Cotton Bag Revival

I love my cotton produce bags and hope I never get amnesia and return to plastic. But the candid fact is I get lazy and deposit produce in the fridge in dry cotton bags and forget about them. It's not pretty. The greens wilt. Carrots wilt. I've even had radishes look anemic.

Two years ago I would have tossed anything less than crisp from the fridge. That changed when I got worms. I fed atrophied produce to them instead. But I'm being more sincere about not throwing food away now. Now I soak.

It's a miracle. Last night I reached for a bunch of kale purchased on Sunday. Sure, I hadn't dampened the bag when I'd put it in the fridge three days ago but jeez. I didn't expect the kale to actually wilt. It did. I cut the bunch of leaves in half, pressed them into a cold bowl of water and sat down to a hot bowl of soup.

Twenty minutes later the kale was as fresh as Sunday. Beautiful. I made salad.

I've had the same straightforward success soaking spinach, salad greens and chard too. Carrots however take more than twenty minutes to revive after an arid bout in the fridge but they crisp up nicely. It feels like a second chance.

And honestly, everything tastes as good as new.

5 comments:

Doyu Shonin said...

If you think about it, this is just the same as cut flowers. We stand our green vegs in a bowl of water if we have brought them in but can't use them right away. If we still manage to wilt them beyond resurrection, the chickens don't seem to mind ...

Kale for Sale said...

risa - Lucky chickens! I was thinking of cut flowers too and their forgiving spirits that are resurrected with a sink full of water. They're cousin's don't you think - the flowers and the greens?

Donna said...

For years I've soaked carrots & celery to revive them, but never thought to try it with anything else. You mentioned the bags are dry -- does that mean that if you moisten the bags, the produce doesn't wilt?

Tamara said...

Thank you...I wish I had read this earlier today...prior to sacrificing wilted carrots!
Good to know for next time.

Kale for Sale said...

Donna - Getting the cotton bags damp generally extends the crispness, or rinsing the veggies and returning them to the bag but the bags do dry out or get moldly. It's a dance. I wash the cotton bags a lot, which only makes them softer.

Tamara - Did you sacrifice the carrots to the guinea pigs?