What?

The vegetable drawer in a fridge is a plain silly idea. Vegetables that are put in there quickly loose their juices, and shrivel up to something that lacks the taste of freshness.

The solution is simple: use a container that encloses the crops, except for a few ventilation holes in the top. Place some water in the bottom and lay the crops on top of that, but in such a way that they do not touch the water. The water keeps the air inside humid, while the ventilation stops it from going too far.

Fruit and vegetables can last for weeks when kept in the fridge like this. Much longer than at room temperature (which is too warm) or in the vegetable drawer (which is too dry).

Why?

Crops must be kept in such a way that they can slowly continue to "breathe". If the environment is too dry, the crops loose their juices, simply because the environment draws them out. If the environment is too warm, bacteria will thrive and deteriorate your vegetables. Cool and humid are the best conditions for keeping most fruit and vegetables.

If your crops keep longer you can avoid other ways of keeping your food fresh enough, such as cans and jars. So if fresh things remain juicy and crisp for a prolonged period, you can save yourself dragging with the added weight, less has to be molten or piled onto waste dumps.

This whole idea has been known for long, but not in an electric form. The cool, humid envionment that we describe here used to be built into every home, as a basement. The underground environment has a stable temperature, and using natural stones it can be built to be moist. It is getting less common to build cellars under our homes, but this is not really smart. Germans still have this useful habit, and it is bound to save them on electricity, as it yields a great stock for fresh crops, that can last up to months. It is ideal if you happen to grow your own fruit and vegetables.

How?

Make sure there always is some water in the bottom, and by all means avoid that the crops are touched by it. The crops will rot in the places where they sit under water. Make sure of some ventilation on the top.

A tray can be made suitable for this tric with bumps on the bottom. To give a silly idea: you could mount a strip of plastic on the bottom of a plain container. Or you could specifically look for a suitable container; sometimes they come with a new fridge. Finally, you can experiment with a separate dish of water placed inside a larger container, but make sure the water can evaporate, which usually means that it needs a somewhat large surface area.

The exact environment for prolonged storage depends on the crop. For carrots you remove the leafs, because they increase the evaporation rate. But a little head should be kept, because the carrot will rot away without it. With the head on, the carrot is led to believe that it is still alive and growing.

Many detailed knowledge about storing varieties of crops are found in the references below.

An alternative approach is to wrap vegetables in a moist cloth (but not actually wet) before you put them in the fridge.

Where?

• Naturkeller, Claudia Lorenz-Ladener, ISBN 978-3922964506. German book with a lot of information about natural keeping of fruit and vegetables. With tables that indicate the ideal temperature and humidity per crop, en with lots of examples and designs for storage methods.