Keeping food fresh is obviously very important in our society. It keeps the food tasty, saves us money and it’s just more sustainable for the planet to waste the least amount of food. That’s why there’s (probably) a fridge in every single kitchen in North America,.
However, after learning about La Denise, I learned that most fruits and vegetables deteriorate faster in the fridge because they don’t endure the lower temperatures. Not only that, when we keep food hidden from sight, we often forget about them and end up wasting them (At least…. I have that problem). This means fridges are quite counter-intuitive, and in most cases waste A LOT of energy.
Storing your fruits and vegetables passively can also lead you to switch to a smaller fridge. Which wastes less energy due to their size and their better insulation, and saves you space in your kitchen from your giant fridge!
So… I contacted the girls from La Denise and talked a bit about their model. Here’s the science behind how their products conserves food better and how you can apply it in your kitchen!
First Part: Root vegetables
Root vegetables can last a winter in your garden if you prepare your bed properly, if you can replicate that environment in your kitchen, you can keep them fresh. That’s why this section of La Denise keeps the roots in wet sand. Just make sure to plant them vertically!
Second Part: Hydrated Fruits
Fruits can’t handle low temperatures, they slowly rot and lose flavor when you put them in the fridge. If you want them to stay fresh and sweet, it’s best to keep them out in the open. Once again, water is an important factor to keep them fresh, you want the fruits to keep a certain level of humidity around the fruits. But you don’t want them to be soaked because that would make the bacteria reproduce faster in the fruit and make it rot faster. The Denise uses wooden slates over a clay bowl to keep the water under the fruits. The water slowly evaporates into the air, and the humidity rises right over the fruits!
Third Part: Conservation Symbiosis
Apples and potatoes both releases gases in the air that help conserve the other fruit. Potatoes are best left in dark posts, apples in a lit area. So The Denise has holes for aeration between the apples and the potatoes in it’s third section to allow this symbiosis relationship to work together. There’s also a second drawer to keep other fruits and vegetables that need to stay in the dark; onions, garlics and shallots!
Support their campaign or build your own!
The future of sustainable technology lies in passive designs, even in your kitchen. This product can be easily built and for those of you who want to know more about food conservation, check out where they got their inspiration. If you’re not the the handy type, than you can get a well designed, good looking product that was made out of local materials in a local workshop (in Montreal). Show the girls some support by funding their campaign (Note: They reached their goal!! They are now creating an E-book about food conservation if they reach their stretch goal of 25,000$), sharing it, liking their Facebook page and sending them positive feedback!