When you bring vegetables home and can't finish them the same day, how should you store them? Many housewives like to just pile them in the refrigerator, but the leaves will quickly lose water and wilt. In fact, how you store them is a big deal.
Warm-loving vegetables like cucumbers, bitter melon, tomatoes, and pumpkins are best stored in an environment of 8°C—10°C. In the current season, storing them in a cool, shaded place is sufficient. Putting them in the refrigerator can actually cause them to wilt or affect their texture.
Most leafy greens like spinach, rapeseed, and kale prefer cool temperatures and are best stored at 0°C—2°C. Therefore, most leafy greens can be tied up, wrapped in a thin plastic bag with a few holes poked in the bottom, and stored upright in the refrigerator with the roots down. For longer vegetables like celery and garlic stalks, there's no need to refrigerate them. For storage, tightly wrap the stem and leaf parts in plastic wrap, then place them upright in a basin of water or a large vase with the roots down, and they won't turn yellow or wilt for a week.
When farmers first harvest vegetables, they always store them with the roots down to extend their freshness. Even after two or three days, the vegetables remain crisp and tender. Storing vegetables upright also helps them retain moisture and nutrients. This is because vegetables grow upright, and maintaining a vertical position sustains their life force and ensures the transport of water. Therefore, vertically stored vegetables have better preserved chlorophyll and moisture content compared to those stored horizontally, and the difference becomes more pronounced over time. Due to better preservation, their vitamins are less likely to be lost, making them more nutritious.
In addition, if you don't plan to eat the vegetables, it's best not to cut them. Because once cut, substances inside the cells are oxidized, increasing the chances of microbial invasion and causing the vegetables to rot. Therefore, when storing vegetables at home, it's best to keep them whole without any mechanical damage.