Salad leaves last longer without going floppy if stored with 1 kitchen item

Now that the sun is out, many of us are craving lighter dinners like salads or sandwiches. However, there is nothing worse than going to prepare your meal to find your lettuce has gone soggy and limp.

Lettuce is notorious for spoiling quickly after purchase due to its high water content, which can lead to bacterial or mould growth if not stored correctly. Those wishing to make a delicious crisp salad are being advised to use one staple kitchen item that could make your lettuce stay fresher for longer. According to experts, throwing away soggy lettuce could be a thing of the past if you follow this simple hack.

One big mistake people make when storing lettuce, is storing it in plastic bags as it will create a humid environment. Instead experts at 'thekitchn' recommend storing the greens in a container with paper towels.

To do this, simply line the plastic storage container with paper towels and dump the lettuce in an even layer on top, and then cover it with another layer of paper towels before locking down the lid.

If lettuce becomes damp, it will spoil at a quicker rate, but will also ruin the texture, so paper towels will also stop salad leaves from becoming limp and soggy, so they will be much more enjoyable to eat.

The experts say: "A hard-sided box also protects the leaves from getting knocked around or bruised by other foods they might sit against in the refrigerator."

To put the trick to the test the experts left the lettuce in the storage container with the paper towels for 10 days.

After 10 days, while there were a few soggy leaves that needed to be discarded, the rest of the leaves were still crisp and definitely edible.

They said: "There wasn't any excess condensation built up in the container, and the paper towels were just very slightly damp but not soggy."