Properly Storing Foods: Maintain Their Nutritional Value and Increase Their Lifespan
You’ve got the super deluxe Sub-Zero and an extra freezer in the garage. You could park your minivan in your walk-in pantry and still have room to unload your groceries. Clearly your kitchen is tricked out with enough storage space to keep you in eats until the next millennium. You’ve got the will, but do you have the way? The key to edibles’ longevity hinges on controlling four things: temperature, humidity, oxygen and light. And these four things are regulated by how, and where, you store your edibles.
From shelf-stable grains to ephemeral fresh herbs, the nutritional content of foods degrades with exposure to light and their physical composition and appearance suffers with sustained contact with warm air. The life of just about every food can be increased, however, by following a brief set of guidelines.
Subhead: Stable Elements
In the grocery biz they’re called “shelf-stable foods.” This means cans, bottles, dry goods, grains-all the things you’ve got stacked up in your pantry that you think will live forever. As with most foods, their longevity hinges on how you store them and whether they reside in a cool, dry, dark environment. Some of them will indeed last a long time, and here’s the run-down, most age-worthy to least:
Grains and their products will last for years, but they are favorite targets of insects and rodents. Keep them covered and in durable containers-flours left in their original paper sacks are much more alluring to moths and other small, winged annoyances. Clear glass canisters allow you to see what’s inside (mark a small piece of masking tape on the bottom of each canister to remind yourself when you filled its contents), while creating an airtight environment. If you choose to transfer flours, grains, pastas and so forth to large plastic bins, line them with a food-grade plastic liner (never use trashcan liners as these are treated with pesticides).
Granulated sugar and salt simply do not spoil, but if they get damp they will likely cake up or get lumpy (both can simply be pulverized again until regaining a granulated texture). Again, glass canisters are the way to go. For other baking supplies, don’t expose baking powder to steam, humid air, wet spoons or any other moisture, and store in a tightly lidded container (nothing wrong with the one it is purchased in) for no more than a year. Baking soda’s storage life is indefinite, but keep in mind that it absorbs odors so it’s best to take it out of its permeable cardboard box and transfer it to glass or plastic.
Most canned products will store, unopened, for a minimum of a year, most jarred goods will last even longer, but bear in mind that the lives of these items are cut in half by every increase of 18�º F in your storage space. Metal cans are susceptible to rust in humid or salty marine environments, tending to rust along seams and dents (all the more reason to select undented cans). If this is a problem, it is possible to extend the life of metal cans by coating their outsides with paraffin or mineral oil. After opening, jarred foods should be refrigerated and canned foods should be removed from their metal home (the oxidizing metal may taint the contents), transferred to plastic or glass, and refrigerated.
Vinegars keep pretty much indefinitely if tightly sealed in a plastic or glass bottle with a plastic cap (enamel-coated metal caps are eaten by the acid over time). More exotic flavored or wine vinegars lose their color and flavor more quickly – tightly capped in a cool, dark cabinet or refrigerator is best for their storage.
Oils don’t live as long because they go rancid with exposure to oxygen, light and heat. If you can, buy your oils in opaque, airtight containers and refrigerate your stored oils, particularly after they’ve been opened (they may turn cloudy or solid in the fridge, but the fat is still perfectly usable and will return to its liquid, clear state when warmed). Darker oils go rancid most quickly (sesame oil in mere weeks) and some specialty oils have added preservatives to increase longevity (read those labels).
One of the most common food-storage faux pas is with dried herbs and spices. You want them close to the stove, for easy access while cooking, right? Nope. Their volatile oils are especially sensitive to heat, air and light. Dark, opaque glass is best for storage, then put the containers in a dark, cool drawer. And keep in mind, whole spices maintain their flavor far longer than ground ones – just have the spice grinder at the ready.
Subhead: Meat and Dairy
With storing meats, the big thing to worry about is cross-contamination. Raw foods are teeming with bacteria that you want to keep away from cooked foods. For this reason, always store cooked foods above raw meats in the refrigerator in case of drips. Fish, poultry and meat should always be removed from permeable butcher paper and transferred to an airtight container or double wrap of plastic wrap. Even kept at an ideal temperature of 35 to 40 degrees, most meats begin to break down in just two days (with smoked fish you have a little longer, with ground chuck you may have even less time). Any meat you plan on keeping longer should be wrapped carefully, marked with a date, and frozen.
Milk, half-and-half, cream and so forth will keep twice as long if you transfer them from their cardboard cartons to screw-top glass jars before refrigerating (and they won’t pick up any off flavors that way). Store eggs in their own cardboard carton on a refrigerator shelf, not in the egg holders set into the refrigerator door. They’ll last longer in the refrigerator’s interior, with fewer fluctuations of temperature.
Extend the life of cheeses by storing blocks whole (grating just before use), wrapping them carefully in plastic wrap, or even covering ch�¨vre, feta or mozzarella with olive oil to prevent air contact.
Subhead:Fresh Produce
The most fleeting of foods, fruits and vegetables need especially careful and individual care to maximize longevity.
Vegetables are indeed idiosyncratic: Dense raw vegetables such as potatoes and onions thrive in lower humidity than the refrigerator provides, preferring a dark, cool cupboard to slow sprouting. Store mushrooms and eggplant in the refrigerator in paper rather than plastic bags to let them breathe and keep them from getting slimy spots. Most other vegetables flourish when stored in the crisper loosely in plastic bags, perhaps with a paper towel thrown in to absorb excess moisture. (Always unband asparagus, broccoli, and other veggies before storing to give individual stalks more breathing room.)
Still, avocados, tomatoes, mangos, melons, bananas, citrus and a number of other fruits live longer lives sitting out on a countertop, away from the sun. And as tempting as it is to wash all your fruit when you bring it home from the store, most fruits live a little longer if you wash them just before serving.
Fresh herbs may be the most ephemeral of all foods, wilting in a matter of hours if not treated right. Wash them, pat them dry, then roll their stems and roots up in a length of damp paper toweling, and store them upright in a glass, like an herb “bouquet.”
