Raise your hand if you’ve made a recipe that calls for "a handful" of parsley. Or bought a beautiful bunch of dill only to use a tablespoon. It’s fine to use just a little bit of an ingredient if it lasts forever (looking at you, honey), but I feel guilty every time I see a nub of ginger or wilting sprigs of thyme languishing in my crisper drawer. Sure, you can use leftovers to make vibrant green sauce, or freeze extra produce in an airtight bag for eventual vegetable stock. But I’d rather think of new ways to let my crisper contents shine, like bright smoothies, creamy potato salad, or savory muffins. Here, I’ve rounded up a variety of ways to use up leftover ginger, parsley, dill, and scallions—hopefully, my crisper will stop looking like a compost bin.
Fresh ginger lasts for about a month—just wrap it in a dry paper towel and place it in an open plastic bag in the fridge. Alternatively, you can store it submerged in sherry(!) or freeze and grate it (skin and all) with a Microplane.
Whole, fresh scallions last for up to two weeks in the crisper. Wrap the roots in a damp paper towel, then place them inside a plastic bag or container. You can also keep the roots in an inch or two of water on your windowsill or a shelf in the fridge.
Depending on the humidity of your fridge, parsley will last for up to two weeks in your fridge. To extend freshness, keep parsley wrapped in a damp towel.
Dill has a pretty short lifespan—only about a week and a half in the fridge. Avoid washing it and store similarly to parsley and scallions.
How do you clean out your crisper drawer? Share your favorite recipes and tricks in the comments!
It's here: Our game-changing guide to everyone's favorite room in the house. Your Do-Anything Kitchen gathers the smartest ideas and savviest tricks—from our community, test kitchen, and cooks we love—to help transform your space into its best self.
Grab your copy
Written by: Katie Macdonald
Popular on Food52
2 Comments
Scallions are easy because they can be added to almost any savoury dish you make -- topper for everything from soup to eggs, grilled as a side, put into a salad, etc.
For many of the rest, I like drying. It uses things up, saves money, and doesn't require you to have lots of mouths to feed. For ginger especially. Dry the root whole, and with a little spice microplane, you can have all the powdered ginger you'll ever need. It's one of the easiest dried spices to grate whole.
For misc herbs: Greek salads become ten times better when the lettuce is mixed with a lot of herb leaves, and remaining excess can be used in other elements like souvlaki marinades, tzatziki, etc.
See what other Food52 readers are saying.