Going to mums on Sunday and want to take her a freshly cut lettuce or 2. It will be at least 1 and a half ours before we reach her house and the lettuce can go into her fridge. How do I stop it going limp (the actress said to the Bishop :o) How do you keep your veggies um...stiff...err...turgid....ooeerr.. fresh.... ???
Diggin a deep hole there Emma ;D. I have the same problem with flowers picked from the garden. What I tend to do is wrap the base in wet kitchen roll and stick into a freezer bag but I should imagine that any plastic bag would do, and keep in as cool a place as possible.
Leave the root intact.There are some Tupperware containers supposed to keep lettuce fresh.Now there's a thought can you still get proper Tupperware?
When I used to grow hydroponic lettuce and harvested it with the roots intact I would bag it up and then wrap a rubber band, tightly, around the bag between the root ball and the leaves. This stopped the vermiculite getting into the leaves. It could stop soil getting into the leaves if you wish to harvest in a similar fashion.
I've just checked your highs for tomorrow. If I were you I would pick the lettuce first thing in the morning and put it, bagged, in the fridge, just as commercial growers do. If you have an insulated box, or, failing that, a tight closing regular box, and one of those blue liquid freezer bottles use both to transport the lettuce.
My mother always used to put a piece of clean coal in with the lettuce. Not coke, old fashioned black shiny coal!
Can't add anything to the above except Budgie's mention of the Tupperware container - I have a Tupperware "Lettuce Crispit" which I guard with my life it's so old and does what it's meant to do (hmmm am I talking about me?!). Don't know if you can still get it but I must find out as I'd be lost without it - keeps lettuce crisp for days on end.
Thats the one i mean Wicker.They really did the job.Used to be my night out when the children were small,a Tupperware Party.Sad isnt it. ;) :( :'(
Happy days and fond memories, Budgiebreeder ;D
Excellent advice, thanks all. Roots and all into a sealed plassy bag, and it wasn't too bad. The leaves on the kohl rabi I took her, limp as limp can be! Makes me wonder how supermarkets keep everything so pert?! I must get a good cool box and keep my freezer blox in the freezer so they could do their job!
1. Don't wonder! It'll only keep you awake for 10 minutes.
2. Don't buy the stuff.
3. If bought - DON'T ASK. It'll leave you sleepless every time you eat or serve the stuff!
;D ;D ;D
Irradiation??? :o :o :o
Everyone out there should do a basic what happens to our food course! On second thoughts no they shouldn't cos then they would ALL want lotties! ;D Scarey stuff! :o
Hi everyone I'm new here so not sure if I'm getting this right, Just had to reply to Wicker, my tupperware lettuce container has just given up the ghost after 34 years, it was scoured on the sides, its been relegated to the shed now, so is still in production. ::)
Can't help re the tupperware but can tell you that the HYDRA organic catalogue sells plastic bags that keep your salads stuff fresh for longer. They are impregnated with minerals or something like that so worth a try and all for a good cause too :)
Ann-Marie
Shops keeping their veggies fresh???
Like Wicker, first thing into my head was Irradiation.
regards,
Irradiation? whats that?
Someone mentioned bags impregnated with minerals so maybe the coal mentioned earlier would work :D
Wonder why???
Hi Andy - H, hope this helps, http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/foodirradiation.htm
later
windy
EJ Just before Christmas discovered something called "Salad Bags" in Morrison's. These are plastic bags with perforations in them and a lower space where the water drips down to, when you wash them. You swing the bag round after you have rinsed the lettuce etc and when you have poured the water out you seal the bag and the salad keeps for about 3 days. It really worked and I did our Salad for Christmas day a few days earlier and it was still nice and fresh. I know this was to transport salad stuff to your Mum's last year but it might be useful for this year too. Pic below. :) busy_lizzie
Quote from: john_miller on June 05, 2004, 10:05:41
When I used to grow hydroponic lettuce
Why did you stop?
How did you do it?
Wicker mentioned irradiation (similar to microwaves) If is the case that supermarkets etc irradiate the food to keep it fresh, then I need not worry, I have a Vodaphone mast next door to my lottie and my plants, are irradiated every day so they should last forever ;D
Val/EJ>>
I found this, it might help:
http://www.lakelandlimited.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/GBP/DisplayProductInformation-Start;sid=w5ZOw0tqM5gB4gneqJBCxeOqfiNbsazGlag=?ProductID=tjnCy5OS%2eHgAAADjU0KEgEQP
The good old fashioned tupperware lettuce keeper did indeed work, are they (tupperware) still around??, i think Betterware do something on those lines. BB
it was most peoples night of freedom from the ankle biters, how times have changed. ;D
FBG, thats great, OH is looking for a lettuce crisper , he loves the stuff. I can't believe this was one of my first posts, it seems like another life away ;D ;D
AAAAArrrrrrrggggghhhhhhhh its that dreaded irradiation word again! Supermarkets do not, I do not irradiate any produce that ends up there. In fact virtually every supermarket would immediately ban a supplier who sneaked irradiated food in because of the consumer concerns.
The reason it does not go limp so quickly is good growing practice - not to much water or fertiliser so good strong cell structure, chilling very rapidly and maintaining a chill chain coupled with good variety selection - at least six types and sometimes many more over a season to exactly match growth characteristics to daily temperature and rainfall expectations.
In summary it is all down to good crop husbandry and good harvest management. Oh...and plowing in the odd field of crop when getting it wrong!!
<<<<<gets down off soapbox ;)
I'm sure I've seen a salad spinner/ crisper over the weekend.
It was probably in Lidl
I've found that not washing the lettuce before putting it in the fridge helps keep it fresher. We just wash and spin what we need. Any over stays in the spinner which is then placed in the fridge. We keep the lettuce acceptable for a week that way....
going into Canterbury next week so will pop in Lidls then....at the moment he's put the lettuce in a plastic tub...and moaned like only a man can do about squashing it all in, so I told him to put it in 2. he huffed about that taking room up in the fridge etc...cor blimey why do men have to make things such hard work.... ;D ;)