation of the starches is the major culprit of staling. This process is advanced by the cold inside the fridge, not moisture or air contact. Freezing stops the process; cooling quickens it.
- justinclift 2y ago> I don’t think this makes much of a difference. From practical experience, it really does. To a huge extent. It's why most major supermarkets (unless forbidden by law) will wrap their home brand breads in packaging with holes in it. Higher sales because the bread is always hard as a rock 2 days later unless placed in an airtight container. That's in southern and middle (east) Australia's climate anyway. :)
- ycombinete 2y agoI make a lot of bread at home, and bread in an airtight container, at room temp, goes moldy within 48 hours where I live. I can imagine this wouldn’t happen in the fridge. Store bought bread follows its own rules though. Given the sheer quantity of additives they have. Where I have lived, if you put traditionally made bread (just water, salt, flour and yeast) in an airtight container at room temperature it’ll be covered in mold within a day or two.
- justinclift 2y ago> ... it’ll be covered in mold within a day or two. Wow, sounds like a super active biosphere in your part of the world. In East Coast Australia I've not had things go like that. Mold is pretty rare on bread unless something weird is going on.
- darknavi 2y agoI love this for bread. I normally give a huge pack from Costco and remove two slices for my lunch every day. It acts a small ice-pack for the 20 minute trip to work for the rest of the sandwich bits and by the time I eat it for lunch it's perfectly thawed and not stale.
- thekevan 2y agoAlso tomatoes, it makes them mushy. They last just as long on the counter
- tcmb 2y agoPeppers and eggplant as well, according to the article.
- barrenko 2y agoRound it up to most summer vegetables.
- tommoor 2y agoAs a rule of thumb – just store everything how the supermarket does, they want produce to last as long as possible too. Tomatoes, cucumbers, oranges – you'll find them all unrefrigerated
- ceejayoz 2y agoThose tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. were likely refridgerated all the way from the farm to the supermarket display, including in the supermarket's back rooms. The supermarket is also simultaneously optimizing for other considerations like "do our consumers like bringing a sweater in the middle of summer to visit the produce section"?
- elzbardico 2y agoYes in some limited cases, it depends a lot of where you live, and where those itens were sourced from. Anything traveling more than a couple hundred miles in a hot climate would justify this additional expense. But an important point is that the temperature on those reefer units will be more similar to the one in a data center, than the one in a fridge. Lower temperatures will make harder to keep the optimal humidity level and the veggies will start dehydrating. The idea of freshness in vegetables is basically keeping those thing's cells alive for as much as possible. Too hot, metabolism increases, too cold and they will dehydrate.
- topaz0 2y agoWorth pointing to OP's primary source, which is great: https://postharvest.ucdavis.edu/produce-facts-sheets https://postharvest.ucdavis.edu/produce-facts-sheets Edit because there seems to be some confusion about this: this is mainly constructed as a resource for farmers, grocers, etc, who are trying to bring produce to consumers in a state that it will arrive in their home at a good quality. Their requirements for length of time in storage/transport are very different from most consumers, and the resources they can devote to maintaining an optimal temperature, humidity, gas environment for a given type of produce are much more extensive. That said, there's plenty to learn from it as a consumer with the right eye, e.g. about how the tissue damage due to too cold storage may differ from too hot, or the ethylene interactions from storing various things together.
- topaz0 2y agoSubmitted here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40704785 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40704785
- DavidPiper 2y ago> U.S. grades are Fancy, Extra 1, No. 1, No. 1 Small, No. 1 Large and No. 2. Not sure why, but I feel happy that "Fancy Cucumber" is a formal definition.
- mrob 2y agoAll their examples of cucumber chilling damage are for cucumbers that were chilled and then warmed back to room temperature and held there for several days. This is an unusual thing to do; most people just leave them refrigerated until they eat them.
- topaz0 2y agoKeep in mind this is mostly a resource for farmers and grocers -- much less strange to imagine a cucumber that was stored at 5C for a day after picking, going to the farmers market, home with a shopper and then sitting on their counter for a few days. Interpreting it as direct advice for consumers can be a bit misleading, but there's still plenty to learn from it as a consumer.
- howlden 2y agoBroken link PDF: Storing Fresh Fruits and Vegetables for Better Taste https://postharvest.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk12711/files/inline-files/230110.pdf https://postharvest.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk12711/fi...
- threecheese 2y agoThank you!
- justinclift 2y agoExcept if you don't store them in the fridge, they seem to dehydrate pretty fast (couple of days). So there's more to it than just temperature being the problem.
- 6510 2y agosomeone linked this in the comments http://www.savefoodfromthefridge.com/p/humidity-of-fruit-vegetables.html http://www.savefoodfromthefridge.com/p/humidity-of-fruit-veg...
- justinclift 2y agoSeems like more of a hassle than just chucking them in the fridge, but it might appeal to some. :)
- 6510 2y agoThen you haven't seen the last one! http://www.savefoodfromthefridge.com/p/verticality-of-root-vegetables.html http://www.savefoodfromthefridge.com/p/verticality-of-root-v... Truly next level stuff.
