Better Home Cooking Basics: #66 Store Peaches Upside Down

I know Georgia supposedly has the best peaches but I'm partial to South Carolina peaches (they're the best in my book!). Aside from being insanely delicious &  great on their own or even on pizza they can bruise pretty easily. To get the most life out of your peaches try storing them stem end down on a flat surface at room temperature. This way they won't weeble or wobble or roll around & get bruised.

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Better Home Cooking Basics: #64 Store Asparagus Like a Bouquet of Flowers in the Fridge.

Lately, I’ve been giving tips on how to store your produce & I’m keeping with the theme this week because after all you can’t cook with produce gone bad. It’s supposedly asparagus season (read: it should be on sale). So in hopes to make your asparagus & dollars last longer I give you this tip today: store you asparagus like a bouquet in the fridge.

If you do plan to store your asparagus for a few days after you get it home, trim a small amount from the bottoms of the stalks with a sharp knife & place them in a tall glass/container/jar with a little water in the bottom. Cover the top loosely with a plastic bag, & store in the refrigerator. This will keep the stalks firm and crisp until you are ready to cook them. (I stored mine for a day without the plastic & it still kept them fresh.)

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Better Home Cooking Basics: #63 Store Cucumbers at Room Temperature

Today's tip is to store cucumbers at room temperature. I never knew this. I always kept mine in the fridge but apparently I'm doing it all wrong (according to Cooking Light magazine). Evidently  cucumbers develop pits outside & wateriness inside when chilled below 50 degrees. To prevent this from happening store your cucumbers in a cool place on your kitchen counter. Also, be mindful & store them away from tomatoes, melons & bananas. Turns out cukes are sensitive to the ethylene gas these fruits & veggies emit.

I learned so many life lessons today.  Is anyone else running out of counter space these days?

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Better Home Cooking Basics: #62 Choose Pineapples that Smell Sweet & Have Firm Green Leaves

I love pineapples. Recently I’ve been juicing them. I love it by itself or mixed with other fruits & veggies. I like it in fruity salsas & on the grill too.  Before I juice or chop the pineapple I have to pick the best one I can find at the super market. My go-to tip is to smell it before I buy it. If the pineapple smells sweet it’s most likely because it is. Pineapples that smell sweet are the ones that I take home with me. I also check for bright green, firm leaves which are a telltale sign that the pineapple is fresh.

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Better Home Cooking Basics: #59 Don’t Throw Away Sprouted Garlic, Remove the Green Part Instead.

Have you ever found little green sprouts coming out of your garlic? I have & I've made the mistake of tossing it thinking it was bad. Turns out - it's not bad! Keep that garlic. Simply remove any green parts & then use it as you normally would. The green part is evidently super bitter.  Or if you have a green thumb, I think you can plant the garlic in the ground once it's sprouted.

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PS: happy birthday to my sweet friend Hely! 

Better Home Cooking Basics: #52 Peel Fresh Ginger by Scraping the Skin with a Spoon.

Fresh ginger looks really weird. It's knobby & has a thin brown skin which looks like it would be difficult to peel with a regular veggie peeler - because it is. If you use a regular veggie peeler you will no doubt be taking chunks of the ginger with it. Put your veggie peeler away & open your silverware drawer. Take out a spoon - I like to use a teaspoon. Now balance the ginger between your hand & a cutting board & start to scrape the skin off with said spoon a little bit at a time. The skin will come off easily without sacrificing any of the ginger beneath it.


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Better Home Cooking Basics: #51 Choose Citrus Fruit that is Bright , Smooth & Shiny in Texture & Feels Heavy.

The other day I was using a microplane to zest the limes that I was substituting for lemons to make chimichurri sauce. After collecting all the zest I needed, I cut the limes in half to juice them. Two out of the three were juicy & provided lots of juice for my sauce. However, the third one was dry & pulpy with virtually  no juice to offer. That stuck with me & I headed to google to figure out how I could prevent this dehydrated citrus fiasco in the future. What I found seems like it should be common sense but it wasn’t to me (at first) so I’m sharing it with you.

When shopping for citrus here are the three things you want to look for:
Is it bright in color? If it’s a lemon is it bright like the sun? if it’s  lime is it really green?
Is the texture smooth & shiny?  If not throw it back & look for a one that is.
Is it heavy? Bigger is not always better but heavier is. The heavier the piece of citrus fruit the more juice it’s bound to have in side.

Do you have any tips for selecting the best fruits & veggies? Please share in the comments below!

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