How to refresh dried-up vegetables

Lettuce

Fill the sink with cold water, add a spoonful of sugar and put the lettuce in. After a short time, the vegetable gets nice and crunchy again.

If you have some lettuce that doesn’t look quite fresh anymore, but you don’t want to use it just yet, you can also hold the whole head under cold running water and then put it in an airtight bag. Now put it in the refrigerator for a short while. Then, after an hour, the lettuce will have come alive again.

Lamb’s lettuce

You should put it in a bowl of lukewarm water and let it soak for about five to ten minutes. It will then be fresh and crisp again.

Carrots

Once carrots have become rubbery, place them in a bowl of cold water for several hours, preferably in the fridge. The vegetables then soak up moisture through the surface and become crunchy again.

Radishes and celery

What works for carrots also works for celery and radishes. As an alternative to a water bath, you can also wrap the vegetables in a damp cloth and refrigerate them for several hours.

Courgette

Rubbery courgette becomes crunchy again by placing it in very cold water for 15 minutes.

Kohlrabi and cauliflower

You can also easily freshen up kohlrabi and cauliflower. First soak the vegetables in lukewarm water for about 15 minutes and then in very cold water for 15 minutes.

If cauliflower has turned yellow, restore its white colour by adding a little milk to the water you cook it in.

Potatoes

You can place potatoes or even parsley, spinach, soup greens or cabbage in warm water for about 30 minutes, followed by cold water for the same amount of time. And just like that, they’re fresh again.

Crisps and popcorn

It’s not just vegetables that can be freshened up. You can also give other foods, such as crisps, a freshness boost. Place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Pre-heat your oven to 75 degrees. Now put the crisps in the oven for a few minutes. The thicker the crisps, the longer they need. Check periodically to see if they’ve gotten crispy. This simple trick works not only on crisps, but also on pretzel sticks, crackers and popcorn.