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Yahoo
4 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Yahoo
The Easy Trick that Keeps Salad Greens Fresh for Longer
Summer means crisp, fresh salad season, and I've got an entire garden of gorgeous greens ready to be devoured. However, salad greens can be delicate and temperamental. Unless you plan to eat an entire head or heart of lettuce in one sitting, these greens do require proper storage and care if they're going to last you longer than a day or two. The secret to top notch salad care is most likely sitting on your kitchen counter, ready to be put to work: All you need to keep your greens crisp, crunchy, and fresh for several days to come, is a couple of cold, damp paper towels. Related: It's Your Last Day to Grab These Under-the-Radar Amazon Prime Day Outlet Deals The method for keeping salad greens fresh and crisp lies in a simple, three-step process: Begin by thoroughly washing your salad greens, and then drying them completely. You can do this by assembling the greens in a single layer on a towel lined sheet pan before patting them down with paper towels, or by using a salad spinner. Next, lightly dampen a paper towel with cold water. Place it on the bottom of the bowl, and then transfer the greens to the bowl. Top the greens with another cold, damp paper towel. Finally, cover the bowl loosely with cling wrap to allow for a bit of air circulation, and place it in the refrigerator. Check your greens every day or two, and if you see a difference in their quality, or the paper towels seem more damp than they originally were, replace them with fresh, slightly damp ones. That way, excess moisture will be continuously absorbed. This method is helpful for a number of reasons. Excess moisture will make greens wilted and soggy. Paper towels control these levels by absorbing excess moisture so the greens will stay dry. The paper towel and loose cling wrap will allow for the correct amount of air circulation, because too much or too little air can also cause spoilage. While the paper towels are busy at work controlling moisture and air, the greens will remain crisp for up to a week - sometimes even longer. This approach is a no-brainer for preparing meals ahead of time, getting the most of your weekly grocery haul, and preventing food waste. Be sure the paper towel is damp, and not wet. The role of a paper towel here is to absorb excess moisture from the greens. A soggy or dripping wet paper towel will work against your greens. It can cause accelerated wilting, browning, sogginess, and spoilage. Nobody wants a slimy finish on their salad. Some mix-ins are ok to add, while others are not. If you're looking to further prepare your salad for later on, stick to heartier, non-soggy components that have skins, so they will not brown, wilt, or rot the greens. This may include whole cherry tomatoes, shredded carrots or cabbage, diced celery, dried fruit, and nuts or seeds. Avoid juicy, delicate, and very aromatic ingredients that can overpower or damage greens, such as sliced tomato, strawberries, avocado, onion, bell peppers, or beets. Leave these elements for later on, when you're ready to dress and serve the salad. Don't overcrowd the greens. If you find yourself stuffing the salad greens into a bowl for refrigeration, the greens won't be able to breathe or release moisture. As a solution, try layering the paper towels throughout the greens. To do this, add one or two additional paper towel layers between the greens before sealing and securing them with the top paper towel and cling wrap. If you can fit the bowl in the crisper drawer, even better. Humidity levels are better controlled in a crisper drawer, which means your greens will probably have even more longevity stored there. No crisper drawer, or tight on space? No problem! Your salad will still thrive on the refrigerator shelf. Read the original article on ALLRECIPES


Telegraph
12-06-2025
- General
- Telegraph
‘I had to spit it out': 10 supermarket tomato salsas put to the taste test
Skip to: It's the sauce of the summer. Lively, tangy tomato salsa brings fresh bite to smokey barbecued burgers or a sloppy-but-healthy vibe as a tortilla-chip dip. 'Fresh' is the key word here. For cooked tomato relish, see ketchup or chutney. Salsa might just mean sauce in Spanish, but to us it is made with chopped raw ingredients, something that needs to be consumed hours – if not minutes – after assembling. That's an impossibility in Supermarket Land. Their so-called 'fresh' salsas – for 'fresh', read 'chilled' – have in fact been sitting around since manufacture, probably for days, which makes them anything but fresh-tasting. Some of them contain calcium carbonate to keep the tomato pieces from dissolving to a slop in the acid bath, which gives a curiously cardboard-like texture to the chunks. Others have tomato puree in the mix, lending a cold-pasta-sauce flavour. Most have preservatives, stabilisers, or acidity regulators, all of which mark them out as an Ultra-Processed Food (UPF). The alternative is of course to make tomato salsa yourself. When I've tested mayonnaise, ice cream, pizza and other fridge and freezer staples, many readers have been quick to point out it's perfectly possible to make these things oneself. I'm a make-from-scratch cook but I'm used to defending the corner of those who sometimes, or always, need the ease of ready-made. Not only that, on a tight budget and with a limited larder, ready-made is often cheaper than buying all the ingredients for homemade. But with tomato salsa, I may have to yield: the recipe needs no heat source, no pans or fancy equipment, just a sharp knife, a board and a bowl. It is as simple as chopping 500g tomatoes, 5 spring onions, a red chilli and a small bunch of fresh coriander, then mixing the lot with salt and the juice of a lime. No industrial ingredients required, and the flavour will make your supper sing. I calculate the cost to be about £3 to make 600g, so comparable to buying three 200g tubs of the cheapest 99p salsa, and considerably less than the posher, more expensive ones. Mind you, if you only want 200g salsa, your at-the-checkout cost for a homemade version will be higher, as you'll still have to buy whole bunches of spring onions and coriander, not to mention more chilli and lime than you need. Let's hope you can use them elsewhere. All the same, there is definitely a place for a pot of readymade salsa. Whether it's for an impromptu park picnic or to take on a camping trip, or just because it's one less thing to think about, the best will hit the spot. Read on for my verdict on the supermarket salsas that deliver satisfaction, and the ones that are just plain sad. How we tested I left the room while all the salsas were spooned into separate containers and assigned letters A-J. I returned and tasted them from a spoon and with a tortilla chip.


CBS News
08-06-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Massachusetts seafood market uses unique system to serve up fresh lobster and fish
Nestled inside iconic Marblehead Harbor sits Little Harbor Lobster Company, a seafood market serving up what might be some of the freshest seafood in all of New England. Michaela Johnson heads to the North Shore to learn about their unique open saltwater system and the benefits of working directly with local fisherman. Rachel Holt Rachel Holt is a lifestyle reporter for WBZ-TV.


South China Morning Post
30-05-2025
- Health
- South China Morning Post
All about chilli, how cooks use it, and a recipe that makes the most of the hot spice
Chilli is a spicy spice, but how hot it is depends on the cultivar – some types are mild, while others can burn on contact with the skin. They also differ in spiciness according to the conditions in which the plant has been grown, how ripe the chilli fruit is when it is harvested and whether the hottest parts of the chilli are used. Dried chilli is much hotter than fresh because the flavour is concentrated. Chilli is used in sauces and pastes , where it is almost always mixed with other ingredients to help balance the spice level and give them a fuller, more complex flavour. How hot chilli spice is depends on various factors, including how ripe the fruit is when harvested. Photo: Shutterstock Some cultivars are so hot that you do not even need to come into contact with the chilli – just smelling it can burn, as the capsaicin aromas irritate the mucous membranes.