Water spinach is a popular green vegetable in Southeast Asia, especially in Indonesia. With its crunchy texture and fresh taste, water spinach is often used as a stir-fry or soup. The easy and fast processing of water spinach makes many people choose this vegetable as a daily menu.
Despite its many benefits and being loved by many people, kale wilts quickly if not stored properly. Even if placed in the refrigerator, kale still wilts quickly and becomes soft, making it less tasty when consumed.
To overcome wilted kale, some people usually choose to just throw it away. However, there are also those who process it again to make it fresher, for example by soaking the vegetables in ice water. This is considered to be able to restore the freshness of wilted kale.
But besides the method of soaking in ice water, there is another trick that you can practice, you know. This trick was shared by Instagram user @ummubalqishaura, it tends to be more practical and faster because wilted kale can be fresh again in 10-15 minutes. It can save cooking time, you know.
After further investigation, the Instagram user did not only soak it in ice water. He admitted to using another kitchen ingredient. As reported by BrilioFood from Instagram @ummubalqishaura on Tuesday (8/20), the kitchen ingredient in question is lemon water.
Instagram/@ummubalqishaura
So, the way, just prepare water in a large basin. Then cut the kale and put it in the basin filled with water. If so, add some small ice cubes.
Instagram/@ummubalqishaura
Next, add 1 tbsp of lemon juice. If you don't have lemon juice, you can replace it with vinegar or lime juice. After that, stir for a while and soak the kale for 10-15 minutes.
Instagram/@ummubalqishaura
Well, the soaked water spinach will be fresher like when it was just bought at the market. You can immediately drain it and rinse the water spinach under running water until clean. That way, the water spinach is ready to be processed into various delicious dishes.
Instagram/@ummubalqishaura
In addition to ice cubes, lemon water can help restore the freshness of wilted kale because of the citric acid content in it. Citric acid has natural preservative properties that can slow down the oxidation process in vegetables. When wilted kale is soaked in water containing lemon juice, the citric acid helps restore the structure of plant cells, so that the leaves and stems of the kale can become fresher and firmer again.