How to store carrots in your home and apartment: make pyramids of sand, “bathe” in clay or just freeze

Solar root vegetable is considered one of the most capricious and demanding. A little bit wrong - it instantly rots, sprouts, partially or completely loses its taste, becoming unsuitable for human consumption. For the proper storage of carrots, it is important to maintain a stable temperature regime (from 2 ° C to -2 ° C) and maximum humidity (90-95%). However, this is not the only nuance that allows root crops to be stored for a long time so that they look as if they had just been picked from the garden.

Preparing a vegetable for wintering

Successful storage of carrots depends not only on temperature conditions, but also on other important factors. For example, from the variety of vegetables, as well as from the correctness of harvesting and sorting.

Picking a crop

It is unlikely to affect the quality of carrots lying on the counter of the supermarket. But from your own garden you can harvest the crop competently, laying a reliable foundation for long-term storage of the grown root crops until spring. Below are three rules that are intuitive for any summer resident.

1. Dry weather. Harvesting carrots is best in dry weather.
2. Little shovel. When digging out a large shovel, you should refuse. Forks or a miniature garden shovel will cope with this task much better.
3. Drying out. After collecting the roots, it is necessary to dry in a well-blown place until they are sent for long-term storage.

Sort

By and large, it is not so important where the carrot stock came from - from the supermarket or from the summer cottage. The answer to the question of how to properly store carrots lies, including in the secrets of sorting. Three basic rules can be distinguished.

1. We clear from the ground. A dry, dirty vegetable must be carefully cleaned of any dirt adhering to it. Strongly stuck pieces of soil can be left on the root crop, otherwise you risk tearing the skin.
2. We remove the damaged ones. To prevent carrots from rotting in the refrigerator or basement, you must carefully sort healthy fruits from damaged ones. Moreover, even a tiny scratch is an occasion to eat a vegetable for food here and now, without sending it for long-term storage.
3. Sort by size. Root crops must be sorted in accordance with their dimensions. According to the rules, they first eat small vegetables, later medium ones, and only then large carrots, which, due to their impressive size, are stored the longest.

Centenarians

You can store any kind of carrot in the refrigerator or basement. However, some varieties are particularly survivable. The table shows some of the most popular, which are stored longer and better than the rest.

Table - The best varieties of carrots for storage and their features

How to store carrots in the basement: 4 ways

The owners of the basement or cellar are truly lucky. For such people, the question of where to store carrots in the winter in the house is not urgent. However, basement storage also requires compliance with certain rules.

In a wooden box

Features. A solid wooden box is the cheapest and easiest way to stock up on root crops for the coming cold. And it is also considered the most economical, because it allows you to place in one container up to 20 kg of vegetables.

Implementation Method

1. Gently put the carrots in a box.
2. Cover with a tight one-piece lid.
3. We send to the cellar and set the container with carrots near the wall so that the box does not touch it.

In the sand pyramids

Features. Implement this method without a basement or cellar will fail. In fact, organizing such a storage, you will need to pour a mountain of sand on the floor for laying root crops.

Implementation Method

1. Pour a layer of sand on the cellar floor.
2. We spread the carrots on the sand so that the vegetables do not touch each other.
3. We fall asleep laid out root crops with the next layer of sand.
4. We spread the second row of vegetables - perpendicular to the first row.
5. Again, pour a layer of sand on top and again spread the vegetables.
6. We continue to pour sand and stack carrots one by one until the height of the sand pyramid reaches one meter.

In the "shirt" of liquid clay

Features. This method will allow you to store washed carrots for as long as possible. Its main disadvantage is that it is too dirty for home implementation. However, in terms of effectiveness, this method is considered one of the best.

Implementation Method

1. We dilute clay with water to the consistency of liquid sour cream.
2. We mix the mixture until the resulting dense mass becomes homogeneous.
3. Dip each root crop into the diluted clay.
4. We are drying.
5. After complete drying, put in a box or basket and send to the cellar.

In chalk powder

Features. Chalk has alkaline properties that prevent the growth of microorganisms and act as a natural disinfector.

Implementation Method

1. Powder each carrot with chalk powder.
2. We put in a basket or a wooden box so that the vegetables do not fit tightly together.

On the balcony: 3 methods

Most of us are children of a metropolis living in high-rise buildings and high-rise buildings. The best place for wintering the root crop is not a freezer, but a glazed balcony or loggia. It’s too cold on the open balcony in the cold. And at temperatures below -2 ° C you can not store carrots. It instantly freezes and becomes unfit for human consumption.

