You probably won’t like the answer. Brown rice contains natural oils that can go rancid, which significantly worsens the taste. Unlike white rice, brown rice still has its bran and germ attached — the very components that give it that nutritional edge. However, those layers are full of unsaturated fats that oxidize quickly, leaving the rice tasting stale and bitter. While eating a small amount of spoiled rice probably won’t harm you, the flavor is unpleasant and certainly not something you would want to serve. So, how can you extend the shelf life of brown rice?

An Ice Cold Solution

The answer lies, as it often does, in the freezer. Storing your brown rice in the freezer rather than the pantry can significantly prolong its freshness. While a pantry might seem like a sufficiently cool, dark environment, the reality is that temperature and moisture levels fluctuate. The freezer provides the consistent chill needed to keep those natural oils from spoiling. Inside the freezer, brown rice can last for up to 16 months, compared to just six months in the pantry.

Other Tips To Extend Brown Rice’s Shelf Life

Start by shopping in the right quantities. It may feel counterintuitive, but buying brown rice in small quantities is better due to its shorter shelf life. Once you get home, put it into an airtight container that can withstand freezing temperatures. Minimizing oxygen exposure is key; when oxygen comes into contact with those natural oils, they begin to turn. Keep the rice airtight and cold, and it will stay fresh for months longer.

As breakfasts go, pancakes are also a relatively easy undertaking. You can use a boxed mix to speed up the process or whisk them together with just flour, sugar, baking powder, eggs, milk, and butter. The biggest hurdle is actually portioning the batter. Somehow, homemade pancakes never seem to look as uniform or as satisfyingly round as the ones in restaurants.

Ditch the Ladle

The solution? A repurposed, thoroughly cleaned ketchup bottle. Instead of using a ladle or measuring cup to spoon pancake batter onto the griddle, opt for a squeeze bottle. Save the bottle from the recycling bin and scrub it inside and out — this is the most important step. When it’s pancake time, fill the bottle with batter (a funnel helps here) and squeeze perfectly neat circles onto the griddle. This may even be how your favorite diner does it: Many chefs use squeeze bottles for the clean aesthetic and to avoid the mess of a ladle.

When portioning your pancakes, draw the outline first and then fill it in with batter. This technique ensures neat edges and allows you to get creative with shapes. Try dinosaurs or hearts for kids (don’t forget the chocolate chips), or assemble brunch skewers using mini pancakes and sliced fruit.

More Tips for Perfect Pancake Preparation

The secret to perfect pancakes lies in the technique. While the batter itself is simple, there’s plenty of nuance to the cooking process. First, let the batter rest for 10 minutes after mixing. Second, ensure the griddle is truly hot enough before you begin. Flick a couple of water droplets onto the surface of the pan to test the temperature. If they start sizzling immediately, the griddle is good to go.

Have patience while the bottom of the pancake cooks. Wait until the bubbles on the surface have popped before flipping. Finally, don’t be afraid to throw out the first pancake — or feed it to the dog, assuming it’s plain and fully cooked. The first one famously tends to fail, but that’s OK. Just squeeze the next round onto the griddle and trust the process.

One component contributing to these health benefits is a compound called sulforaphane, which shows promise in protecting against certain kinds of cancer, diabetes, and obesity. The catch is that cooking broccoli, or other vegetables in this family, deactivates myrosinase, the enzyme needed to create sulforaphane. Fortunately, if you’ve already cooked your broccoli, you can still add this enzyme back in — here’s how.

Reach for the Mustard

Cruciferous vegetables go by many names: You may know them as brassicas or the “cabbage family,” but it’s just as accurate to refer to them as the “mustard family.” Mustards are one of the largest groups within the brassicas, whether they’re grown for the seeds used in condiments or for pungent leafy greens such as mizuna and tatsoi.

Because they’re close kin to broccoli, mustard plants produce a significant amount of myrosinase. This makes mustard a quick way to bring the enzyme back to your plate once the vegetables are cooked. A light sprinkling of mustard powder (be careful, it’s potent) or a homemade, mustard-based dressing or sauce will do the trick.

A Culinary Match

The close relationship between broccoli and mustard is more than just a nutritional coincidence; it’s a perfect culinary partnership. Mustard-based sauces and vinaigrettes work well with broccoli and other brassicas such as cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage. As a bonus, mustard acts as an emulsifier to thicken your vinaigrette. You can even serve a good-quality sweet or grainy mustard as a dipping condiment for your broccoli — the flavors go together better than you might expect.

No matter how you combine them, a dab of mustard helps bring out the full health potential of your broccoli. It’s proof that eating well doesn’t have to mean eating food that tastes bad.

But if you’re cutting up the fruit, skipping the wash is a mistake. Before you reach for a knife to tackle your next watermelon, take a moment to learn the proper way to prep.

Wash Before You Cut

Any fruit with a sturdy rind that requires a knife should be washed before you make the first cut. To do it right, follow these steps:

Wash your hands, knife, and cutting board with hot, soapy water, then rinse them well.

1. Rinse the fruit under cool, running tap water, working from end to end.

2. Cut the fruit and remove the rind.

3. Wash your hands and work surface again when finished

Why go to all this trouble just to make a fruit tray? The skin is where bacteria, pesticides, and dirt accumulate. Rinsing removes the vast majority of pathogens that cause foodborne illness. Otherwise, the knife transfers bacteria from the surface into the fruit. Washing your hands before and after also prevents cross-contamination throughout your kitchen.

A Couple of Special Cases

A few fruits, such as pineapples, jackfruit, and cantaloupes, have rough skins that can trap dirt and bacteria. For these, you’ll need to take the extra step of scrubbing with a vegetable brush under running water to dislodge any debris. You will also need to sanitize the brush between uses; a hot cycle in the dishwasher will do that effectively.

You may be tempted to use a bleach solution or produce wash, but don’t. The FDA advises against it, as the chemical residues can make you sick. A thorough rinse and basic hygiene are more reliable. If you follow this process, you can worry less the next time there’s a food recall for contaminated fruit.