Does Kai-lan Go Bad?

Kai-lan, also referred to as Gai-lan, Chinese broccoli, Chinese kale is a green leafy vegetable with characteristic thick stems. This kind of broccoli is vastly used in Asian and Chinese cuisines. It is used in stir-frying, steaming, blanching as well as in a famous dish stir-fried kai-lan. This leafy vegetable is rich in nutrients like various vitamins, folic acid, and rich dietary fiber.

The raw Chinese broccoli is more nutritious. It is because the cooked one loses its nutrients. Kai-lan may go bad either because it surpasses its shelf life or your inability to provide it optimum conditions required.

How To Store Kai-Lan

After getting familiar with the Kai-lan vegetable, its benefits, and its uses, another aspect needs to be covered as well. And that is the knowledge of storing it well to avoid it getting spoiled and thrown in the bin eventually.

Proper know-how of storage of any particular meal helps us maximize its shelf life to be brought into use more often. Not only that, but it also saves your money as you don’t have to discard it and replace it with the new one if it is properly stored and taken care of.

So how can you store your stock of Kai-lan or Chinese broccoli so that it gets utilized in the kitchen even more? If you are curious enough to know about that, this article is a perfect place for you to continue.

It may be used in either the raw form or how you like to add your meals to enhance their taste. Therefore, let’s get started and get to know how to store it.

Keep It Inside The Refrigerator Drawer

When you intend to store your stock of nutritious Kai-lan vegetables for a couple of days only, consider refrigerating it. To refrigerate it, keep its bunches as a whole in a sealed plastic bag and then put it inside the vegetable drawer.

Wrap In A Damp Paper Towel

Another storage technique that may be followed is wrapping Kai-lan in a damp paper towel loosely and then refrigerating it. Though it may also be kept in a sealed plastic bag, the best choice is to consider using a damp paper towel.

Freeze It

Another method to adopt is to freeze this healthy green vegetable. Freezing it promotes the shelf life to increase furthermore, and you may use it after a comparatively long time.

Can You Freeze Kai-Lan

While storing and preserving our favorite eatables for a longer duration and then eating them, the option of freezing shows up in our minds. Freezing is a preservation technique used for many years to help the meals reach their maximum shelf life, but that is not true every time.

So can you freeze Kai-lan to use it after a while? Yes, it can be frozen. To freeze your Kai-lan, wash first, cut off the stems, blanch, drain, chill in ice water and then, after drying, put it inside the freezer bags or heavy-duty bags and keep it inside the freezer. Freezing can last it for longer than it’s at room temperature.

How Long Does Kai-Lan Last

This nutritious green leafy vegetable’s shelf life differs under the influence of different conditions where it is kept. The shelf life at room temperature is different from what is stored inside the refrigerator or a freezer properly because freezing can increase any product’s life, so does Kai-Lan.

Broccoli lasts up to a very few days if kept at room temperature. That pile of Chinese broccoli kept in the vegetable drawer of the refrigerator lasts up to 7 to 14 days if bought in a fresh condition.

Once the Kai-lan is cooked, its shelf life decreases to 7 to 9 days as it loses its nutrients after cooking. Simultaneously, broccoli in the freezer lasts up to 6 to 8 months after being blanched.

How To Tell If Kai-Lan Is Bad

Fortunately, you got to know about various storage methods for your Kai-lan broccoli, and you apply it too, but even then, it gets spoiled. Now, what are you going to do to figure out whether it should be consumed or not?

Your senses are the most reliable instruments you have, which tell you fairly enough about your meals’ spoilage. Similarly, we will tell you how your senses serve in telling you about the spoilage of your Kai-lan just below.

• Odor: The first sign that begins to develop in the Kai-lan going bad is its intensified unbearable odor.
• Appearance: The Kai-lan going bad also tends to change its color from green to a yellowish one. Discard it.
• Texture: Normal healthy Kai-lan is crispy in texture, but the one going bad becomes limp as a result. Replace that limp broccoli, too, with a fresh one.

Sources

• Eat By Date
• Nesfp