I'm always excited when I purchase cilantro. In my neighborhood you can get four bunches for a dollar, and even if I don't need all four bunches I still bring them home. I figure I'll find a way to use all of them up, but inevitably there's one sad bunch all soggy and brown in the back of the fridge a week later. But not anymore!
Curious about which methods kept cilantro fresh longer, Jodi Torpey of the blog Vegetable Gardener tested a few out. She tried three methods: 1) cilantro in a jar on the counter with water, 2) cilantro in a jar in the refrigerator with a bag over the leaves, and 3) cilantro with the stems trimmed in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Do you know which method worked the best?
The jar in the refrigerator with a bag over the leaves! Just make sure you keep it chilled, watered and covered! Read the full study to check out more details.
Read More: How To Keep Cilantro Fresh from Vegetable Gardener
Related: Cilantro: A Love Hate Story
(Image: Flickr member ercwttmn licensed for use by Creative Commons)
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What kind of bag, paper or plastic?
The method above, involves changing the water every other day. It gets pretty gross quickly. I've found that wrapping cilantro in a damp kitchen towel also works very well.
thank you for this post. each week i buy cilantro, and several days later if i forgot to prioritize the recipe that called for it, we have a moment of silence over the trash barrel. every.single.week.
In a jar in the fridge without a bag over it works for me. It probably lasts about a week and a half.
I agree with @Abanana, I wrap my cilantro in a damp paper towel and stick it in a plastic bag and it stays fresh enough for at least two weeks (Pick out the few stragglers that have gone bad).
I am normally not one for gadgetry, but for *potentially long lasting herbs like parsley and cilantro, my herb keeper easily earned its keep. It is easy to refill the water and I don't have to mess with a plastic bag.
http://www.amazon.com/Flagline-PP01-HS100-Prepara-Herb-Savor/dp/B000YMOXKC/ref=sr_1_5?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1343938356&sr=1-5&keywords=herb+keeper
I've grown to love cilantro (it was an acquired taste) and I buy large quantities of it when it's on sale and freeze it.
Wash thoroughly, drain thoroughly, leave overnight wrapped in towels in the frig to get rid of as much moisture as possible. Then chop very finely in the food processor and freeze in ice cube trays. The next day transfer cubes to a ziplock bag, store in the freezer and pull out a cube or two whenever needed. I've been doing this for years. It beats worrying about how fresh it's staying in the frig.
As soon as I get cilantro, I wrap it in aluminum foil and seal tightly and put it in the fridge. Usually in my produce drawer. When I need some, I unwrap, pluck of the leaves and reseal. I've dried jars with water and as someone else mentioned, the water gets rank after a few days. In the foil, I get it to last week-10 days. Keep it tightly sealed.
I know it won't last nearly as long, but if I'm using parsley or cilantro for a recipe, I chop up the rest and store it in a zip-lock bag with a damp paper towel. I find that I use it WAY more often if it's ready to be sprinkled on top of whatever I'm making!
This method sounds interesting. I am another person that wraps it in a damp paper towel and then puts it back in the plastic bag, and it seems to work very well.
I like to buy cilantro with the roots (they can be used in cooking too). I like to keep it in a plastic bag with a bunch of parsley in the fridge. I don't know why but the cilantro never seems to have any (or a lot fewer) discolored leaves. Keeps for a week or so. I also chop and freeze for the off season.
we can all argue which method works best but what it really comes down to is the things that we cannot control.
do you have any idea how many days since it was cut? do you know how it was stored from cutting to you buying? also, the farm it was grown on, the dirt, the fertilizer? yes some of the stuff we can do can help but not always...
that being said i shake off as much water as possible when bought, wrap in paper towel and keep in the same bag i bought it in wrapped and tied. my parsley has been alive for ten days. cilantro going on 4 looking rough....