4 ms·

Also tomatoes, it makes them mushy. They last just as long on the counter

by thekevan 2y ago

tcmb 2y ago
Peppers and eggplant as well, according to the article.
- barrenko 2y ago
  Round it up to most summer vegetables.
tommoor 2y ago
As 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 ago
  Those 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 ago
    Yes 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.
  - jajko 2y ago
    Not any European supermarket I've ever seen - to most I would have to bring an additional layer for any serious shopping, or have basically guaranteed some form of cold for next few days. Selected veggies & fruits, all dairy, meat and so on - very cold places to be, even when ignoring freezer sections. And the cold seeps to other aisles and reaches quite far. But maybe French or Swiss people where I live have different acceptance criteria for this compared to say US, although my impression from US in the past was AC everywhere.
- asvitkine 2y ago
  Don't supermarkets go through their produce really quickly so multi-day storage isn't what they're optimizing for?
- prmoustache 2y ago
  As a rule of thumb: don't store them more than a couple of days. Easier.
  - n4r9 2y ago
    Tricky for families that don't have time to shop more than once a week.
    - prmoustache 2y ago
      Difficult to imagine unless all members of the family are working 2 jobs. Most people are not living barricaded at home. They are leaving home at least once a day to go to work, even those working from home will at least go outside once a day. Those that have small kids will leave house to accompany and/or pickup kids at primary school, or to their extrascolar activities. All these errands can be mutualized with getting some fresh food.
      - n4r9 2y ago
        Maybe true for families with older kids. I currently work from home most days and we have an 11 month old baby. My typical schedule sees me working until 5:30pm, playing with the baby while the wife cooks until 6pm, eating dinner together until 6:30pm, bathing the baby getting it to bed around 7:30pm, then doing various housework, family admin tasks, or evening activities until 9pm before unwinding for an hour and going to bed to "sleep". The schedule is actually more pressured on days where I go to the office and don't get back until later. My wife does have the opportunity to go to the shop in the morning or afternoon, but it is very contingent on energy levels (sleep is rarely good), baby nap times (variable but better off being respected), baby activity classes etc... . Going to the shop itself can take longer as you may need to suddenly deal with a nappy change or tantrum. It's not reasonable to expect it to happen multiple times a week.
        prmoustache 2y ago
        I used to enjoy going for a walk with my daughters in the babywrap when they were babies. Would run errands at the same time if needed. I think I can't count the kilometers I did walking with them strapped to me like that.
- pbhjpbhj 2y ago
  You find them unrefrigerated on the shop floor, but the supermarket - if their JIT delivery is efficient - are probably having them on the shop floor for less than a day. Do they refrigerate in transport, in the back-of-house? In the UK the whole supermarket might be temperature controlled (cooled) where the domestic environment isn't. Seems like it's probably pretty complex to work out There's probably a mean indoor temperature above which refrigeration makes sense, for example.
  - tommoor 2y ago
    Yep, just a rule of thumb – there are many things that the supermarket finds worth refrigerating
- mrob 2y ago
  I've worked in the produce section of a supermarket. We had a refrigerated stock room that was used for everything except bananas. I don't know what temperature it was kept at, but I believe it was somewhat warmer than the usual 5C refrigerator temperature. It could well have been the 10C minimum recommended by the article.
- jayknight 2y ago
  Cucumbers are refrigerated in stores around here.
ceejayoz 2y ago
Serious Eats did some digging and decided this is a myth. https://www.seriouseats.com/why-you-should-refrigerate-tomatoes https://www.seriouseats.com/why-you-should-refrigerate-tomat...
- stuff4ben 2y ago
  Like all things, it depends. It's not necessarily a myth, but rather it depends on a number of factors. I'll be storing my tomatoes on the counter (upside down) as well as my cukes. Just unfortunate that I'm the only one in my household that likes tomatoes so I end up with a lot of waste sometimes.

Also tomatoes, it makes them mushy. They last just as long on the counter

tcmb 2y ago

Peppers and eggplant as well, according to the article.

barrenko 2y ago
Round it up to most summer vegetables.

tommoor 2y ago

As 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 ago
Those 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 ago
  Yes 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.
- jajko 2y ago
  Not any European supermarket I've ever seen - to most I would have to bring an additional layer for any serious shopping, or have basically guaranteed some form of cold for next few days. Selected veggies & fruits, all dairy, meat and so on - very cold places to be, even when ignoring freezer sections. And the cold seeps to other aisles and reaches quite far. But maybe French or Swiss people where I live have different acceptance criteria for this compared to say US, although my impression from US in the past was AC everywhere.
asvitkine 2y ago
Don't supermarkets go through their produce really quickly so multi-day storage isn't what they're optimizing for?
prmoustache 2y ago
As a rule of thumb: don't store them more than a couple of days. Easier.
- n4r9 2y ago
  Tricky for families that don't have time to shop more than once a week.
  - prmoustache 2y ago
    Difficult to imagine unless all members of the family are working 2 jobs. Most people are not living barricaded at home. They are leaving home at least once a day to go to work, even those working from home will at least go outside once a day. Those that have small kids will leave house to accompany and/or pickup kids at primary school, or to their extrascolar activities. All these errands can be mutualized with getting some fresh food.
    - n4r9 2y ago
      Maybe true for families with older kids. I currently work from home most days and we have an 11 month old baby. My typical schedule sees me working until 5:30pm, playing with the baby while the wife cooks until 6pm, eating dinner together until 6:30pm, bathing the baby getting it to bed around 7:30pm, then doing various housework, family admin tasks, or evening activities until 9pm before unwinding for an hour and going to bed to "sleep". The schedule is actually more pressured on days where I go to the office and don't get back until later. My wife does have the opportunity to go to the shop in the morning or afternoon, but it is very contingent on energy levels (sleep is rarely good), baby nap times (variable but better off being respected), baby activity classes etc... . Going to the shop itself can take longer as you may need to suddenly deal with a nappy change or tantrum. It's not reasonable to expect it to happen multiple times a week.
      - prmoustache 2y ago
        I used to enjoy going for a walk with my daughters in the babywrap when they were babies. Would run errands at the same time if needed. I think I can't count the kilometers I did walking with them strapped to me like that.
pbhjpbhj 2y ago
You find them unrefrigerated on the shop floor, but the supermarket - if their JIT delivery is efficient - are probably having them on the shop floor for less than a day. Do they refrigerate in transport, in the back-of-house? In the UK the whole supermarket might be temperature controlled (cooled) where the domestic environment isn't. Seems like it's probably pretty complex to work out There's probably a mean indoor temperature above which refrigeration makes sense, for example.
- tommoor 2y ago
  Yep, just a rule of thumb – there are many things that the supermarket finds worth refrigerating
mrob 2y ago
I've worked in the produce section of a supermarket. We had a refrigerated stock room that was used for everything except bananas. I don't know what temperature it was kept at, but I believe it was somewhat warmer than the usual 5C refrigerator temperature. It could well have been the 10C minimum recommended by the article.
jayknight 2y ago
Cucumbers are refrigerated in stores around here.

ceejayoz 2y ago

Serious Eats did some digging and decided this is a myth. https://www.seriouseats.com/why-you-should-refrigerate-tomatoes https://www.seriouseats.com/why-you-should-refrigerate-tomat...

stuff4ben 2y ago
Like all things, it depends. It's not necessarily a myth, but rather it depends on a number of factors. I'll be storing my tomatoes on the counter (upside down) as well as my cukes. Just unfortunate that I'm the only one in my household that likes tomatoes so I end up with a lot of waste sometimes.