The summer harvest season is not long in the Gallatin Valley, but it has the potential to be incredibly abundant. When the garden comes on and the CSA bundles start flowing there is often more harvest to keep fresh than there is time enough to enjoy it.
And while this isn’t a comprehensive list, we’ve compiled some useful tips that keep our precious produce fresh for longer.
APPLES
These orbs contain a pheromone that ripens fruit and vegetables. Have green bananas that you want ripened quickly? Put an apple on the same tray. That goes for avocados, too. A room-temperature apple in a brown paper bag with avocados can ripen even a hard one overnight. So it should go without saying that apples need to be stored on their own. A bushel of apples should be picked over and any bruised or marred ones removed. Stored in a cool dark place (or in the crisper drawer of a refrigerator), apples can last for months.
BEETS
First things first: Remove the leafy greens from beets right away, leaving only 1–2 inches of stalk. This prevents “bleeding” from the beet. Leave them unwashed and in a cotton mesh or perforated plastic bag. Stored in a cool dark place, beets can last 2–4 months.
CITRUS
My son has had a lemonade stand at the Shields Valley Farmers Market for the last 5 years, so there are a lot of lemons and limes in our house all summer. We’ve found the best way to store citrus is submerged in water in a sealed glass container in the fridge. They can last for months this way. For shorter-term storage, seal in a plastic or silicone zip-top bag and they’ll last up to 2–3 weeks.
CUCUMBERS
Cucumbers should be washed, dried, wrapped in a paper towel, and stored in a sealed container. We keep them in a glass Pyrex, but zip-top bags work as well. Storing cucumbers this way can keep them fresh for up to 2 weeks.
LEAFY HERBS
For herbs like cilantro, parsley, and lemongrass, gather into a bunch, cut about ½ inch from the bottom of the stalks, and store on the counter like a bouquet standing in 2 inches of water in a glass mason jar. They can also be wrapped loosely in a damp flour sack cloth and stored in a zip-top bag.
LETTUCE
A salad spinner is the key to keeping lettuce fresh for up to 2 weeks. Harvest leaves and triple wash in a salad spinner. Then lay the damp (not wet) leaves on half of a flour sack cloth. Fold the cloth over the leaves and lay another layer of leaves on the folded towel. Then loosely roll the towel up and store in a vegetable bag or unsealed zip-top bag.
RADISHES
The best way we’ve found to store fresh radish from our garden is to remove all the greens, pack tightly into snack-sized zip-top bags, and store in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator. Depending on the size of the radishes, this separates the harvest into serving sizes. Stored this way, radishes can stay fresh for 3–4 weeks.
STRAWBERRIES
There’s lots of advice about how best to store strawberries. We’ve kept them in plastic containers from the grocery store. We have rinsed them in vinegar water. And we’ve stored them in an open container with a damp cloth. We’ve washed them before storing and simply wrapped them in a cloth in the crisper drawer. But the most successful way we’ve found to store strawberries is to first remove any mushy, bruised, or moldy strawberries from the harvest and then, without washing, gently layer them in a wide-mouthed container. Seal and refrigerate. Stored this way, strawberries stay fresh and flavorful for up to 2 weeks.
TOMATOES
Nothing screams summer like heirloom tomatoes. And it’s a sad day in the kitchen when they’ve turned to mush or grown moldy. Avoid refrigerating tomatoes, as the chill of the icebox zaps all the sugars from the fruit and turns them into flavorless grainy blobs. We’ve found the best way to store tomatoes is to leave them on their vine on the counter. Off the vine, their shelflife is extended by at least a few days when they are stored upside down on a ceramic dish. Do not overcrowd or pile them on top of each other. Tomatoes stored correctly can last up to 10 days on the counter.
ZUCCHINI
In my experience, zucchini are a lot like cucumbers in that they store best wrapped in a paper towel and then in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. Obviously, the size of the zucchini makes a difference. I try to harvest the zucchini when it reaches 5–6 inches long. When I miss it and wind up with an extra-large squash, I will wrap it in paper towels and cover with cling-wrap, then store in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator. Have fun in the garden and enjoy the harvest!
