Have you ever found yourself frustrated over fruits? Sometimes, we have to deal with miscalculations about how ripe a fruit is. Or maybe, you’ve realized that you’ve been cutting and serving your mangoes the wrong way. While we can eat any fruit the way we want to, there are easier ways to learn how to cut and serve them. Learning how to cut up butternut squash or if it’s possible to freeze fruits are just some of the questions we’ll help you with.
Here are 19 food hacks that you will love!
Keep your basil in a plastic bag
Like asparagus, Bon Appétit says that basil should be kept upright in a glass jar with a plastic bag. Why would this work?
This protects it from the cold and allows ethylene gas to escape, too. That’s one way to keep your favorite herb.
Here’s how to pick out a cantaloupe
To make sure the flesh is the right consistency to eat, you need to learn how to pick out a cantaloupe. Just give the bottom end of it a gentle press in with your thumb to test its strength. Ideally, the fruit will give just a little—though not too much.
Too much is a melon that’s already starting to fall apart on the inside which doesn’t make for a good fruit salad.
Cut your pomegranates properly
Pomegranates can be a bit tricky to work with. Here’s how to cut up a pomegranate with ease and precision.
If you want to cut them in a way that will leave all of the seeds intact, simply cut the beautiful, tasty fruit into wedges then scoop out the seeds with a spoon.
How to shuck corn easily
Shucking corn can be a real pain in the you-know-what. No matter how meticulous you are, there are always those little strings of husk that don’t seem to want to leave the cob. If you can relate to this, then this trick will nip that problem in the bud.
Here’s how to shuck corn easily. Simply cut off the bottom end of the corn then throw it in the microwave for 2-4 minutes. Hold the top of the husk and give it a shake, the cob will fall right out!
Keep asparagus crisp and fresh
You can keep asparagus crisp and fresh for at least a week with this easy hack. Store trimmed asparagus upright in a container with filtered water, and then gently cover it with a clean plastic bag.
Here’s how to prevent potatoes from sprouting
Have you ever opened your pantry only to find that your potatoes look like some sort of alien life form? You can actually prevent this.
In order to prevent your potatoes from sprouting, just store some apples alongside them. Why is this so?
The reason is that the gases emitted from the apples do a magic trick to help prevent that from happening. Cool, right?
Keep bananas fresh longer
It’s so annoying when you have to toss your bananas in the trash because they ripened too quickly and turned dark brown. Though you can bake banana cakes with overripe bananas, there is another hack to remember.
Keep them fresher for longer by wrapping the stems in tin foil. It’s that simple.
Pick the perfect avocado
Picking a perfectly ripe avocado is a real gamble. Sometimes they’re way too hard and other times they’re way too ripe.
Don’t worry, it’s not just you. Here’s how to pick the perfect avo every single time.
That little nub at the top? That’s right, that one right there. Remove it.
This will give you a sneak peek at what’s inside. If it’s really dark underneath, it’s too ripe. If it’s nearly white, too unripe. And if it’s perfectly green, you’re good to go.
How to cut a pineapple properly
Food Network explains how to get the perfect cut of your pineapple every time. “First, cut off the top and bottom of the pineapple, slice through the middle, cut each in half, cut the center off of each pineapple quarter, slice off the rind and then trim them up. Ta-da!”
A tip to ripen avocados quickly
Since you just learned the hack about how to pick the perfect avocado, you might have already purchased some unripe ones.
Don’t worry, it’s no big deal! Just put those in a paper bag with some bananas and the gasses that emit from the fruit will ripen them right up.
Remember this to keep mushrooms wrapped
When purchasing mushrooms, they usually come in packaging wrapped with plastic wrap. This is how they should be stored to keep them fresh.
Remember that if you open the packaging; be sure to re-cover it with a new wrap of plastic.
How to cut up butternut squash
Butternut squash can be a really difficult squash to cut, but Southern Living explains how to do it properly.
“Place squash on its side, and, using a large knife, slice off the top and bottom ends. Remove the thick outer skin with a peeler. Cut the squash in half lengthwise, then spoon out and discard the seeds.”
A helpful tip to prevent apples from browning
Once cut, apples become brown really quickly and can make a fruit salad look less-than-appetizing.
To keep them crisp and fresh looking by putting them in a cold water bath sprinkled with salt. Take them out when you’re ready to serve.
Get corn kernels off the cob without a mess
Cutting the kernels off a cob of corn is fairly easy, but it can create a bit of a mess.
If you can relate, then you’d love this hack! Keep your counters corn-free by holding the corn in the center of a bundt pan and cutting the kernels off. They’ll fall right into the body of the bundt pan.
You can grate and freeze lemon rinds
Lemon rinds are super rich in antioxidants, even more so than lemon juice. Did you know that you can store them for later use?
If you plan on using your lemons right away, be sure to grate the rinds off and freeze them for use in salads, smoothies, tea, and water.
Juice lemons easier
Lemons require juicing for lots of recipes but lots of times, people are making it way harder on themselves than it needs to be.
Be sure to cut the lemon lengthwise not width-wise. It will make it so much easier to juice and you’ll get more bang for your buck.
Can you freeze watermelon chunks
“Wait, what? Is it possible? Can you freeze watermelon chunks?”
Yep. You’ve read that one right. Purchasing a whole watermelon can leave you with a lot of leftover fruit, and we don’t want to waste that.
If your family or guests didn’t eat all of it, cut the rest into chunks and place them in the freezer. Once frozen, you can throw it in the blender for some super yummy watermelon juice/smoothie.
Cut mangos like a pro
Mangos often seem like a really tricky fruit to cut, but they’re really not. Learning how to cut honey mango can be quite easy.
All you need to do is cut the mango in half, making sure you’re cutting along the seed. Then, create small squares by cutting in a checkered manner. Lastly, invert the mango skin and now you have perfectly diced mango.
Cut the tops off carrots
The leafy greens of a carrot are beautiful (and edible!) but if you want to keep your carrots super fresh, chop them off before storing them in the fridge. They’ll stay fresher for longer.
Takeaway
Learning how to cut up butternut squash is easier when you’re familiar with the right method. This goes with all the other fruits and veggies that we love too.
How many of these fruit and veggie hacks did you know? Do you have any others to share? We’d love to know!