- justinclift 2y agoWAAAAAY too much effort I reckon. ;)
- globular-toast 2y agoSource says optimal temperature is 10-12.5°C. My fridge is 6°C. My kitchen is generally above 19°C and often well above that, like 25°C. Is storing it 4°C too cold worse than storing them 10+°C too hot? I doubt it...
- prmoustache 2y agoyeah room temperature is very dependent on the location. For all but 2 months a year, mine is above 20°C and can raise up to the 30s during the day from late may/early june.
- bregma 2y agoIf your fridge is above 4 C it's not preventing bacterial growth. You're living dangerously.
- Semaphor 2y agoSo all of EU, where for the center area 5C is recommended, and higher temperatures can be common?
- account42 2y agoAnd it used to be 7C even for meat not too long ago.
- jajko 2y agoMy fridge is always 5C (siemens), old model (bosch) was 6C since otherwise back of was creating some ice. No issue with bacteria whatsoever. But we don't keep meat after expiration date (or just freeze it), cheese/diary are usually more than fine well after that, veggies and fruits don't rot in any unexpected manner.
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- thih9 2y agoWhat about cucumbers that have been cut open? E.g. salad cucumbers[1] are long enough that it's not uncommon to use a half at a time. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucumber#/media/File:Organic_Gardener_Holding_a_Fresh_Salad_Cucumber.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucumber#/media/File:Organic_G...
- prmoustache 2y agoYou can leave them in the fridge. Just eat the rest the next day. I don't think it is a good idea to keep vegetables for days anyway. I usually buy my vegetables the day I start eating them.
- semi-extrinsic 2y agoWhat? Unless vegetables are showing clear signs of decay (e.g. cucumber becomes yellow and soft) they are safe to eat for weeks after purchase. Many vegetables can be stored for many months if you manage temperature, light and humidity properly. Back in the days, people would store vegetables in a cold basement for up to 1 year. Potatoes are stored dry and dark, carrots and cabbage are pulled straight out of the ground, not cleaned or divided roots/leaves, and are kept moist and dark (the old folks would stack up layers of wet moss and veggies), while garlic and onions are kept dry and dark and separate from the rest.
- dannyw 2y agoAH, I miss the times when lives were simpler.
- prmoustache 2y agoI live in a hot and relatively humid climate, and don't have any basement. The permanent market is just a 2 minutes walk from home. Given the climate we don't have a winter season with no production. No reason to store fresh vegetables, I only store stuff that is sold in tin cans.
- mvelbaum 2y agocut veggies should go in the fridge
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- permo-w 2y agois wateriness not a desired trait in cucumbers?
- mococa 2y agoIs the same for fruits?
- idlewords 2y agoThis site sometimes... Did none of you have a grandmother?
- strken 2y agoMy grandmother put them in the fridge in hot weather, because she and I live in a place that routinely reaches over 40C in summer, easily hits human body temperature inside the house, and turns any watery vegetable into a Petri dish.
- samastur 2y agoNo. One was not worth knowing and the other died when I was young.
- awestroke 2y ago“Cuces”…
- elzbardico 2y agorefrigerators temperature is usually close to lower threshold those summer veggies can handle, but on the other side, if you live in a warmer climate they won't store much better at room temperature. I don't have central A/C, I use split-wall units because I think it is way less wasteful to only cool the places that are actually being used. Because of that, I always wondered if one those wine cooler refrigerators, which work around 13C would be a good compromise in terms of optimal storage of fresh vegetables and roots X power efficiency. Has anyone tested this? I'd eventually buy one and try it, but if someone else is doing this, I would love to hear about their experience.
- nogridbag 2y agoMy MIL has commandeered our wine cooler and there's nothing but assorted vegetables in there now. I can't comment on whether this is a good practice or not.
- elzbardico 2y agoWell, if she is doing it for some time by now, I would assume it is working :-)
- khaki54 2y agoHere is the cheatsheet UC Davis made: https://ucdavis.app.box.com/s/sjpm10a24scbvwfm005epgab00i8f5yy https://ucdavis.app.box.com/s/sjpm10a24scbvwfm005epgab00i8f5... Was referenced but unavailable at the original link.
- bitshiftfaced 2y agoMaybe if you're getting your citrus fresh near UC Davis it makes sense to keep them on the counter. For those of us who have to buy shipped from out of state, they're going to go skunky much faster. Most citrus will keep for a long time in the fridge, granted you may have some acid degradation.
- vjk800 2y agoCucumbers also seem to last surprisingly long time just in the room temperature on the kitchen counter. I always buy about half a week's worth of cucumber (we eat a lot of cucumber so this is usually 3-4 large ones) in one go and just leave them on the kitchen counter. After cutting one open, the open end dries a bit in a few hours, but then you can just cut a small slice off before using it again.
- bitshiftfaced 2y agoYou can put them in a paper towel and put that in a ziplock bag. Place that in the fridge, and they'll stay crisp much much longer than had they stayed on the counter.
- WhackyIdeas 2y agoI did not know this, but I knew that tomatoes taste superior when left out of the fridge. The strange thing is when the packaging on tomatoes says to store in the fridge.
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