vegan

In general: Produce storage is about proper management of moisture, temperature, and in a few cases, separation from things that promote rot.

1. Moisture. You generally want to keep things at their preferred level of humidity while preventing condensation. Bacteria likes it when water beads.

What humidity a vegetable prefers depends on the veggie. Things that get wiggly but should be firm have dried out too much (which will inevitably hapoen to most things if they hang out for way too long. Examples: Leafy veggies, stemmy things (cilantro, green onions).

Things that get slimy have stayed too moist. Examples: Also leafy veggies. Root vegetables.

Things that develop tiny mold spots have condensation issues. Example: Mushrooms*, leafy veggies again.

A good common setup fsornthings that like humidity is to put things in plastic bags and put paper towel in the bag. The pastic traps humitidy while the paper towel catches condensation.

2. Temperature: A few veggies are weird about temperature. Bananas hate fridges. Whole tomatoes lose flavor in the fridge as their sugars turn to starches. People will fight me on this,.but I prefer.to store.onions in the fridge

3 Separation: Do not store apples with other things. They emit a gas that promotes rot. A number of fruits do this, but I don't have a list. Berries are fine.

Random tips: Root veggies like cool, dry places. Basements can be good for this if you can store it in a spot vermin won't go after it. Otherwise, crisper drawrr set to dry. I always open my bags of carrots if they're in the frdige.. Slime will get them sooner than drying out either can happen. If carrots get wiggly, you probably needed to use them sooner

I keep cut onions in tightly wrapped aluminum foil. I don't know why this works best, but it beats wax, paper, or airtight containers.

Mushrooms can either go in a paper bag, or stores in their contaianers with paper towels above and below. Mushrooms go slimy and get mold spots. Note that fuzzy white mold near the base ofnthe srtem is normal and expected on shrooms. That's mycellium, a healthy mold that promotes soil health. Don't trust me. Google this and verify so you're sure what safe looks like.

Ginger goes in wax paper in the fridge. So do cut lemons. Uncut lemons can just be left whole and fridged. Wax paper seals moisture but slowly absorbs moisture over time as breaks in the water-seal eventually give in.

Some things with stems can go right into water, or stored in plasting with a wet paper towel around the base (I do this with green onions which are otherwise really finicky to store). Asparagus can be kept In a cup of water. If you're really being thorough, score a plasting bag and put it over the top of the sparagus. They're literally just cut flowers.

Generally wiggly is safter to eat than slimy and slimy is safer thatn moldy if youre careful to cut and wash the bad parts.

Do not try to cut mold off unless you're in dire straits or tolerate risk well. If you do, cut an inch or two past where you think it needs to be cut because mold sends out tendrils in ways you cant see. So if you cut off well beyond, hopefullt you'll save the fresh portion for prep.