Keep Fresh Fruits, Veggies, and You Looking Good Longer

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Keep Fresh Fruits, Veggies, and You Looking Good Longer

We're all for the locavore movement. No, that's not a new aerobic dance class. It's to commit (like a wedding vow, but we hope more than 50 percent stay with it) to eating food grown locally. But if you lose your mind at the farmers' market (raspberries! baby beets!), try these tips for preserving just-picked flavors and rev-you-up vitamins. Give broccoli, beets, carrots and kale some air. Put them in perforated plastic veggie bags or airy, reusable cotton gauze produce bags (available online). Chill in the vegetable crisper. Wrap melons and apples. If that lovely melon ripens at room temp too fast, treat it like a baby: Wash, dry and swaddle it in plastic wrap or biodegradable BioFilm (green plastic wrap minus the cling, sold at health-food stores or online), then refrigerate it. Oops. You bought a bushel of apples for two people? Unless you're a junior Child, intent on making apple confit, individually wrap the extras in newspaper and store in a single layer in a cool, dry, dark place. Bathe pears. To keep pears from over-ripening and losing nutrients, soak them for up to 15 minutes in a citrus bath: 1 quart water and 1/4 cup orange or lemon juice. Isolate eggs. They pick up odors of nearby food as fast as white cat hair jumps onto black pants. Apples, cabbage and peaches do the opposite: They release odors. So, if you don't want your eggs to smell like cabbage or fruit, keep them as far apart as Palin and Barack Obama.