• Zoot@reddthat.com
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    4 months ago

    Where the hell do you live where your environment will dry it out more than a fridge?!?

    Midwest here, so that’s just not even a possibility haha.

    Also yes, people did just simply die before refrigeration, or they used salt, holes on the ground, or any other way to keep certain foods cold and safe to eat.

    • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Due to the way relative humidity works, most environments where the inside of the fridge is cooler than the outside should work like that. Cooler air has a lower water capacity than warmer air and all the air in your fridge came from outside of your fridge.

      If humidity is very low, then temperature won’t make as much of a difference and you might see similar drying inside and out, at least as far as relative humidity is concerned. But with more light and higher temps outside the fridge, I’d still guess you’d see more drying outside the fridge.

      Maybe it seems the other way because you allow food to sit longer inside the fridge than outside? Or, if you experience high humidity and fluctuating temperatures, maybe you see more condensation outside of the fridge?

      • Aux@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Fridges are very good dehydrators due to the simple fact that their back wall is a giant condenser. It is always colder than air in the fridge, which forces moisture in the air to condense there, it then drips into the tray under the fridge and air inside gets dry. Dry air absorbs moisture from the food and the cycle continues.

        This is why you store your fresh greens in covered plastic buckets, otherwise they will dry out very fast. And this is why dry curing meat in the fridge works really well. Also if you grow herbs or have excess and want to dry them, chop them, put on a tray and into the fridge, they will dry out in a day or two depending on how much you chopped.