To ensure everyone gets the most out of each week’s veggies we have put together this storage information General Tips: For customers picking up weekly delivery, it is best to pick up as soon as you can. If produce has warmed up significantly by the time you are able to pick it up, remember if you dunk greens, roots, and brassicas in ice water they will be tastier and last a lot longer. For home delivery, if you cannot be there when deliveries are made try and leave a cooler outside in a shady place.
Strawberries: Sort through your berries and remove any with bad spots. If you can cut the spot off and still enjoy most of it, do so first. Do not wash your berries if you are going to store them. Wash them just before you are going to eat them. They absorb water and this is not good for storage. The berries will last longer if you store them in a Tupperware or Pyrex container with a paper towel on the bottom and without sealing the lid. Also, do not crowd them or pile too many on top of each other.
Greens: When greens come out of the field they are immersed in an ice water bath reducing the temperature to 34 degrees. For maximum fridge life they should immediately be stored in the coldest part of the refrigerator. A plastic bag with a few holes poked in it combined with a slightly damp paper towel will keep the humidity at a good level (high). If your greens look a little wilty try dunking them in ice water. This should crisp them back up. It is possible for greens to be frost damaged especially when the refrigerator is too cold combined with the greens being in contact with a wall or floor of the fridge. To alleviate this concern you might cut a piece of cardboard to place in the bottom of your crisper and make sure the most sensitive produce is not touching the side or back of the fridge. Properly stored greens last at least a week.
Cooking greens freeze very well after blanching (30 seconds to a minute in boiling water and then placed in ice water and drained). Roots: Root vegetables like cold storage. They should be kept in the coldest part of the refrigerator. They are not very frost sensitive and humidity levels achieved by storing in an ordinary plastic bag are fine. Root vegetables frequently come with edible greens (turnip, beet, and radish). These greens should be treated like cooking greens. If you are not planning on eating the roots for a few days immediately remove the greens and store greens and roots separately. If left on, greens will suck water from the roots and the roots will lose crispness. If properly stored root vegetables can last many weeks.
Summer Veggies: Tomatoes are best if kept unrefrigerated. Most other summer vegetables are fine in a bag in the crisper.
Squash and zucchini freeze well in puree form or sliced and blanched. Tomatoes can be dried or made into sauce and frozen. Okra and peppers also freeze well and are much easier to use if already chopped. Winter Squash: Winter squash stores best in a cool, dark place, but is more appealing on a table.
You can puree and freeze all winter squashes.
Herbs: Dill, cilantro, and parsley should be kept in the crisper in plastic bags.
Basil should not be kept refrigerated, but on the counter with the tips of the stems submerged in water. Basil will turn black if it is too cold.
All herbs, except cilantro, should dry well. I attach the bunch upside down to a knob on a kitchen cabinet until dry and then crumble into a small jar.