Stuff That Works - Green Bags!

[schoonerdog]

I's always eye these things at the grocery store, but thought they looked too hokey to actually work. But a friend swore by them and I took the plunge.

Green Bags (warning, there is annoying audio on their wen site, turn town your volume)

basically a plastic bag that extends the life of your veggies. Something about the amount of humidity in a small marine refrigerator -- our veggies usually don't last more than 24-48 hours. These bags stretched that time to at least a week or more! You can dry them out and reuse them too.

I love it when stuff works!

(schoonerdog's wife, Cindy)

[Kiwikat]

I agree. These types of bags are brilliant. A plastics engineer friend in NZ helped develop them years ago and used us as guinea pigs testing out the technology.

Strangely enough, I cannot find them on the market in NZ but they are in most supermarkets here in Australia.

I swear by them, both at home and on the boat. I now have a lot of Kiwi converts that put their order in around holiday cruising time.

Cheers
Lisa

[Abaco]

Not just for the boat. We use them in the house for lettuce and some fruit. Lettuce will last for weeks in these bags and gets crisper than when it comes from the grocery store. They really are amazing. Highly recommended.

[GordMay]

I wouldn't bother with "Green" bags in any situation where fruits and vegetables would be regularly available (weekly). They cost too much for routine use, and I have my doubts about their efficacy*.

Notwithstanding, I'd be tempted to use them on long passages, when unable to re-provision for a month.

Stay Fresh vegetable bags are made from low density polyethylene that is coated with a fine layer of natural clay* containing high levels of a mineral claimed to absorb ethylene gas.

* Evert-Fresh Corp’s Debbie Meyer brand calls their proprietary clay “Oya”, describing it as a mineral form of Zeolite.

Ethylene producing items (such as apples, avocados, bananas, melons, peaches, pears, and tomatoes) should be stored separately from ethylene-sensitive ones (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, leafy greens, lettuce, etc.).
Remove ethylene with ethylene absorbing filters, or gas absorbers, such as potassium permanganate (KMnO4) or activated charcoal.

* What is the effect of ethylene on fruit ripening?
Ethylene can promote ripening in tomatoes, bananas, citrus, pineapples, dates, persimmons, pears, apples, melons, mangos, avocados, papayas and jujubes - a clear indication that the action of ethylene is general and widespread amongst a number of fruits. It is clear that ethylene is a ripening hormone - a chemical substance produced by fruits with the specific biological phenomenon of accelerating the normal process of fruit maturation and senescence.

Using tomatoes as an example, the life of a tomato fruit begins with fertilization of the flower ovules. After fertilization, the young fruit goes through a short period of cell division which is then followed by a rapid period of growth as these cells enlarge. During the final stages of growth and development, the tomato fruit reaches its full size and is now mature. This period of growth and development, from fertilization to development of the mature fruit, requires about 45-55 days, depending on the cultivar and the season. During the growth and development period, there are many chemical and physical changes occurring that have an impact on fruit quality and ripening behavior after harvest. Ripening is the final stage of the maturation process when the fruit changes color, and develops the flavor, texture and aroma that makes up what we define as optimum eating quality. The biological agent that initiates this ripening process after the fruit is mature is naturally produced ethylene - this simple plant hormone described and understood over 40years ago. While there are other factors involved in this "triggering" of the ripening process by ethylene, it is essentially a universal ripening hormone. When this internal concentration of naturally produced ethylene increases to about 0.1 - 1.0 ppm, the ripening process is irreversibly initiated. The process may be slowed, but it cannot be reversed once it is truly under way. So, here is the key point: additional and externally applied ethylene, provided prior to the time that the naturally produced internal concentration reaches the required 0.1 - 1.0 ppm level, will trigger or initiate - "promote" if you will - this natural ripening process at an earlier time.

See also:

➥ http://postharvest.ucdavis.edu/datas...es/234-115.pdf

➥ http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/datastore/234-91.pdf

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
“Manual for Horticultural Crops” Handbook #668
➥ Small-Scale Postharvest Handling Practices: A Manual for Horticultural Crops

[Hud3]

My wife swears by the green bags. I was skeptical, but have to admit that they do work for certain fruits and veggies. The red bags for meat keep cold cuts fresh longer.

[s/v Jedi]

We use them whenever we go far away from markets for extended periods. They work really good. You can also buy special cassettes (much like the ones with silica to keep things dry) that absorb ethylene, and put them in plastic veggie boxes like those from Tupperware.

We experiment with the green bags often. Last find was that they keep self-fried shrimp crackers (kroepoek krupuk whatever you call them) good for hours instead of minutes.

cheers,
Nick.

[bobfnbw]

I tried the local made variety once and was not impressed. When they say you have to dry the produce, and I did, but then there is no moisture absorbing system in these bags so of course vegatable are full of moisture. I found that in the high humidity of south texas they did not prolong the life much, at least not for the costs these have.
But Gord gave me a idea in his post so I did a Google on ethelyen absorbers and found these

Peakfresh Produce Storage Bags
Veritemp
DryPak Industries - Ethylene Absorbers
RDFreshBP


Seems to me that a packet of absorber in a Tupperware type container might be a better solution.
BTW where do you get the other bags for meat bread and such. The link to the green bags on the thread starter doesn't have it...

[Hud3]

Google "Debbie Meyer coldcut bags" for the red meat storage bags.

[Labatt]

We tried using the green bags in the Bahamas and they really did nothing for us - fruit and vegetables went bad as quickly as they did out of the bags. A few of the other boats we mentioned this to had the same experience. Perhaps the climate here, or the lack of chemicals on most of the stuff we buy here?

[s/v Jedi]

I don't think they grow much in the Bahama's so it's probably all imported stuff that no one wants in Florida ;-)

cheers,
Nick.

[Talbot]

Vacuum pack, and they will last significantly longer.

[Abaco]

Test them for yourself. Buy the bags. Buy some lettace. Store the lettace in the fridge inside the bag. Tell us what you think after a week, or two or three. I have been using the bags at home non-stop for the last 5 years. They work very well.

[toewsrus]

We tried them, thought things went bad just as fast or faster in the bags, threw them all out the other week.

[Therapy]

We use them.
They work for us at home.

[schoonerdog]

I wonder why they seem to work SO well for some and not at all for others? We need Practical Sailor to do a test