Have
you ever wondered why food dries out inside the refrigerator? Or,
why some foods seem to lose their taste after only a few days?
Many consumers blame it on poor food quality or the grocery store.
The culprit is not food quality but the changing moisture level of the
food caused by our modern frost-free refrigerators.
The frost-free
refrigerators was a great boon
to homeowners since it eliminated the need to manually defrost. Central to
any modern refrigerators operation is a constant flow of
air that is circulated by a fan. The job of this circulating air is to
pick up moisture and return it to the cooling coil where it can be
removed by the automatic defrosting system. Therefore your food has an
almost constant flow of air passing over it. Unfortunately,
the air flow is also picking up moisture from your food that's
resulting in the food taste problems.
Most of the
foods we consume contain a high level of moisture. For example:
Vegetables, fruits, meat, poultry, fish, oils, fats, and liquids. Your
refrigerator can dehydrate all of these,
whenever the circulating air
comes into contact with them. The answer to
this problem is easy: Stop the air from contacting the food
directly . In other words, by
simply covering the food the problem becomes minimal. Also, don’t
leave any exposed foods on the shelves.
Vegetables
should go into the crisper; liquids must be covered;
meats-poultry-fish should be placed in sealed containers, or left
wrapped. Don’t forget about leftovers. They too must be covered
or containerized. If not you will probably end up throwing them
out as they begin to dry out.
Ever wonder
why leftovers often taste so dull? Ever wonder why something that you
cooked on Monday seems to have lost all of its flavor when you reheat it
on Wednesday? It’s because a lot of the minerals and vitamins
inside the food resides within the moisture. As the moisture is
being removed, the food becomes progressively dull or flat tasting.
To eliminate this problem you
don't have to use expensive containers. Some plastic wrap, a bread
wrapper, or even a plate can be used to stop the air from
contacting the food. For example, if you make a bowl of Jell-O and
then place it into the refrigerator to cool and solidify. When the bowl is left uncovered a lot of the flavor will be
lost to the effects of air dehydration. To eliminate the moisture
being sucked out of it, simply place an oversized plate on top of
the bowl. It will act as a lid and the Jell-O will have added taste
when you serve it to your family.
Therefore
try this method with all your refrigerated food -- you may be
pleasantly surprised how well it works. Additionally your family will eat better because
your food
will retain a lot more of its natural value including more vitamins, minerals, and moisture. Plus the food
you serve them will taste as good as it looks.
By
Donald Grummett
Copyright © 2007
Donald Grummett. All rights reserved
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