How To Keep A Chopped Salad Fresh For Up To Four Days

[Diamond_Dog]

In his how-to video, Clowers takes a big bowl of tossed, chopped salad—complete with bite-sized pieces of lettuce, slices of red onion and yellow bell pepper, and diced cucumber—and covers the top of the bowl with one or two layers of dry paper towels. Then he covers the bowl in plastic wrap and tucks it around the entire top and bottom of the bowl.

Here comes the secret: Clowers flips over the bowl and places it upside-down on a shelf in the refrigerator.

Clowers notes in the comments that he checks the mixture daily and replaces the paper towels as they dampen. With this approach, the salad appears to be as good as new after four full days.

Why It Works

How does this sorcery work when some of our bagged salad kits appear slimy after just a couple of days? The plastic wrap keeps the salad nice and humid so the vegetables don’t dry out or wilt as quickly as they might when stored open to the air. The flipped-storage style helps prevent a pool of water from building up at the bottom of the bowl, and the paper towel absorbs any excess moisture. These wicking details come in clutch since water speeds up the decay of everything from lettuce to grapes.

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[no_hypocrisy]

1. I wrap cheeses, ham, etc. in paper towels when refrigerating as well.

And change the PT every other day b/c it's usually saturated by then.

[Diamond_Dog]

2. Good to know!

[SharonClark]

4. Doesn't the cheese dry out?

[no_hypocrisy]

7. Depends.

I spray the paper towel with a mist of water for Parmesan. Otherwise, it becomes a rock.

For Mozzarella, just a paper towel. It keeps an appropriate amount of moisture, but yet the paper towel is always damp when I remove it.

[eppur_se_muova]

3. I store most of my vegetables and greens in thin plastic bags, not completely sealed.

I use the thin bags from the produce section. Maybe fold them, don't knot, clamp or otherwise seal them. It seems to strike the right balance between letting excess moisture out, and not letting the produce dry. Also, vegetables are still living plants, and they need to breathe -- literally -- to stay that way.

If I'm going to keep anything more than a week, then I might try something more systematic. I've kept scallions for weeks this way, and kept leeks unwrapped for months. In both cases, you remove the old greens and occasionally the outer skin and what's left is just fine.

[SharonClark]

5. That's exactly how I've been storing salads.

I have a set of Tupperware with lids and one is perfect for salads.

[1WorldHope]

6. I have been making red leaf lettuce last a very long time.

I take the bad leaves off. Slice off the brown core of the head exposing new flesh. Then i get the biggest cup I have and put some water in the bottom and set the lettuce in the cup and then loosely put a plastic bag over it. This makes all the leaves crispy and it keeps it fresh for over a week.

[Trailrider1951]

8. Good idea! I'll try your method with my romaine

Do you refrigerate it after bagging, or leave it out on the kitchen counter?

[1WorldHope]

9. Refrigerator for sure.

It makes the lettuce so crisp.