What’s the best way to keep carrots, beets and other leafy root vegetables fresh and tasty?
Things Required:
2 carrots with top leaves
2 carrots with top leaves removed
4 plastic bags big enough to store the carrots
Directions:
Wrap one of the carrots with leaves in a plastic bag that has air holes punched in it. Wrap one carrot without leaves the same way. Store them both in the crisper of the refrigerator.
Wrap the other carrots in plain plastic bags without air holes and store them in the crisper, too. Observe the daily carrots for a week. Taste each one of them.
This Is What Happens:
The carrot that tastes and looks the best is the one without leaves wrapped in the plastic bag with holes in it.
Science Behind It:
When the leaves are not removed from the carrots, the sap continues to flow from the root to the leaf, depriving the part we eat of some of its nutrition and flavour. In addition, the leafy tops wilt long before the sturdy roots and start to rot the carrot.
In the bag with holes in it, the air can circulate. This prevents a bitter-tasting compound (terpenoid) from forming.
