Cilantro is sold by the bunch. If your recipe calls for a modest amount, say a quarter cup of chopped cilantro, what happens to rest of the bunch? Into the crisper drawer it goes.
Unless Taco Tuesday's up next, by week's end, the cilantro leaves are wilting and yellowing. The stems are limp. The bunch that cost three dollars is now a handful of herb waste. That gets expensive, especially when local cilantro isn't available.
Cooking with fresh herbs is great. Throwing away the unused is frustrating. The underlying problem is lack of hydration for moisture-dependent plants, like herbs and greens. And dry fridge air is to blame.
A fridge alone can't keep cilantro fresh. Fridges do cold. And cold air is dry air.
Cilantro's thin, lacy leaves have a high ratio of surface area to mass. This means more of the plant is exposed to the surrounding air relative to its overall size—and in a dry fridge, that means faster moisture loss.
As cilantro loses water to the dry air, its cells lose pressure, the leaves go limp, and the color dulls and fades. That yellowing isn't primarily a sign of age. It's a sign of dehydration.
Until now, the best way to preserve herbs was the jar-of-water method.
Trim the stems.
Place your cilantro upright in a small jar with an inch of water.
Cover the leaves loosely with an inverted plastic bag.
Refrigerate.
Using the jar method to store cilantro works because the stems draw water upward. This doesn't fully hydrate the herb. Working against gravity, the water below has a long way to go to reach those delicate leaves.
It's for sure an improvement over wrapping herbs and greens in paper towels before sealing them in a plastic bag. That creates a prime breeding ground for bacterial rot and mold growth.
But a jar of water can only do so much. The leaves are still exposed to dry fridge air. The water in the jar hydrates the stems. It doesn't raise the humidity of the environment surrounding the leaves.
Resourceful (and thrifty) cooks use the whole herb—stem to leaves. So why not prevent the whole plant from drying out? Because you couldn't before Fridge Hydration.
Skipper is a small pack you slip into the crisper drawer. As it releases purified water vapor, Skipper creates a humid environment that slows moisture loss from every part of cilantro. (In fact, Skipper will hydrate all of the veggies and greens in the fridge drawer, too.)
With Skipper, you can store cilantro loose in the crisper drawer. That means no more open jars of water with individual herb bundles taking up fridge space. (Or daily water changes!)
Skipper does all the work for you to keep herbs fresh. Cilantro stays vibrant, fragrant, and fresh up to 3x longer. That's enough time to make it to Taco Tuesday, Enchilada Friday, and Pozole Sunday.
Skipper. The mister for your crisper.
Why does cilantro spoil so quickly?
Because of its delicate leaves, cilantro rapidly loses moisture when stored in dry refrigerator air.
How do you keep cilantro fresh longer?
Keep the cilantro in a cool environment and maintain enough moisture surrounding the herb to prevent its leaves from drying out. It's easy with a Skipper pack in your crisper drawer.