How to store carrots?

Autumn is harvest time, and at this time summer residents think about how to store root crops in winter. Carrots are considered the most picky vegetable during storage. An increase in humidity leads to its decay, and in heat the root crop withers. Bacteria and fungus easily penetrate through the thin skin. With improper storage, carrots lose their taste and unique nutrients.

Successful preservation of the quality and benefits of the root crop is facilitated by optimal harvesting conditions. And also it depends on the area of ​​cultivation and the harvesting period. It is important to be careful when harvesting root vegetables so as not to spoil the carrots, as damaged vegetables do not have a long shelf life. It is important to dig up the crop in dry weather. So you can fully dry the root crops and prevent mass decay. It is better to dry carrots on a dry and clean wooden plane in a room such as a cellar or garage, under a canopy or on the street (on a fine day). One of the conditions for high-quality drying is constant air circulation with minimal humidity. On average, the drying period lasts from 2 to 5 days.

Before sending vegetables for storage, it is important to carefully sort them out and properly prepare them. Dried carrots are cleaned of impurities. It will be convenient to gently wipe it by hand, wearing gloves. It is undesirable to knock root crops on the ground and throw them so as not to damage them. It is necessary to reject all copies with traces of damage and damage. Even due to one spoiled root crop, infection and loss of all stocks can occur. Only hard varieties of mature vegetable crops are suitable for storage. The best things to store for future use are healthy specimens of Moscow Winter, Nantes 4, varieties Samson, Shantane, as well as Nigel, Cascade and Vitamin 6. And if you want to save carrots, “Paris Carotel” or “Amsterdamskaya” will not work.

Shelf life may vary depending on where the vegetables are placed:

• in bags in the refrigerator, the fruits retain their quality and taste for 2 months;
• in closed boxes in the cellars, carrots are suitable for up to 8 months;
• in coniferous shavings or in a “coat” of clay is stored until the new crop ripens;
• in the sand it will be possible to keep it up to 8, sometimes even up to 9 months;
• carrots left in the ground are edible until the next season.

In order for carrots to survive, it is necessary to provide the necessary microclimate in the storage area. Be sure to create ventilation, a favorable temperature from -1 to +1 degrees and humidity in the atmosphere of 90-95%. A cool cellar fully complies with these requirements. Before sending vegetables for long-term storage, it is necessary to prepare the placement area: free from all unnecessary, clean, ventilate the room. If necessary, the basement will have to be dried, insulated or waterproofed. It is important to create moderate ventilation.

Consider different storage options.

• In sawdust. Carrots are well preserved in dry sawdust of coniferous trees. Root crops are placed in a container and sprinkled with chips. The needles contain phenols, which contribute to the protection of stocks from diseases, inhibit the processes of decay. It must be remembered that last year’s sawdust is unsuitable for this. Such material may contain fungal spores, microbes.
• In sand. An interesting way to store carrot fruits is stacking in pyramids. You will need pre-sifted and calcined river sand. Creating a blank has a simple algorithm. At the bottom of an empty box or just on the shelves, wet sand is distributed in a thick layer. A row of carrots is laid out and on top of it – an additional layer of sand. After that – another row of carrots, adhering to a checkerboard pattern in comparison with the previous row. Actions are repeated sequentially, while it is important not to build a pyramid higher than one meter.
• In the bags. This method involves storage in clean and dry plastic bags. It is advisable to store the vegetables in packs of approximately 2-2,5 kg per bag. Thus, during a regular check, it will be possible to remove the package with spoiled root crops in a timely manner, and the remaining packages of the crop will remain intact. In such packages, it is necessary to make a number of ventilation holes to eliminate condensate. So the carrot will not dry out and will not fade up to 4 months. It is impossible to tie PVC bags, so as not to increase the concentration of carbon dioxide, which leads to damage to stocks.
• In peat. In this material, carrots will remain juicy and elastic. You will need only riding slightly decomposed crumbly peat. It is necessary to bring its humidity to 40-50%. Suitable for wooden crates and cardboard boxes. Peat is poured in the first layer. Vegetables are laid out on it, maintaining the gaps between the fruits. The topmost layer in the boxes should be peat. Vegetables are harvested in a basement-type room.
• In mhu. Sphagnum moss contains a substance that prevents rotting and the spread of fungus. Moss is sold ready-made in specialized outlets. If you collect it yourself, you must first dry the moss. Then it is packaged in bags and used as a substrate for carrots harvested for the winter. This moss can only be used once. Next year you will have to prepare a new portion.
• In saucepans. Enamelware is required, which is not subject to corrosion and oxidation. The tops of the root crops are preliminarily trimmed, they are washed away from contamination and laid out to dry. Then they are placed in a container vertically. Dishes with carrots are covered with a napkin or a sheet of paper.
• clay fill. Clay is also used to fill carrots. You will need half a bucket of dry clay. It is filled with water and not touched for 24 hours. Then mix the mixture thoroughly and pour in a new portion of the liquid. The consistency of the solution will resemble batter. After the mixture is prepared, you need to prepare boxes or plastic buckets. They are covered with a layer of polyethylene. Then spread the vegetables so that their surfaces do not touch. Pour the clay and leave to dry a little, after which you can lay out the next layer. The steps are repeated until the container is filled to the brim.
• Dip in clay solution. This is an old technology for preserving vegetable products. In a clay shell, carrots are protected from decay. Before putting it in a box, the specimens are alternately dipped in clay batch and dried. Carrots should be completely covered with clay slurry. When the fruits are completely dry, they are placed in a box and taken to a prepared place.
• In chalk powder. You will need chalk in the form of powder. For 1 kg of vegetables, you need to prepare 20 g of a powdered substance. Before dusting, it is important to completely dry the root crops. After that, each vegetable is sprinkled with chalk powder and placed in a box in reserve.
• In lime. It is necessary to mix lime with water until a homogeneous mass, which looks like liquid condensed milk. Each root crop is dipped in lime mortar and fully dried. Then it is placed in wooden boxes or stored on the cellar floor until spring.

