Food Tip: Don't Refrigerate Tomatoes

It's been an incredibly busy month. But busy is better than boring. One of the wonders of the kitchen that I discovered was the improved deliciousness of tomatoes when they are not left to turn mushy and overflowing with juices.

I stopped refrigerating our tomatoes when we first come home from the market. I can't believe it, but it is the only way to store tomatoes
I was in the habit of putting all our fresh vegetables in the fridge the minute we brought in the shopping bags from the car. For the last month, I put the tomatoes in a bowl on the kitchen table. There they stayed until the one I kept cold in the fridge was devoured in a salad or layered on my honey's sandwich.  Yum! Double Yum.

What I learned is that tomatoes keep twice as long. They do not get mushy with juices that soggy up sandwiches and drip all over salad greens. Rather, the fresh and cold tomato -- left out and made cold only the day before we need a cold tomato -- is firm and yummy.

I've always kept potatoes in the pantry, not the refrigerator. Everyone knows that cold makes potatoes moldy and mushy and sometimes unpleasantly gritty. A cool and dry pantry is best. But I never thought about tomatoes. I tried this two-step with apples. Voila! Apples kept firm and fresh, too. Like tomatoes, I put them in the cold -- the day before I was ready to serve and enjoy.

The humidity of the refrigerator makes uncut onions moldy and mushy, too. I keep onions in the dark along with garlic. Here's a good tip. Once you break a garlic head, use the cloves within 7 to 10 days.