Green
as in the little green bags you can store your fruits and vegetables in – all your valuable raw foods. These bags absorb and remove the ethylene gas which most fruits and veggies release, and so do flowers too actually. Exposure to these gases accelerates aging and deterioration.
When fruits and vegetables are growing in the ground, ethylene gas plays an important role in their life cycle and even helps them become colorful and tasty. After harvest, however,ethylene cause fruits to ripen and vegetables to decay and flowers to wilt.
Ethylene gas absorber
Researchers, seeking new and better ways to preserve foods, discovered that farmers in some regions of the world had been housing produce in mountain caves with impressive results. Not only were these caves consistently cool, dry and dark, their composition included a type of clay called oya, a natural absorbent of ethylene gas. The mineral guerite – absorbs up to 5% of its weight in ethylene gas. This mineral is used in some food storage products to prolong the lifespan of foods.
How to use
Produce should be dry before placing in bag. If storing washed produce, be sure to dry thoroughly before inserting in bag. Hand dry as much as is possible. If still moist place paper towels or organic coffee filter along with produce. Simply place in bag and fold over. Do not store different foods in the same bag. The bags can be used over again, just rinse, allow them to dry and use again. Put your raw foods and greens in the Green Bags and they will keep fresh and crisp much longer.
Green bag suppliers
Beware of cheap imitations. Some manufactured in Asia might not be made from food grade film and might contain various unwanted chemicals not advised for food contact. Evert-Fresh Green Bags™ and Debbie Meyer™ GreenBags® are two good brands.
By Åsa Paul-Johansson
On the Lime – Raw Foods
Fort Lauderdale area, Florida
