I read about that process about a year ago in our local newspaper. I cut out the article and gave it a try. Unfortunately, it didn't give specific times for very many items, so I had to guess about the strawberries I was hoping to "preserve." I think I left them in the hot/warm water for about 5 minutes. I was hoping for a big difference in their storage ability, but, alas, there was no significant improvement.

I had a terrible time with farm fresh strawberries last year. Almost before I got them home from the farmer's markets, they were starting to go bad. So I was really anxious for this technique to work.

If you read the attached article it gives you specific times. I think strawberries are 15 seconds!

I've never heard of it! My first thought was that the warm/hot water would [help] melt any wax coatings off store-bought produce like apples and cucumbers. I'll let someone else try it with their lettuce for 1-2 min at 122F and report back. :)

shambo, reading through the comments at the referenced article, they say strawberries should be done at 140F for 15 seconds. That seems a little hot and long to me for such a delicate fruit. Strawberries and raspberries were bad here too last year because of the excessive rain.

When I have too much of one vegetable because of it was on sale, I often microwave the extra ones for a few seconds and refrigerate.

dcarch

Of the list I saw, I only have oranges in my garden, and if I have too many ripe at once, I freeze them, as I do other citrus fruit, especially limes. Lemons and limes freeze extremely well, and I would recommend this method for your citrus crop. When you want to defrost the fruit, simply microwave it for 10 seconds, check it to see if it has thawed, and then microwave 10 seconds more until it is soft enough to use. If you want zest, you can leave it frozen, as this makes it easier to zest, particularly with Meyer lemons, which tend to be soft when ripe anyway.

Right now I only have Yuzu lemons and a few Meyer lemons that are ripe, but I tend to leave them on the trees until I need them. I do have excess Yuzu lemons, and so I have frozen a few of them.

I do not grow enough other vegetables to be concerned about preserving them (except for chilies, which I make into sauce, some of which I freeze), although I am about to get quite a few tomatoes, which were not on the list. I don't think I will be getting more than I will be able to eat, however, as the plants are fairly small. The soil in my back yard is pretty bad for growing most things, and so I have to grow almost everything in pots. I had much better soil when I lived in Venice.

Lars

I read the article but not all the comments. Thanks for pointing out the response to a question about strawberries. If I remember, I may try it again but for only 15 seconds. I'm afraid I wouldn't have the patience for some of the longer soaks.

This low-heat treatment destroys those all important and essential enzymes in raw food from one of the primary sources we actually get them from in our diet. I use my FoodSaver for extending food storage time of fresh fruit and vegetables, and would choose it over destroying essential nutrients.

-Grainlady

For those of you looking for a method to extend the keeping time of produce: I've tried a method that involved soaking fruit or vegetables in a solution of room temperature water and vinegar for 10-15 minutes. It's supposed to kill mould spores and surface bacteria and it seems to work. For example, grapes I treated this way have kept twice as long in my refrigerator as grapes that I didn't treat.

I think life's too short IMHO ;)

Yes and no. It only works with fresh picked produce, not something pick and then stored improperly or bad growing conditions. It won't 'save' something like your strawberries already starting to go off and soft. Those bruised soft spots in berries are best just rinsed, maybe in a bit of lemon in the water, or citric acid, then frozen immediately. Pick through your berries and use the best unblemished ones fresh. Often market growers that only sell once a week might just be picking a few days before selling and not storing them properly. Or THEY should be soaking, and drying, for a longer shelf life. Maybe doing their own trial and error research for what works best for them and their customers. Might be different every year.

Written articles like that get running around the web in small translations without the full study.
Difficult to apply it so black and white, 5min, 30 seconds, etc. Why were they testing and for whom? The big farm suppliers that grow varieties for travel instead of flavor? It mentions they have been testing for years but says they are still unsure why and still in study.

I just think with so many varieties of each fruit or vegetable...different growing conditions or just a bad year for what variety was chosen, has more affect on your shelf life. And when it was picked and how it was stored before selling.
Having grown hundreds of edibles over 20yrs of gardening, it is still a guessing game every year on methods of storage. Last year i could only harvest raspberries in the evenings just before sunset and after very hot days. The berries were hot, very hot when picked but also dry. Right into the fridge they lasted a week easy. Only rinsed just before eating. If i picked on a weekend early morning they did not last as long. Probably too much moisture. Damp foggy mornings. Same with tender salad greens. Picked late in the day hot, rinsed hot water...(no choice as the garden water is warm/hot). Spun dry in a cotton pillow case, looking sad and limp. Into the fridge still in the pillow case....lasted two weeks fresh. Never thought that would work.
It worked last year. It was picked naturally warm, not forced 'warm'.
I also came across the article a while ago and just made a mental note to try different methods rather than rely on what i had always read. For my climate, watering early in the day while still damp from misty fog and picking later in the day extends shelf life.

Local, fresh, and in season for your area always has the best flavor but is sometimes picked very ripe. Or over-ripe. One of my local farm stands does just that. Everything is over ripe or rotting. They get annoyed if you touch anything. (i don't shop there but try once a year and leave empty handed)

Still best to buy fresh and eat fresh in season or freeze while still fresh.
If the method works once in a while, it might just be chance and circumstance.

Life is not too short to clean your produce properly and add a bit of vinegar and dry them well before the fridge. Or use lemon or citric acid on cut fruit so it does not brown.
Just buy the best looking and don't rely on a packaged sell/by use/by date.

I had two sad limp heads of red leaf lettuce that i thought was headed to the compost but soaked them in ice water....ice under the colander. Forgot and soaked over night. Perky and fresh the next morning. Wrapped in a wet thick cotton tight weave towel, (not wet terry cloth).
Just damp and into the veg bin in the fridge. Crisp and fresh for sunday's ball game. Stupid expensive and seldom buy salad in the winter months except for maybe arugula.

Destroying enzymes is a concern. I've gotten away from doing the vinegar soak. Need to get back to that.

I often do a vinegar soak... as long as my kitchen is clean on grocery day, lol. Sink full of water and a good splash of apple cider vinegar. Fill up the sink with fruits and veggies and rotate from the sink to the drying towel to the fridge/wherever they will be stored. It REALLY helps berries, but you have to make sure you let them dry before storing in the fridge.