These days, you can get just about any fruit or veggie you want at any time of year. It’s always harvest season somewhere in the world! But if you want the healthiest, freshest, tastiest produce around, eating locally and seasonally is the way to go.
A major part of eating seasonally is storing your produce properly. You can’t enjoy all those fresh flavors if your fruits and veggies have been wilting on the counter! The customizable storage space and freshness-preserving technology of a KitchenAid fridge makes it the ideal place for keeping produce in perfect condition. If you follow these tips, your KitchenAid will help you keep the fresh veggies coming all season long!
What’s in Season
First things first, you’ll need to know what’s in season. If you’re shopping for local produce, certain fruits and veggies just won’t be available this time of year, but others will be at their tastiest and most plentiful over the next few months. Here are a few fall favorites you’ll want to snap up before winter hits.
Fruits:
• Apples
• Figs
• Grapes
• Pears
• Pomegranates
Veggies:
• Brussels Sprouts
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Garlic
• Potatoes
• Pumpkins (of course!)
Produce Storage Tips
Your fridge’s crisper drawers will be a lifesaver (and flavor saver) when it comes to storing your fall produce. Be sure to set one drawer to high humidity and the other to low humidity, to better accommodate different types of produce.
KitchenAid refrigerators include lots of high-tech features that help keep your fruits and veggies as fresh as they can be. Your KitchenAid’s built-in Produce Preserver helps filter out the gases released by many fruits and veggies as they age, keeping them fresh for longer. ExtendFresh Temperature Management also lets you individually monitor the precise temperature in the fridge and freezer, to help lock in the optimal flavors and textures for all your favorite fruits and veggies.
In general, vegetables (like brussels sprouts, broccoli, and cabbage) will store best in the high humidity drawer, while fruits (like figs, grapes, and pomegranates) do better in the low humidity drawer. A more complete list of what fruits and veggies should go in which drawer can be found here, but the best way to keep your produce in tip-top shape is to store them each according to their specific needs.
How to Store Your Produce
Because different fruits and veggies have different storage needs, it’s important to understand the conditions that each individual type will thrive under. Follow these tips to keep your fall favorites delicious until December!
• Apples
Keep your apples out of the fruit bowl! In order to get the crispest, freshest flavor out of your favorite apple varieties (Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, and Fuji are all in season this month!), you should store them in a plastic bag in the high-humidity crisper drawer. Poke a few holes in the bag to keep gases from being trapped, and you’ll have fresh, tasty apples all month long.
• Pears
Unlike apples, pears don’t keep long once they ripen. You’ll want to eat them pretty soon after they get ripe (or turn them into a tasty tart with this recipe from KitchenAid). But, with the help of your refrigerator, you can get another week or two of crisp, tasty texture out of your pears. Stick your pears in the low-humidity drawer (no plastic this time) and they should be good to eat for at least a week after they ripen!
• Potatoes
It’s actually best to store your potatoes on top of your KitchenAid refrigerator, instead of inside it! Potatoes don’t keep well in places with high humidity, like the inside of a refrigerator, but the cool air on top of your KitchenAid can help keep them perfectly preserved. Just be sure to keep them in a well-ventilated container away from sunlight – a brown paper bag or a cardboard box on top of the fridge should do the trick!
• Garlic
There’s no such thing as too much garlic in our opinion, and nothing quite beats the fresh stuff. Garlic thrives in humidity and storing it too long at room temperature can cause the cloves to dry out. Stick your bulbs in a crisper drawer for the perfect flavor and consistency – but be careful! The garlic will start to sprout as soon as it’s removed from the fridge, so be sure you’re ready to eat it all up when you take it out of the drawers!
• Pumpkin
This classic fall delicacy stores just fine at room temperature (as long as you haven’t carved it yet!) but it also has the perfect consistency for freezing! Diced, roasted pumpkin can be stored in the freezer for weeks or months, and makes the perfect, instant side-dish for any dinner.
With these tips in mind, you’ll have delicious produce all autumn long. Whether you’re planning a fall feast, or just want to eat your fruits and veggies fresh, your KitchenAid refrigerator will help you get the most of your harvest bounty. If you need any other advice on how to get the most out of your KitchenAid, or if you’re thinking about upgrading your refrigerator, come down to Spencer's TV & Appliances and talk to one of our associates! We can’t wait to help you get the tastiest food on your table.