8. Coffee
If you love coffee, you know that there is a huge difference between great coffee and bad coffee.
Refrigerating the beans, either whole or ground, will cause watery condensation to build up, and that makes for a seriously underwhelming brew. Keep those beans in an airtight container at room temperature instead.
9. Tomatoes
While a lot of produce does better in the refrigerator, tomatoes are best stored on the counter. Chilling whole tomatoes strips their flavor and makes the texture mealy.
If your tomatoes are under-ripe, put them on a sunny windowsill. If they begin to over-ripen it’s best to cook them, after which they can be stored in the fridge.
10. Hot Sauce
It’s okay to store hot sauce in the refrigerator, but it does steal some of the spicy heat of the peppers. And there is really no need to chill hot sauce to preserve it.
There is plenty of vinegar in there that prevents bacterial growth.
11. Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread
This tasty spread goes great on graham crackers, toast, or fruit, but when you keep it in the fridge it solidifies and can’t be spread.
Cold chocolate-hazelnut spread also loses some of its distinctive flavor. In general, unopened containers can keep for two months in the pantry. Open containers are safe for about a month past their sell-by date even without refrigeration.
12. Apples
You can refrigerate your apples if you prefer them cold, but there is no need to. In fact, chilling them tends to break down their crispness.
Apples are a nice fruit to display on a table or counter for a couple of weeks. At that point, any that haven’t been eaten can be put in the fridge to extend their life a few days more.
13. Avocados
It can be tricky to catch avocados at the peak of their ripeness, and they are just not good when they’re too hard or too soft. Eating an under-ripe avocado is like biting into a raw potato, and overripe avocado is mushy and blackened.
Still, it’s only good to refrigerate avocado if you have one that has gotten ripe but you aren’t ready to use it. That can buy you a couple of extra days.
14. Berries
Berries just don’t last very long after picking, so it’s best to buy them on the day you want them rather than store them.
Still, the fridge is better than the counter if you are going to hang on to berries for a few days. However, most get moldy very quickly once they become wet, so never rinse a whole carton and then store it.
15. Stone Fruit
Stone fruit like plums, peaches, nectarines, and apricots ripen best at room temperature. It’s ideal to store them in a paper bag on the counter or in the pantry for peak flavor.
However, if your stone fruit has ripened but you can’t eat it right away, your fridge’s fruit bin will keep it from going mushy for a couple more days.
Conclusion
Simply keeping these items in the pantry, on the counter, or in a drawer will improve their flavor, texture, and longevity. However, chilling these foods is recommended after they have been cut or cooked.
Additionally, the fridge can preserve already-ripe fruit for a couple more days, but remember that fruit does not ripen well there. We hope this info will help you begin to enjoy your food in a way you didn’t know was possible!