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To determine if we could achieve even better results by storing potatoes with an apple, we stored two 5-pound bags of russet potatoes, one with an apple and the other without, in a dry, dark, cool, well-ventilated spot and checked on both bags every other day for eight weeks. The potatoes in both bags looked fine until the three-week point, when one of the potatoes stored without the apple began to sprout. Two weeks later all but one of the potatoes stored without the apple had sprouted.

By comparison, the potatoes stored with the apple remained firm and free of sprouts, though a great deal of condensation had built up in the bag. At the eight-week point the potatoes without the apple were largely soft, shriveled, and sad looking. The potatoes stored with the apple, on the other hand, were mostly firm (small soft spots had developed on two of them) and looked good.

Dr. Greg Porter, associate professor of agronomy, and Dr. Alfred Bushway, professor of food science and human nutrition, both at the University of Maine in Orono, concurred that the ripe apple gives off ethylene gas as it respires. Simply put, the ethylene gas, as well as other organic alcohols emitted by the apple, suppresses the elongation of the potatoes’ cells, which is what causes the sprouts to form.

- from cook’s illustrated

Read a full original article here: storing potatoes

I have never really been a big fan of butter, I never really liked the taste of things that were cooked in it and always pictured it as something that will make you fat if you eat it. However recently I have been reading a couple books on nutrition and health and I have come to the conclusion that butter is an easy way of adding necessary fat soluble vitamins in to your everyday diet, and if eaten in moderation butter can be quite healthy for you. I also learned that the darker yellow the butter the more nutritious vitamins it has in it. Also butter from grass fed cows is the most healthy and has many nutrients in it that are hard to find anywhere else stuff for maintaining healthy teeth and bones.

I decided we should have some butter in our diet but because we are going cruising fridge-less I didn’t know how to keep it. So I turned to some old food preservation books.

One way of preserving butter for day to day use is with a butter bell. I remember my mother had one of these when I was younger. I didn’t have fond memories of it, I always remember opening it up to the fowl stench rancid butter. I found out in my reading that this was because the water needs to be changed every other day to prevent the growth of bacteria. The butter bell will safely store butter for up to a month as long as you continue to change the water.

A butter bell preserves the butter by soring it upside-down in an small amount of water that creates an airtight seal.

The butter bell solves the issue of preserving butter in day to day use but what about for longterm storage? Again I turned to the pages of an old book this time an old cook book called the Presbyterian Cookbook. In there I found that for long term storage of butter with out a fridge you can place sticks of butter in a large jar thats filled with a salt brine. The brine needs to be really salty in order to keep anything from growing in the butter, and it works best if its stored in a cool dark place like a cellar or in our case, the bilge. We have yet to try this method but when we do I will fill you in on the details.

Here is the excerpt from the book:

- Eric Taylor, San Diego CA

When you buy citrus you should always rinse it in a 10-to-1 water to bleach ratio (10 parts water, 1 part bleach) and let them air dry.

To store citrus longer you can get a 5 gallon bucket and fill it with clean sand.  Bury the clean citrus in the sand and lightly pack it down.

The sand fills the pores of the citrus and it takes longer to go bad.

- Lynn from LA, USA

If you find that eggplant dishes often taste bitter, try this trick.

If making moussaka or eggplant parmesan, cut the eggplant into slices for use. Sprinkle salt over the eggplant slices on both sides and let sit for about 10 minutes. The salt will make them sweat their bitter liquid out. Wipe this off with a (paper) towel and your eggplant dish will not have that bitter flavour!

-Florin, Canada

Adding salt to chickpeas makes them cook faster. Don’t forget to soak dry chickpeas overnight before cooking. Note that if salt is added to beans they will not cook.

- Stella Rodrigues, UK

Hi I expect you all know that potatoes can be bad for you if you try to eat them uncooked, but also that light can turn them green and green potato is bad for you too!  

- Barbara Robson, UK