Broccoli is one of the healthiest types of vegetables and can be used in a variety of ways - it develops its aroma in rice and pasta dishes just as well as it does on its own with fried nuts or together with potatoes. You can find out how to store broccoli correctly so that its head stays crisp for as long as possible in our guide!

Broccoli can be stored in a vase like a bouquet

What you should generally consider

Make sure you get fresh broccoli when you buy it. You can easily recognize this by its colour: Dark green or blue-green florets indicate that the broccoli is good. A light green or even yellowish specimen, on the other hand, is about to spoil or is already on the verge of spoiling. So keep your hands off it. You should also not take the vegetables if you have brown spots.

It is important to store broccoli separately from fruit and vegetables that later ripen, such as apples and pears, bananas or tomatoes. These evaporate the ripening gas ethylene - which means that the broccoli and other vegetable or fruity neighbors rot faster.

How to store broccoli

You can store broccoli in the refrigerator or freeze it for several months. With regard to storage in the refrigerator, there are various options:

  • in plastic wrap
  • as a bouquet
  • in damp kitchen paper

Store broccoli in plastic wrap

As a rule, broccoli is sold in plastic sleeves - but without holes. When storing, it is important that the vegetables can “breathe”. That's why we advise you to poke a few small holes in the case. This promotes air permeability. So you can store the broccoli in the fridge - preferably in the vegetable drawer. It will keep for about three to five days.

Store broccoli as a bouquet

Unconventional but effective:

  1. Fill a sufficiently large bowl with a little water (1.5 centimetres).
  2. Place the broccoli in the bowl, stem side down.
  3. The head should protrude over the edge of the bowl.
  4. Cover the head loosely with a perforated plastic bag.
  5. Place the broccoli in the refrigerator like this.
  6. Change the water every day.

Vegetables will generally keep for five to seven days using this method.

Store broccoli in damp kitchen paper

This variant mimics the functionality of automatic humidification systems used in supermarkets.

  1. Fill an empty, clean and originally harmless (no caustic materials) spray bottle with cold water.
  2. Spray the head of the broccoli evenly.
  3. Wrap the vegetables loosely in kitchen paper.
  4. The paper absorbs the moisture and keeps the broccoli fresh.
  5. Put the vegetables in the fridge like this.

The wrapped broccoli stays good for about three days.

Freeze broccoli

  1. Cut the broccoli into florets.
  2. Blanch the pieces for about three minutes.
  3. Shock the florets again in ice water for three minutes.
  4. Drain the pieces in a colander.
  5. Dry the florets carefully with kitchen paper.
  6. Put the pieces in portions in freezer bags.
  7. Seal the bags airtight.
  8. Put the freezer bags in the freezer.

This is how broccoli retains its freshness for at least six months, sometimes even a year.

The garden journal freshness ABC

How can fruit and vegetables be stored correctly so that they stay fresh for as long as possible?

The garden journal freshness ABC as a poster:

  • as a free PDF file to print out yourself

Category:

Vegetable garden