Refrigerator Greenhouse for Herbs

Refrigerator Greenhouse for Herbs

Now that winter is here, we have to rely on store-bought herbs more than ever.  And I am always looking for ways to keep them fresh. 

This tip ranks up there with learning to keep celery crisper longer by wrapping it in foil.   By the way, aluminum foil works for scallions, too, which are another vegetable that was going limp before I could remember to use it.

I have been experimenting with cilantro mostly, but I am sure that this method will work for parsley and other greens with stalks, like watercress.

Here's what I have learned. 

Put them them in cold water in a short, wide glass when you get home from the grocery store,

then slip a lightweight plastic bag (like the kind from the produce department) loosely over the top,

and put them in the back of the fridge.  They will last a week or more as long as you remember to change the water after 3 days or so.

They can be washed before or after you put them in the refrigerator greenhouse.

It does not work to put them in water in the fridge without the bag over the top.  Not sure why, but the micro climate in the bag in the refrigerator works much better than any other way I have tried, which includes putting them in plastic bags in the fridge in the veggie drawer, putting them on the counter in water, etc.

fyi - the photos were taken after the cilantro had been in its refrigerator greenhouse for couple of days.

I have posted this tip in the Other Stuff category in the Recipes Index on the main page of the blog.

B