What have I created in my refrigerator?

Cafe Society
1

I’ve been trying to eat a lunch that is healthier than my usual deli sandwich. In addition to Wheat Thins and string cheese, I pack sliced apples, blanched broccoli and raw carrots. Each week I peel 2lbs of carrots and cut them into one inch pieces, then store them in a Tupperware. To keep them fresh, I fill the Tupperware with water, and store it in the fridge. This seems to work well, the carrots stay crisp for five days.

But I noticed that after three or four days, the water begins to turn slightly orange, as though some carrot goodness is leaching out of the carrots. I don’t notice any difference in the taste or texture of the carrots, but I got to thinking there might be some nutrients leaking out, and maybe there was something I could put in the water to prevent that. I figured I could try a little sugar in the water, maybe it would be more isotonic and slow the movement of carrot stuff out of the carrots.

So I added two tablespoons of sugar to the water in the Tupperware. It is a 2 liter container, minus the volume of the carrots, I figure 1 liter of water. Not even as sweet as a soft drink.

But the next day, I noticed the carrots felt slightly…slimy. I tasted them, they tasted fine, still crunchy. The next day, a little slimier. I smell them…smell fresh, taste fresh, still crunchy. Hmmm.

Fast forward to day four. I go to pack my lunch, and the carrot water is now a totally clear, slightly orange transparent gelatinous goo, the consistency of egg white! I can literally pick it up like a slippery slime that hangs from my fingers! Yet the carrots are still flavorful and crunchy, I rinsed them off and ate them!

What caused this reaction? It was not a sugar syrup, the ratio of sugar to water was not enough to make a syrup, and the consistency wasn’t syrup-like, it definitely resembled raw egg white. But I wouldn’t think carrots had enough protein to create a slime like that. It was kind of like the gel that forms if you cook corn starch and water, but carrots aren’t that starchy, and there was no cooking involved.

Any suggestions for other additives to the water to help keep the carrots from doing whatever they’re doing? Or just leave the orangey water well enough alone?

2

Idk what’s going on with the slime, but I think you can keep your cut-up carrots in the Tupperware without any water and they should stay fresh for several days at least.

3

Yes, to my unscientific mind, adding water at the least doesn’t actually help keep anything fresh. I always get perishable veg out of any plastic packaging and on to kitchen roll paper to minimise their risk of sitting in condensation.

4

My non-scientist answer: by adding sugar, you are feeding the inevitable few bacteria, encouraging them to grow into a colony that will feel slimy.

Don’t add sugar. Change the water every day or two.

5

Sounds like what you’ve created is the potential to become very ill. I understand that, if you’re very busy, there are advantages to preparing a week’s worth of food. If I were you, though, I wouldn’t be eating any more than two or three days’ worth, just to be safe. I say this because I find it particularly alarming that you rinsed off something slimy and ate it. I agree with others that water isn’t necessary. You’re just tipping the scales in favor of a bad outcome.

6

Agree emphatically with the prior answers.

What you have created, in response to the title question, is a microbial farm.

7

I made fermented carrots a while back, although I did so on purpose. The carrots shrank, because they were soaked in salt-water brine, and became tangy and less crisp.

I would recommend, in the future, not storing the carrots in water for more than a day or so.

8

I’m going to have to push back on that. If you Google “store carrots in water”, virtually all the sources recommended storing carrots in water in the refrigerator for up to three weeks to keep them fresh and crunchy.

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-store-carrots

9

Kind of like an ant farm but tinier.

10

Whole carrots stored upright, root end down, in a container filled about about 1/3 the way up the carrot with water and kept in the fridge will keep carrots fresh and crisp for a long time. I’ve only done this with large fat carrots, not sure how some smaller grocery store carrots would hold up.

11

From the link:

If you don’t have access to a root cellar, you can keep carrots fresh by placing unpeeled, unwashed carrots in a jar, large glass or plastic container, or sealed plastic bag, completely submerged under cold water.

One of these things is not like the other.

12

How about this one?

13

Yet when you buy them at the store they’re not stored in water. If you’re using them up within a week, they should last just fine.

14

Sounds like you’re making a sort of wild-and-risky type of kombucha. The gelatinous slime is almost certainly bacterial.

15

That’s what I was thinking when I posted. With the push back, it’s changed to, “Well, it’s his gut at risk.”

16

I called what you created “yuk”