It took me a long time to learn how to harvest and keep greens from the garden fresh and crisp. For a long time they would wilt before we could even eat them. Never mind trying to keep them for lunches or another day. Then I learned that an ice bath is all they need.

I fill the bottom of our salad spinner with ice and cold water. Then I let the greens soak. If the greens are wilted from being picked on a sunny day, the ice bath brings back the crispness.

I strain and spin the leaves as much as I can to get any excess water out. Then I store them in the fridge in the salad spinner with the lid on.

When I store chard I always keeps the stems. These I rinse, then put in the fridge with some paper towels to absorb any extra moisture. I always put a paper towel in any store-bought container of greens too. This keeps things fresher – a little trick I learned during my miserable summer working as a cook during college.

It’s not rocket science, but it didn’t seem obvious to me why all our greens would wilt in the fridge. The ice bath has been a greens saver!