Brilio.net - Water spinach is often cooked into various dishes, whether stir-fried, boiled, or used as a salad. This vegetable is not only popular because it tastes fresh and crunchy, but also because it is high in nutrients, such as vitamins A, C, and iron. The high nutrients in water spinach make this vegetable often chosen as a healthy menu .
However, like most green leafy vegetables, kale has a texture that is easy to wilt. The texture of kale that is easy to wilt is due to the high water content in the leaves. When kale is not handled properly, such as stored for too long in an inappropriate way, this vegetable will quickly lose its freshness. As a result, kale that should be crispy and appetizing can become wilted and less attractive to eat.
Then, wilted kale is often considered unfit to be cooked for consumption. As a result, many people choose to just throw it away. In fact, wilted kale can be restored to its freshness as long as the vegetable has not rotted or turned black.
TikTok user @mieconiaa once shared a trick to restore the freshness of wilted kale. Through one of the videos she uploaded, she admitted that using only a simple trick, wilted kale can be fresh again as if it had just been picked in just 1 hour.
photo: TikTok/@mieconiaa
As reported by BrilioFood from TikTok @mieconiaa on Monday (8/26), she chose to soak the water spinach in water. So the wilted water spinach can be cleaned first. Don't forget to cut and discard the roots of the water spinach.
photo: TikTok/@mieconiaa
Next, put the water spinach into a basin or container. Then pour water until it is completely full. At this stage, make sure all parts of the water spinach are completely submerged, okay?
photo: TikTok/@mieconiaa
If so, put the water spinach in the lower refrigerator or chiller. Then let it sit and soak the water spinach for about 1 hour. The cold temperature of the refrigerator will make the water spinach fresh again. Both the leaves and the stems can be crispy and dense, you know.
photo: TikTok/@mieconiaa
Basically, soaking wilted kale in water and then placing it in the refrigerator is an effective method to restore the freshness of the vegetable. This process works because kale has cells that easily lose water. When kale is left in the open air or in a warm environment for too long, its cells lose moisture, causing the leaves to wilt and become less fresh.
By soaking kale in water, the vegetable cells reabsorb the lost water. The water absorbed by the cells increases turgor (water pressure inside the cells), so that the kale leaves are upright and fresh again. Putting the soaked kale in the refrigerator helps slow down the water evaporation process and maintains the moisture that has just been absorbed by the vegetables.
The cold temperature of the refrigerator also reduces the metabolic rate of kale, slowing the further wilting process and maintaining its freshness longer. In this way, kale that was initially wilted can be fresh again and ready to be processed into a delicious dish.