How to Clean and Store Fresh Spinach

Who needs lettuce when there's fresh spinach for salad? Now, if you could just keep it long enough to eat it before it goes bad. Here's how.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• One bunch of fresh spinach
• A big bowl of water
• A large sealable storage container
• Paper towels

1. Unbundle the spinach and put it into a large bowl of cool water. Splash it around a bit. Be sure to thoroughly swish every leaf of spinach to dislodge the tiny bits of sand. Rinsing in running water wouldn't get all of it.

2. Break off the stems of two or three leaves at a time. For large mature leaves tear the stem up the back to remove the tough center spine as well. Drop trimmed spinach leaves into a strainer or spread out onto a towel to remove excess water.

3. Line the bottom of a large plastic storage container with a couple of paper towels. Toss the drained spinach into the container. Do not pack the spinach tightly as this causes it to sour faster. Add another paper towel on top, seal the container and place in the fridge.

Tips & Warnings

• Before you dump the bowl of water, look at how much fine sand lies in the bottom. Rinsing spinach under running water would not have gotten all that.
• Each time you use spinach out of the container, replace the paper towels.