Get the Most From Fruits and Vegetables

1.  Buy the freshest produce you can find. Pass over produce bruised, cracked, punctured or soft fruit. Such blemishes harbor germs and soft produce is overripe.

2.  Check all produce before storing it. Pick through berries, discarding any that are mushy, fuzzy or wet. Cut grapes into clusters, removing shriveled fruit. Discard the outer leaves of vegetables if they are wilted and remove parts that are discolored

3.  Do not wash produce before you store it. Moist produce molds quickly.

4.  Refrigerate produce loose or in perforated plastic bags. Fruits and vegetables breathe, taking in oxygen and giving off carbon dioxide just as humans do. Do not seal them in plastic bags. As temperature drops, the respiration rate falls, so refrigerated produce lasts longer. The exceptions: tomatoes, tropical fruits (bananas, avocados, mangoes) and hardier vegetables (potatoes, onions, winter squashes), which prefer warmer temperatures.

5.  Store fruits and vegetables in separate bins. Many fruits including apples, pears and tomatoes, produce ethylene, a ripening gas that changes the taste and texture of vegetables. In general, vegetables like moister air than fruits. If produce gets limp, boost the humidity; if you see mold, lower it.

6.  Handle produce sparingly until you use it. As soon as you start cutting into it and removing seeds, it becomes more vulnerable to spoilage.

7.  Wash produce before you bit or cut into it. All fruits and vegetables sport bacteria on outer surfaces.

8.  When in doubt, throw it out. You cannot salvage some produce; it is better off in your compost heap than in your stomach.