How to Resurrect Limp Vegetables
- Oct 11, 2019
- 2 min read
Next time you’re about to throw away limp vegetables from your fridge, think again! It’s possible that the veggies are simply dehydrated (usually the fridge makes them lose water faster). If they’re not mouldy, you can most probably revive them with water.
It’s also a great way to save money while grocery shopping. You can pick up rescued vegetables on donation from Tuesday Food Cycle Markets organised by Taste Before you Waste or benefit from discounted food at the supermarkets.
Ekoplaza, for example, has daily discounts (up to 50%) for vegetables that are not as firm anymore. Oftentimes you can find wilted spinach or collard greens that revives beautifully after a SPA treatment.
Below are two simple ways you can treat your vegetables.
Ice Bath
For any leafy greens from spinach to collard greens and lettuce, the best method is an ice bath.
Fill a large bowl with cold water, add a handful of ice cubes and submerge your (washed) leafy greens. Place the bowl in the fridge to keep it cold. Already after 20 min you’ll see the leaves “drink up” the water and become fresh and crispy!
Photo by Adolfo Félix on Unsplash
Some bloggers advice to only do the ice bath for 20 min, but I actually like to keep my lettuce in the ice bath in the fridge for a few days. It doesn’t spoil and keeps fresh!
An ice bath also works for green beans and potatoes. Just peel the potatoes before submerging into an ice bath.
Glass of Water
This method works for celery, carrots, broccoli, and asparagus. Just trim the bottoms of the vegetables and place them upright in a tall glass of water until crisp (usually around 30 min).
This method works great with herbs, too. Just change the water often to prevent the stalks from going mouldy.
What vegetables can’t be rehydrated?
The re-hydration methods (both an ice bath and a glass of water) won’t work for vegetables that rot quickly (e.g. zucchini, squash, pumpkin and tomatoes). So make sure you use them quickly, e.g. by making a tomato soup or pasta sauce, zucchini fritters or spiralled zucchini “noodles” (so called zoodles), pumpkin soup, or simply roast the vegetables to serve them on top of rice, grains, pasta, or lettuce.
And most of all, try to avoid food going bad in the first place by knowing how to store them in your fridge, outside of it, and what vegetables and fruit to keep apart to prevent rapid ripening.
This post shares wonderfully simple, effective methods to bring wilted vegetables back to life, which does so much to reduce unnecessary food waste at home. The clear split between ice bath and upright water techniques makes it easy to match the right trick to your greens, stalks and herbs, while the list of non-revivable veggies comes with handy recipe suggestions to avoid throwing them out. The tip about discounted slightly limp produce at supermarkets is such a smart money-saving addition. I look forward to a follow-up piece on optimal fridge storage to keep vegetables crisp longer. --glow up
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his is such a practical and money-saving post! I'm always hesitant to throw away veggies that are just a bit wilted, and these ice bath and glass 1v1 lol of water methods are brilliant. It's amazing how simple hydration can bring them back. Definitely going to try this with my next batch of sad-looking greens!
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Great tips on reviving limp veggies – I’ll definitely try soaking them before tossing! It’s fun to rescue food, and when I need a break I jump into escape tsunami brainrots for a quick, exciting escape.