Have you ever had whole cooked cauliflowers before? It is tasty and soft and melts in your mouth. You can make plenty of amazing dishes like this with cauliflower which is why it is a well-deserved contender to be your favorite vegetable. But do you know how long does cauliflower lasts? If you don’t you may have to let it go to waste.
How Long Does Cauliflower Last?
When you buy cauliflower, it might be harder for you to know how much time you can store the cauliflower because it does not come with a use-by date. That is why you need to know how long you can keep your cauliflower before it goes bad.
If you buy fresh cauliflower from the supermarket, you should not buy too much of it. You should only buy the amount you can finish within 2 days. Fresh cauliflower can only last at room temperature for about 2-4 days. After the 2-4 days period, the quality of the cauliflower slowly starts to deteriorate and if it is kept at room temperature for too long it will begin to rot.
How Long Does Cooked Cauliflower Last?
Once a food is cooked its shelf life decreases significantly. Cooking makes it easier for microorganisms to get into the food and spoil it. The same is applicable for cauliflower as well.
Cooked cauliflower should be consumed within 2 hours after being cooked. At room temperature, cooked cauliflower cannot last for too long. The outer barrier that stops microorganisms from getting in gets destroyed while cooking. The moisture content of the cooked cauliflower also increases significantly. These are the reasons why cooked cauliflower cannot last at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
In a fridge, you can save cooked cauliflower for a little bit longer. The cold atmosphere of the fridge helps keep the cooked cauliflower intact for a longer period. You can store cooked cauliflower in the fridge for about 4-5 days.
The best thing to do is to cook cauliflower only when you are ready to consume it. Dishes made with cauliflower taste best when they are served piping hot. Keeping cooked cauliflower in the fridge and reheating it isn’t the best practice for both your health and your taste buds.
How Long Does Cauliflower Last in the Fridge?
Cauliflowers can last a little bit longer compared to the ones kept in room temperature if it is kept in a fridge. The fridge extends the shelf life of your cauliflowers for up to a week.
How long your cauliflower lasts in a fridge will greatly depend upon a couple of factors. If you buy fresh cauliflowers that were just picked a day or two before will last longer than the ones that have been sitting on the market shelf for longer.
In some cases, your cauliflower may go bad in just two days, or in some cases, they might last you for more than a week. That is why it is a great idea to buy fresh produce. That way you can store them for longer and you won’t end up wasting them.
While keeping in the fridge you should try to store the whole cauliflower head at once. Do not wash or break off the cauliflower, just seal the whole cauliflower head in a plastic bag and keep it in your fridge. This way you can store your cauliflower the longest.
How to Freeze Cauliflower?
Freezing is an excellent way to extend the shelf life of most fruits and vegetables. Freezing uses extremely cold temperatures and gives your fruits and vegetables the best chance of surviving a microbial attack.
If the shelf life of fresh cauliflower at room temperature and the fridge seem way less to you and you would like to know a way to store your cauliflower for longer, then you might want to learn how to freeze cauliflower. Freezing cauliflower is an easy way to extend its shelf life for up to eight long months.
To freeze cauliflower, you first need to make sure that your cauliflowers are thoroughly cleaned. It might be harder for you to completely clean whole cauliflowers, as there might be dirt left between the flowers of the cauliflower.
To get around this pesky problem, you need to cut the cauliflower into easily manageable-sized pieces. You should remove the leaves and the stem, as they are not going to be very useful to you and hence you don’t need to freeze them.
After you are done cutting up the cauliflower, you should blanch it in boiling water. Blanch for about 1 and half minutes to make sure that all the existing microorganisms on the cauliflower are dead. Right after you are done boiling, transfer it into an ice water bath.
Before freezing the cauliflower make sure that you drain out all the water. After the cauliflower is properly drained, arrange it in a baking tray and freeze it overnight. Make sure to place the cauliflower pieces in such a way that no two pieces of cauliflower are touching.
After freezing the cauliflower overnight, you can transfer the pieces into a freezer bag. Get as much air out as possible. Now you can store these cauliflower pieces for more than 8 months.
How to tell if your Cauliflower has Gone Bad?
It is incredibly easy to tell when a cauliflower goes bad. You will see visible signs of spoilage in the form of brown spots on the cauliflower. A foul smell may also accompany to indicate that it is time that your cauliflower should be thrown out. If anything about the texture of the cauliflower seems softer and mushier than usual you are better off without using that cauliflower.
Conclusion
If you store them well, you can keep and eat cauliflower for quite a while. And you should eat cauliflower because it is good for your health. It has a high amount of fiber and antioxidants and it can help you lose weight. Because cauliflower can help lose weight, cauliflower rice has become a popular addition to the diet charts as a replacement for normal rice. You should also freeze your cauliflower today so that you can enjoy cauliflower rice for a long period.