Spinach is a green vegetable with a very high nutritional content, but this vegetable is often not durable and quickly rots. If you like adding spinach in your daily salad, but don’t like shopping every day, you should know how to store spinach properly so that it lasts longer. So, you can shop once for a few days or even a week.
So, it is important to know how to store spinach, making it easier for you to plan various dishes.
How do you store spinach? The best way to store spinach is to refrigerate it. But you have to put it in an airtight bag first, it will last up to 7 even 10 days. Also, do not wash spinach before storing it, but wash it when you are going to use it.
If you want the spinach to last longer, you can choose the freezing method. Storing spinach by freezing will make your spinach last up to 2 or even 3 months.
Well, here we have collected some tips and how to store spinach to keep it fresh for up to 10 days. We will also share with you how to store spinach so that it lasts for months, by explaining how to freeze it. So, keep reading this article to the end.
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Best Way to Store Spinach
If you buy spinach in bulk, and store it in the refrigerator, you may often find your spinach rotting. This is certainly very annoying because it will take the spinach and cook it.
Why does spinach rot so quickly when compared to other vegetables? It should be noted that spinach leaves are very smooth on the surface, if in contact with moisture, the leaves become wet and slimy very quickly.
If there is one drop of water on the leaves, it will spread and make the leaves slimy. It will also create moisture in the surrounding leaves. This damage can spread quickly and can cause complete damage to the spinach.
How to Tell if Spinach is Bad
Detecting bad spinach is very easy, here are some signs that are sometimes fun for you to recognize.
- Individual leaves are limp and slimy, and can be darker in color than other leaves.
- The clumps of spinach leaves are slimy and these look like they are melting and melting together.
- There is a brown liquid under your container
- Bad smell, smell coming from your container or bag.
If you find your spinach has rotted but is still light as in stage one, you can save some of it. But you must act quickly.
If you smell a brown liquid, it’s probably a good idea to turn it into compost.
How to Wash Spinach
Washing spinach must also have knowledge, you can’t wash it as you like. If you buy spinach in containers or bags, try to see if the spinach has been washed. Usually commercial facilities have special washing and drying techniques, this can remove all dirt and bacteria from the spinach without damaging the leaves.
If your spinach has been washed, and has been sealed in a container, you don’t need to wash it anymore.
But if you buy or harvest spinach yourself, you should wash it to remove all dirt, girt, and potential bacterial contamination.
Also see: How to Tell If an Onion Is Bad, and How to Store It
If you must wash spinach, then wash the spinach before you are ready to use it. When storing it, you do not need to wash it, this is so that your spinach is not easily damaged and rotten. If conditions require you to wash it, follow these steps to wash it below:
Here are the steps to wash spinach properly
- Fill a large bowl with cold water and put a strainer in the bowl
- Place fresh spinach leaves in a colander, soak in cold water for 1 to 2 minutes.
- Then, use your hands carefully to lift, and shake off the leaves, and let any sand sink to the bottom of the bowl,
- Remove the sieve and spinach leaves from the water, shake gently to remove any adhering sand if it is still there, and the sand will fall to the bottom through the sieve holes (take a sieve with a large hole)
- If you want to cook spinach, you can immediately prepare it,
If you want to use fresh spinach, try spreading it out on a clean kitchen towel to dry it out as much as possible.
You can also use a salad spinner to remove excess water, or to prevent the leaves from wilting.
How to store spinach in the refrigerator
If you want to store spinach and use it for the next few days, then the best option is to store it in the refrigerator.
Here’s what you should do to keep your spinach fresh and usable in the future:
- First; take a large container that can gently hold all of your spinach, without crushing it.
- Cover the bottom of the container with a dry paper towel, or with a clean kitchen towel, such as a Swedish napkin. This is great for retaining moisture before it spoils your spinach.
- Cover the dried spinach leaves on a towel,
- If you have a lot of spinach leaves, you can also add a middle layer of paper, or a kitchen towel for good absorbency.
- When fresh spinach is transferred to a storage container, remove any leaves that appear to be rotting, to prevent this rot from spreading throughout the bunch. So by removing some leaves that look rotten can prevent this spread.
It’s also a good idea to sift the spinach daily, if possible you can look for any leaves that appear to be deteriorating.
More: How To Store Cucumbers, Does It Have To Be Frozen?
How Long Does Spinach Last?
Actually, the age of spinach can vary and this really depends on how the spinach was when you first stored it.
Packages of spinach that have been cleaned and washed before and packaged and sealed carefully, this will last longer than fresh spinach that has not been washed. This is because there is less chance of moisture or small places of decay to spread.
If you follow the spinach storage instructions as in this article, you will get spinach immediately for about a week. The spinach bundle may not last long. If you buy a bundle of spinach, store it right away, and wash it when you use it.
How to Keep Spinach Fresh Longer
In order to keep spinach fresher longer, you should continue to monitor your spinach, look for leaves that start to rot every day and remove them so they don’t spread the rot to other leaves.
If you see any spinach leaves that are getting dark, throw them away before they get slimy, you can use this for cooking dishes.
