How to keep arugula fresh for the winter
Arugula is prized for its unusual bright taste and abundance of nutrients. To use this salad in your dishes in the cold season, you need to know how to save arugula for the winter. Let’s look at three main ways.
Knowing how to save arugula for the winter, you can save all its benefits.
Quick freezing of fresh lettuce leaves allows you to preserve the maximum of nutrients. How to do it correctly:
- the arugula must be thoroughly washed, being careful not to crush the leaves;
- dry by spreading on a paper towel. If moisture remains, the leaves will freeze into one lump;
- if desired, the arugula can be cut or left intact;
- fold the salad in portions into storage bags, removing air from them as much as possible;
- put the bags in the freezer in one layer and turn on the shock freeze function.
Frozen salad bags can be folded more compactly for long-term storage. You can store arugula frozen for up to a year, that is, until the next harvest of greens.
Rucola thaws very quickly, so you need to take it out of the freezer, cut it quickly and immediately add it to the dish at the end of cooking.
You can dry arugula to season soups, roast meat and fish, and other dishes. To do this, the salad must be washed, dried, cut or spread the leaves whole on a clean horizontal surface in a warm place without sunlight.
You can dry the arugula in the oven with the lid open.
The temperature should be no higher than 40 ° C. Dried leaves – collect in a jar or a hermetically sealed bag.
How to keep arugula fresh
Fresh lettuce leaves can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three days. So that during this time the arugula does not lose its taste and benefits, you need to pack it correctly in one of the following ways:
- wrap a bunch of lettuce in cling film;
- put the leaves in a bag and remove air from it as much as possible;
- fold the arugula into a sealed plastic tray.
Isolation from the air is necessary so that the greens do not wither and do not absorb the odors of other foods in the refrigerator. Given the very short shelf life of fresh arugula, it is best to refrigerate as much salad as will be consumed within the next three days. It is better to freeze or dry the rest of the salad so as not to spoil.
Another option for keeping arugula fresh is to chop it and put it tightly in a jar, sprinkle with salt. Store in the refrigerator for up to six months. In this form, arugula will retain all the nutrients, but its taste will slightly change.
Following these recommendations, keeping a fragrant and healthy rucola for future use is not so difficult and within the power of any housewife.
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