I was recently going through my notebooks of tips and tricks in the kitchen I wrote through the years to refresh my memories and I puled out 10 useful kitchen tips you can use to make your life easier. This time it involved foods  and how to handle it better.

So here they are, I hope they are useful to you as they are to me. The are randomly selected but i am sure you can find at least one you can use next time you are cooking.

10 Useful kitchen tips & tricks:

1. Preserving ground coffee

Ground coffee looses its flavor if you keep it in the pantry. Put it in a box in the fridge and the flavor will last longer.

2. Green avocado

If you bought avocado fruits that are not fully riped, put them in a black bag in a warm place and they will ripe in no time.

3. Cooking broccoli

Avoid frying broccoli in hot oil, it will harden. Instead, immerse it in boiling water for 3 minutes, strain it well and cook it in butter for 1 or 2 min more.

4. Cleaning strawberries

Strawberries absorb water like a sponge so remember to wash them and then take the tops off otherwise they will spoil very fast, even kept in the fridge.

5. Storing cheese

If you bought more cheese that you can usually eat, don’t freeze it, the water will expand when it frizzes and will tear the cheese apart. Instead, keep it in dish with the lid on and add a cube of sugar. That will help the cheese last longer.

6. Fresh mushrooms

Sprinkle lemon juice mixed with water ( half and half) over cut fresh mushrooms to prevent them from getting black. It works the same with cut fruits ( apples, bananas etc. ).

7. Cooking cauliflower

To ensure that the cauliflower remains white after boiling it, add a little milk to the water. If you boil a small potato with the cauliflower, it will take the specific smell away.

8. Pealing tomatoes

If you want to peal tomatoes, first make a little cut on each and immerse them in boiling water for 1 minute then place them in cold water. The peal will come off really easy.

9. Cooking liver

Don’t add salt to the liver before cooking it, it will become hard. Also, if you want the liver to be tender, keep it in milk for 1 hour prior to cooking. Wipe it dry before placing it in the hot pan.

10. Cooking beef steaks

Beef steaks will be tender if you immerse it in boiling water for a few second before cooking it. Make sure you wipe it clean before you place it in the hot pan with oil.

Good luck!