Knowledge Base > Char Nolan - Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)
Char Nolan - Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)
This event was on
Tuesday, May 12, 2026 at 11:00 am Pacific, 2:00 pm Eastern
Join Chef Char Nolan in her virtual office as she welcomes all of your questions. This event was created for you and we encourage you to ask anything – from cooking techniques to cou… Read More.
Question:
Please could you advise how you would recommend storing pre-cut leaves to keep them fresh, for example spinach, arugula, watercress?
— Mel Dorling
Answer:
So, a big bunch of kale at the grocery store has about seven or eight big leaves of kale in it, and when I take it home, when I get it home, the first thing that I do is strip it off the stem. And you can do a couple of things with the stem. You don't want to discard them. Some dogs like the texture of the kale core, shall we say. You can either put them in a plastic bag and put them in the freezer, and you can use it to make a homemade stock. It gives a nice green flavor to it. If you're familiar with the kale exercise that we have, where people say that raw kale is earthy and has a grassy flavor to it, this will add that to your salad. But it will be great to make a vegetable stock. So, you want to first take it all off the stems, and the reason is that sometimes there might be a decayed leaf or stem or something like that, and you don't want to ruin a whole head of kale. So, you've got the stems, and you peel them off, and then you rip them into little pieces. And I put this in a glass jar. This will last two to three weeks, and it's perfect for fresh salads, for adding into a soup. If you're a smoothie person, it all works out well. And what you do is at the very top, you're going to put a paper towel, and the reason is that moisture will develop in here, and you want the moisture to get into the paper towel so that this does not get, the best word I can use is slimy. And the other thing I do is I save the labels, and then I just twist them onto the jar so that if somebody is visiting or doesn't know the difference between kale and arugula, this will help them understand what they're exactly looking for. It'll last two to three weeks. You can do the same thing in plastic if you like plastic. You can remove them from the stems and then just lay the kale into a container and then cover it with either a linen cloth or cover it with a paper towel. So, that is that. You will be very happy with me, Mel, because it will last you so much longer, and you will really extend the life of your kale and save more money.
