Extending produce life on board.

[RickG]

Starsan? Interesting, we used that in the brewery. It is acid based.

We have Potassium Permanganate on the boat. We plan to use it on fruit and veg to manage fruit flies. It looks like it only takes a couple crystals to get the needed concentration.

Cheers, RickG

[Neale]

I know this response is a little late to the party, but in her book "Dolphins at Sunset", Elizabeth Thurston wrote that they wrapped their apples, oranges, etc. in foil. She said they found an orange in the bottom of a storage locker that had been there for an extended period of time (close to or over a year I believe) and it was still fresh.

I haven't tried this myself, but it seems like it would be a technique worth exploring

[owly]

PH is a huge factor in growth of bacteria and mold. Being able to pack produce in a low PH environment... lets say wrapped in absorbent material like paper towels, and irrigated periodically with an acidic medium......... let's say starsan that I mentioned before, or some other, perhaps vinegar based solution so that the surface was always in contact with something moist an acidic should it would seem, greatly retard spoilage. Some foods of course will absorb acids, others have a peel or rind that will be resistant, and these should be the best candidates. It would be interesting to build a stowage box with a small submersible pump and drain though a filter to a reservoir and try this....... an experiment worth trying I would say. It will either work or not. Perhaps a system that separated the items and simply was flooded once a day, and air circulation allowed drying...
There are two kinds of spoilage basically....... bacterial, and simple over ripening.



H.W.

[JPA Cate]

The fruit I've had the most success with light bleach solution, and foil wrap after air drying is the tiny limes. If you kill what's on them, and make sure they're dry, they will last for about 3 months, wrapped in aluminum foil. Thick skinned fruits like grapefruits and navel oranges, probably would work as well, and bush lemons. I'd expect it to work for most lemons, actually. I have not tried it for apples.

If you're wanting to keep vegs without refrigeration, it's pretty hard. With cabbage, you'll want to take a clean knife, and re-cut the stem (and just touch it with the bleach solution) then store wrapped in paper, and in a dark, dry, place. Also works for carrots. Spanish onions, if properly dried before you got them, will go a long time.

It's been a long time since we cruised without refrigeration, but ginger is really hard to keep, ime, unless refrigerated, of course, it gets all shriveled up.

Ann

[Ursula pappas]

Wrap some veggies in tin foil at home and it keeps a long time in fridge