If you do not know that you have crisper drawers in your refrigerator, then you are not alone. Crisper drawers remain a mystery to many customers.
For many people, crisper drawers are the perfect place to store anything and everything that won’t fit onto your fridge shelves. However, if appropriately used, crisper drawers can help to extend the life of the fruits and vegetables stored in your refrigerator.
In this blog, we will guide you on how to use the crisper drawer in your refrigerator and get the most out of them.
How Do Crisper Drawers Work?
Crisper drawers are bins in the refrigerators that offer a more humid environment. Most crisper drawers have a small vent that helps to adjust the humidity inside by opening or closing it. The vent mainly controls the airflow in and out of the drawer. For the high humidity setting the vent is kept closed. A closed vent blocks the airflow and a humid environment is created inside the drawer. Low humidity means the vent is open for the air to move freely. If your refrigerator has two drawers, then it is best to set one on high and the other one on low. This arrangement will help you store all kinds of produce.
What to Store And Where?
High Humidity Crisper Drawer
The high humidity crisper drawer should contain leafy or thin-skinned vegetables as they are more likely to lose moisture quickly. Green vegetables, asparagus, and fresh herbs are examples of what is to be stored in a high humidity crisper drawer. Lettuce should be kept inside plastic bags or containers inside high humidity drawers to retain its freshness for a longer time.
Low Humidity Crisper Drawer
Fruits such as apples, pears, and melons give off high levels of ethylene, which speeds up the ripening process in these fruits. Ethylene can over-ripen the fruits and also damage other produce that is sensitive to it. That is why these fruits should be stored in a low humidity crisper drawer as the open vent in the drawer allows the ethylene released from the fruits to escape.
We also suggest arranging the food items in the crisper drawer in such a way where the item that will ripen first kept in the front. This arrangement will help you use these items before they spoil.
