It would seem like putting everything in the refrigerator as soon as you come home from the store is the greatest strategy for extending the shelf life of food. Many foods must be kept in cold storage, but certain healthy favorites might suffer from the fridge’s frigid air. While certain foods benefit from refrigeration, others spoil more rapidly, lose their flavor and texture, or just turn black.
Although storing these meals in the refrigerator won’t damage you, the destroyed textures and flavors can surely be an inconvenience to your palette. Here are certain foods that you shouldn’t refrigerate in order to preserve flavor.
15 Foods You Shouldn’t Refrigerate
1. Tomatoes
Tomatoes won’t mature and lose taste if you put them in the refrigerator.
The icebox’s cold makes tomatoes mealy and insipid. Place on a counter (under-ripe ones can go on the windowsill). It’s time to start making tomato jam or roasted-tomato sauce if they start to grow too ripe.
Your tomatoes’ taste and juiciness will be at their best if you keep them at room temperature.
2. Bananas
A banana needs warm temperatures, between 15 and 20 degrees Celsius (59 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit), to ripen properly; when placed in the refrigerator, this process is inhibited. Due to the effect that temperature has on the fruit’s cell walls, the skin in the refrigerator may gradually become black.
At room temperature, bananas will continue to ripen; however, when placed in the refrigerator, the ripening process ceases. Unripe bananas should be kept on the counter away from direct sunlight.
A completely ripe banana can be stored in the refrigerator for a few days; however, if the banana becomes black, this is normal. The banana skin’s ethylene content, which changes chemically in response to low temperatures, is what causes the blackening.
3. Potatoes
Potatoes should not be kept in the refrigerator and should be kept somewhere cold and dry, preferably in a paper bag or one with perforations to keep them dry. The starch in potatoes can turn into sugar when stored in the refrigerator, which will impact their texture, color, and flavor when cooked.
Store raw potatoes in a basket or drawer that is well-ventilated and out of direct sunlight for the greatest flavor and texture.
4. Open Food Cans
After being opened, a food can shouldn’t be kept in the fridge. The food may have a metallic flavor as a result of metal acids that seep into the food from the can itself, even if the freezing temperatures will prevent the goods from deteriorating for a short duration.
Transferring unwanted canned food to a different sealed plastic food container and then chilling it is the best way to keep it.
5. Citrus Fruits
Citrus fruits don’t require refrigeration, unlike many other fruits. It makes sense because they do mature on the vine during the hottest part of the summer.
Preserving the moisture level of citrus fruit is essential for maturity. The fruit dries out due to the refrigerator’s low temps. Keep on the counter and make sure to throw away any moldy ones. Mold has a rapid spread-ability to the others.
But you only have a week or so to consume them before they start to spoil. If you think it will take you longer to consume your citrus supply, storing them in the refrigerator will increase their shelf life.
6. Onions
The optimal storage environment for whole onions is a cold, dark location. They contain starch, so if you keep them in the fridge for too long, they’ll get moist and soggy and eventually rot.
Even if you firmly wrap the onion, the layers will start to dry out if it has been chopped. Additionally, sliced onions have a tendency to fill the space they are in with their pungent aroma, which is why using a lot of wooden chopping boards eventually causes everything to taste like onion.
7. Honey
Honey is a naturally preserved food, so even if you find a jar that is a thousand years old, the honey will still be as fresh as the day it was put in the jar. When honey is placed in the refrigerator, the sugar crystallization process accelerates, causing the honey to take on an almost dough-like consistency and becoming more difficult to scoop out.
Wherever you store it, honey will never betray you.
8. Bread
Breads typically don’t fare well in the refrigerator. Bread should only be kept in the refrigerator when it is being used for sandwiches since it tends to become extremely tough and chewy when kept at a low temperature. Additionally, because of the cold, bread ages much more quickly.
Never put bread in the refrigerator; instead, keep it in a bread box or on a cupboard shelf. If you anticipate not finishing the entire loaf before it spoils, you can freeze the extra portion for up to a month.
9. Melons
Melon that is still green and uncut may be stored in a cabinet. Leaving such a large fruit out of the fridge is a tremendous space saving, yet there is minimal influence on freshness.
Refrigeration and covering are required for cut melons.
10. Chocolate
The worst place for your chocolate bar or package is the refrigerator. Taste, color, and texture can all be affected by the temperature and humidity of the refrigerator.
The fragrance of nearby food is also absorbed by chocolate (more specifically, the cocoa butter), therefore it is better to keep it separate from other pungent components. Instead, store your chocolate in a cool, dry area, and if you’ve already opened it, in an airtight container.
11. Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread
When kept outside of the refrigerator, this favorite condiment is extremely spreadable. When not cooled, the characteristic chocolate taste is stronger.
Your favorite chocolate-hazelnut spread won’t taste as good and won’t spread as well if you put it in the refrigerator.
12. Peanut Butter
Spreading processed peanut butter over bread will be difficult since it might get hard and stodgy in the refrigerator.
It’s more murky when it comes to natural peanut butter. The spread may remain longer in the refrigerator, but the oils usually separate at colder temperatures, making it more difficult to recombine the product to the desired consistency. It will remain safe outside of the refrigerator if you eat it within six to nine months.
13. Avocados
This fruit’s creamy deliciousness is best savored at room temperature. Many of the hard, green avocados you may buy at the grocery store need a few days to mature before they’re edible. However, they will only ripen if you store them outside of the refrigerator.
When an avocado is fully ripe but you aren’t yet ready to consume it, that is the only time you should put it in the refrigerator. Refrigeration will then buy you an extra day or two before it spoils.
14. Olive Oil
It’s not a good idea to store olive oil in the refrigerator. The condensation in refrigerators, which are damp and humid environments, can negatively impact the quality of your olive oil. Additionally, it will eventually cause your olive oil to harden and get hazy.
Try storing your olive oil in a cold, dark closet rather than the refrigerator. It ought to last at least a year. Olive oil can even last up to two years in unopened bottles. Don’t worry if the consistency of the olive oil you have in the fridge is changing. Just remove it. The consistency will return to normal once the item reaches room temperature.
15. Berries
Berries may be challenging to preserve, and if you do it incorrectly, they can rapidly mildew and get mushy. Berries should not be refrigerated, but only if you want to use them right away. At room temperature, they are still firm and delicious.
If you don’t rinse the berries shortly before using them, they could mold. Rinse them in a strainer when you do rinse them. Don’t let the water touch those priceless fruit. For longer-term usage, you may keep them in the refrigerator, but make sure they aren’t in an airtight container. All berry varieties, such as strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, etc., fall under this.