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Before covid some groceries (mostly fruits/vegetables) lasted 1 week or a little more. After that sometimes 2 or more, just today I cut a pineapple that it's 3 weeks old. I'm going to keep washing them.
And it's really nice to just open the fridge and just bite the apple w/o needing to wash it (again).
I watched a documentary on DWTV about a similiar phenomena in Germany. There was a specific sort of bread, a cheap one, which stood fresh for two weeks if packed well. During the pandemic it suddenly stood fresh for NINE MONTHS. The finder of that bread was some sort of forensic specialist and because during the pandemic crime pretty much vanished he had too much time and explored that phenomena.
So, did they put more chemicals into the bread to keep it more fresh?
Actually, no. wholemeal bread stays due to the acid produced by the leavening during baking which is a natural process. Actually ALL bread stays in theory fresh "forever".
But. If it gets contaminated with fungus spores then those can slowly break up acids in the bread. Well, the final verdict was: Before the pandemic most bakers were so fucking dirty and contaminated that they pretty much only delivered fungus-contaminated bread. During the pandemic though the bakers were required to sanitize their work space and themselves a lot more thorough. And that made the bread free of fungus.
The forensic specialist has kept another bread for over three years now. It is as fresh as the first day. No chemicals involved, just wrapped airtight into a plastic foil.
Glad to know we only get fungal bread
So does that mean sourdough bread lasts longer?
How do you dry things? I've tried pre-washing things before to reduce the friction to cooking, but everything always go bad so much faster because of the extra moisture.
I bought a few metres of calico, because it's a cheap, close weave natural fibre.Cut it into sheets the size of a tea towel with pinking shears (because I'm too lazy to hem anything)
When I wash produce, I lay it out to air dry on the sheets, and I throw a dry sheet into the tub or container I'm storing the veg in to continue wicking moisture.
If I'm in a rush I'll pat dry and rub dry produce that I can, but mostly it's laying it out to air dry, either on the counter or in the fridge itself before going back and putting the dry veg in a proper container.
I'll occasionally swap out the cotton in a container for a fresh dry sheet if the produce in the fridge is getting soggy. Things like lettuce and spinach for example, I'll give them a fresh dry sheet at least once a week and they'll last 2-3 weeks for me.
I tend to wash everything in a weak dilution of vinegar, in my experience that reduces moulding.
I don't have a salad spinner so when I want to spin something dry, I wash it and then put it in a mesh produce bag, go outside, and spin the bag around like a human windmill.
All the calico sheets just get thrown in the wash with all my actual tea towels and kitchen towels. If they get really gross they can be boiled to sterile clean them, or worse case scenario, composted.
Yes I do dry them with a cloth towel, some things that trap moisture can't be washed like onions. Bananas for example usually skip them, if they have a small scratch/cut they tend to rot from the filtration tho.
You wash your pineapples with soap and water?
you sound like you're not even washing coconuts
Reading comprehension wasn't that strong in your elementary school isn't it?
Woosh