Perk Up Your Limp Veggies!

Check out this chard: It went limp two days after I bought it…

so I soaked it in purified water for two hours and it voila! Almost like new!

For perhaps the first time in my life, this is a science experiment gone RIGHT! Imagine my delight when I discovered that my flaccid and expensive organic celery that couldn’t fit in the crisper and thus got all limp and sad could be re-invigorated with a few hours in a cup of fresh water.

I’ve since been informed that this discovery is far from new. My grandma howled at me when I foolishly told her about what I thought was an original advance in the history of celery (growing up during the depression AS IF she hadn’t thought of this). I’ve since employed this method on nearly every piece of disheartened produce to droop in my fridge, with amazing results.

This has worked with droopy romain and red leaf lettuce, kale, zucchini, asparagus, herbs, even beets! All you need to do is chop the ends from the bottom to expose them to the water and let sit. ‘Perking’ time varies from veg to veg, the denser the produce, the longer it takes for the water to fully infiltrate. It’s a great way to save waste on expensive organic produce*, which does tend to limp out sooner than conventional does.

*Although this is a really neat trick, keep in mind that the longer produce sits after being picked, the less potent its nutrient profile becomes.

Happy Perking!

~The Vegan Project