- [Speaker 1] April is all about spring vegetables.
Asparagus and artichokes are at their peak
while snap peas, spring onions
and carrots are filling up bins at the grocery store.
- [Speaker 2] But before you stock up on your greens
you'll wanna have a plan in place
for keeping them fresh before they hit your dinner plate.
- Food blogger and friend of the show Jerry James Stone
is here with some tips
that will help your favorite veggies last longer.
Jerry, always good to have you.
It's an avocado and lemon shirt.
I Love it.
I love the tips we get from Jerry
but even more importantly than the tips, I love the fashion.
I'm always interested in what the shirt's gonna be.
- All right, so you've got asparagus out there
on your table.
Let's talk about asparagus.
Typically, I mean, the ends turn slimy
and kinda gross if you don't eat them right away.
So how do we keep that from happening?
- Yeah, asparagus, like you said, it turns really quickly.
It has a short season
and it can be kind of pricey, so you want it to last, right?
So the main thing with asparagus
and this works for broccoli too
is you wanna store it like cut flowers,
put it in a jar
with a little bit of water towards the bottom
and you can store it in the fridge that way.
The important part is, is you wanna trim off the end
you wanna do this with broccoli also
just trim off the end
once you bring it back from the grocery store
that's gonna allow that water to get into the,
into the veggie and it'll keep it fresh for a long time.
Now, depending on how your refrigerator handles
humidity and moisture,
you might wanna put a bag over the asparagus
or over the broccoli.
That'll kinda protect it, but that will keep it.
I've had my asparagus and my broccoli last up to two times,
if not longer, than if I just brought it home
and put it in the fridge the way it that I purchased it.
- Hold on, so wait,
because I have never ever,
I've seen the asparagus and thought about that
but I am a constant broccoli fighter.
I'm like, why is my broccoli getting mushy
before, like, when I just bought it?
Because I like to buy the the heads of broccoli like that.
So are you telling me
if I cut the end of the head of broccoli off
and put it in the water, that's all I need to do?
- Yeah, so the really interesting about broccoli
is you're actually eating the flower of the plant, right?
So it had the plant been allowed to bloom.
This is the part that would bloom.
So it is a flower, so storing it just like a cut flower
in a jar with some water is gonna help keep it
alive a lot longer.
And I had that same problem.
I'm an avid broccoli eater and it likes to go
these tender greens parts on the top
like to get mushy really quickly.
So that'll keep them really, really fresh
by feeding them with water
and then using the bag
to kind of protect it from the environment
of the refrigerator.
- It's a fresh cut, like for your Christmas tree, you know
just give them fresh cut.
- I've been doing life so wrong in so many ways,
- But we need to talk avocados
'cause those are a favorite and they're so hard.
So you you tested 12 different methods
to keep them from browning.
What did you find out?
I love the science experiment.
- Yeah. Not only did I test them,
but I also like ate each one after I test it,
which was kind of a mistake
but I wanted to give it it the full test.
But after you cut into an avocado
you know, if you're gonna save that other half
the thing that works best for it
is one, leave the pit in there
because that means less of the avocado is exposed to oxygen.
Really that's your enemy when it comes to
veggies turning bad, but really cut onion.
So just storing a slice of onion
in a container and an airtight container
with a sliced avocado will keep it from browning.
And the reason that works is when you cut into an onion
if you're one of those people that
onions make you cry,
that same gas that's coming from the onion
that makes you cry
is the same thing that will be used as a preservative
to keep that avocado fresh longer.
So I've extended, like I've found like,
by putting a cut onion in there with the avocado
that that avocado will last two or three days more longer
stay greener, stay tastier, and not brown.
- Wow. - No way.
That's mind blowing.
- It's basically like guacamole
pre, like, almost ready for you.
You've got your chopped onion - That's, there's best too.
- You've got your, man I have learned so much
so far this morning already.
So is there a a particular way
you need to cut the avocado
or is it just like any way
with the onion is better, is fine?
- Yeah, anyway,
it's really just keeping that pit in, you know.
So like basically what happens is,
and when I tested this in the 12th methods,
I found there actually is a better way.
You can boil the avocado, you can blanch it for 10 seconds
and then put it in ice bath
and that will actually keep it from browning longer.
It's just a little bit more of a hassle.
So what's happening is there's just microbes
between the skin of the avocado
and the flesh of the avocado.
And those microbes naturally turn brown
in order to protect the avocado.
So by boiling it, you killed those microbes.
You stop it from turning brown.
By putting the onion you kind of do the same thing.
You just kind of keep them from turning brown as quickly
because of that oxidation of the avocado.
So the onion, just that preservative
that thing that makes you cry is what helps.
- Good to know. - Fantastic
Jerry James Stone keeping food waste out of the landfills,
keeping us from creating less food waste.
Thank you so much as always for being here.
And of course you can always follow Jerry
on social media and YouTube for more.