In onion peel

Features. Onion peel is an absorber of excess moisture.Subject to the temperature regime, root crops wrapped in husks from onions do not exactly rot.

Implementation Method

1. Pour onion peel to the bottom of the bag or wooden box.
2. We spread the carrots.
3. Pour each layer with husk, and again put the root crops.
4. We continue until the storehouse is filled with vegetables "drowning" in the husk.

In sawdust

Features. Sawdust is an excellent amulet against rot and pests, which often cause damage to vegetables stored for the winter.

Implementation Method

1. We fall asleep a layer of sawdust 8-10 cm high on the bottom of a wooden box.
2. We spread the root crops without touching the neighboring ones.
3. We add another layer of sawdust of the same thickness on top.

In a plastic bag

Features. Store carrots in bags made of polyethylene is not recommended. However, if there is no other way out, this method may well be applicable for short-term storage.

Implementation Method

1. We make several small holes with a nail in the bottom of the bag made of dense polyethylene.
2. Pour dry clean carrots into a bag.
3. We put the bag on a stand so that condensate drains, in case of formation.
4. We take out with a stand on the balcony.

In the fridge: 3 tips

Due to the proximity of different products, it is undesirable to use a refrigerator for long-term “curing” of an orange root crop. Most often, boiled or fresh, but already peeled carrots are sent to the refrigerator, which will not turn into an ingredient in one of the homemade dishes today or tomorrow. But even short-term storage in the refrigerator can be extended and the vegetable can be kept fresh for several weeks, thanks to the following three tips.

1. Evacuation. Root crops can be evacuated. To do this, you need special vacuum bags and a vacuum cleaner. Before sending root crops in a package, they must be qualitatively dried and cooled in the refrigerator. After vacuuming the air from a bag of carrots, the temporary storage must be tightly closed with a zip lock.
2. Bookmark in glass jars. Another way to make washed fresh carrots stored for a long time and do not fade is to temporarily preserve it in sterilized glass containers. True, this method is not at all ergonomic, because cans of carrots will occupy all the free space in the refrigerator.
3. Freezing. Root crops can be chopped using a blender or a hand grater, folded into a plastic bag for freezing and sent to the freezer. After defrosting, the taste of the product will not be the same as before, however, such a carrot can be safely used as a minor ingredient.

Which method is better keeping quality?

With different methods, the storage time may vary significantly. The average storage periods of the root crop, depending on the method used, are shown in the table.

Table - Shelf life of carrots for different ways

You can, of course, not fool yourself with the question of how to keep carrots in the apartment for longer, and buy your favorite vegetable in the quantity necessary for cooking a particular dish. But do not forget that carrots stored in the fall and properly stored can save the family budget. Indeed, cunning sellers in the cold season increase the price of vegetables three to four times.

Reviews: “I wash, dry and put in plastic tanks”

Root crops are well stored if they are first sprayed with infusion of needles or onion husks. A liter of water is taken per 100 g of husk or needles and infused for 5 days. Such an infusion can not only be sprayed, it can be immersed in carrots for 10 minutes, dried and stored.

Inga, http://kak-hranit.ru/kak-hranit-morkov/#i-4

In one cellar, our 3 families store carrots. When I started storing my vegetables in the first year, they told me why you wash carrots - you can’t do this. I have been storing it like that for 10 years already. After harvesting, I wash my carrots in 2 waters, put them out to dry in the sun and put them in plastic tanks - and in the cellar. In the spring, looking into other people's barrels of unwashed carrots - I didn’t even want to get it - half-rotten. My carrot is one to one, as soon as they have laid it. I think that during the washing process it is better to consider damaged root crops. Now all my relatives wash carrots.

Klementyeva Natalia, https://7dach.ru/Tatyana-sadovodniza/kak-hranit-morkov-pravilno-7559.html

They tried to store carrots differently, but for about 10 years we have been doing this: it’s necessary for me (it’s easier to see spoiled root crops), we dry it in the air, if the weather is wet, then under a fan, then put it in small plastic bags. On the packages we mark with numbers 1, 2 ... the order of use. So in packages and export to the repository (we have a cell in the general repository). The packages are of course open. If growing or getting sick, it is easy to see and take action.

Lyudmila Samodova, https://vk.com/7dach?w=wall-51071645_69661