Vegetables can lie on a glazed loggia in any available container. Any of the previously described fillers will work as a substrate. It is permissible to put a carrot horizontally or vertically. But at a positive temperature on the balcony, it will not lie for a long time, as it would be in a cool cellar.

On an uninsulated balcony in winter, it is better to place a bag or box with root crops under the balcony door. At the first frost, the container is moved to the other side of the door. So the cold from the balcony will help the stocks to be preserved and not to freeze. The main condition is the absence of batteries nearby, since vegetables deteriorate from dry air.

When frosts, you can carefully wrap the vegetables with some kind of dense material, for example, felt.

• In the boxes. The boxes must be prepared completely dry, strong and clean. In containers suitable for the characteristics, lay rows of root crops, but not more than 20 kg each. Cover the container with a lid. Store away from a damp wall by 10 cm or more. This will protect the fruits from condensation. If possible, boxes are placed on stands. So it is possible to compactly place a large supply of vegetables even in a small area. Carrots will not lose their freshness, will not sprout, will not rot or wither.
• In paraffin. Melt the paraffin in a refractory bowl and immerse the washed and dried root crops there. In a paraffin shell, they are stored on the balcony for up to 4 months.
• In onion skins. If a lot of husks are left when harvesting onions for the winter, it can be useful for storing carrots. Raw materials are placed in a container and fresh orange fruits are put there. The husk is supposed to absorb excess moisture, preventing the processes of decay and the germination of carrots.

If there is no cellar, underground and other storage available, the fruits can also be stored in a household refrigerator. They must be clean and dry.. They are placed in plastic bags and cleaned in a vegetable container. The shelf life in this case is relatively short – up to 2 months. In the freezer, carrots last much longer – about 14 months. Hard, but juicy varieties are suitable for freezing..

If the root crop is flabby or has a dried appearance, it is not suitable for freezing. Selected carrots are allowed to be frozen uncut. Well-washed, dry vegetables without tops and skins are folded into freezer bags and sent to the freezer until needed.

If the garage is equipped with a cellar, it is allowed to store carrots in any suitable way, placing them in sand, sawdust, and coating them with clay. Without a cellar, it is also possible to store the crop, but for a short period, therefore this option is appropriate only for modest stocks.

In this case, each fruit is wrapped in a newspaper and placed in a box in layers.. Or you can wrap each blank in cling film and lay it so that there are gaps between the fruits. Harvest will last up to 45 days.

A vegetable store is necessary for a large-scale organization of the storage of large batches of vegetables. Usually they are equipped in production. And since the crop is usually delivered to storage after mechanized harvest, it is necessary to carefully sort the root crops. In vegetable stores, they are stored in herds or in special containers. It is recommended that the herds are not higher than 3 meters. If the harvest is supposed to be stored in containers or pallets, then you should not exceed the height of the stack by more than 5,5 m.

In doing so, the following measures must be taken:

• regularly ventilate the warehouse;
• cover the vegetable supply with burlap;
• keep the humidity at the right level.

You can increase the humidity in the warehouse in a simple way by placing water containers there, or by spraying the top layers of carrots that are in the air. As an option – periodically spill the passages with water. But the best performance contributes to the installation of refrigeration equipment.

Often they also practice this method – they do not dig out part of the crop from the ground, but do it with the advent of spring and eat carrots until the next harvest. For such storage, you will have to cut the tops, sprinkle the soil with a layer of wet sand and cover with a dense oilcloth. From above it is necessary to pour chips, foliage and humus, close it all with a sheet of roofing material.

If the carrot rots, the reasons may be different:

• bookmark in the total mass of copies with damage;
• sudden change in temperature;
• excessive moisture;
• non-compliance with storage rules.

That is why it is important to strictly adhere to the intricacies of preparing vegetables for storage. Since this root crop can be easily damaged by blows, it should not even be beaten lightly from clods of earth or thrown from place to place. These damages will be subtle, but in the future they will become the site of the onset of damage to the root crop and will lead to the development of a fungal disease. The disease can spread to neighboring fruits.

A jump in temperature leads to the appearance of condensate, which becomes the impetus for fruit rotting. They become soft and decompose in a short time. Especially often vegetables spoil in plastic bags. To eliminate condensation, you need to make holes in the bottom of the PVC bags. Even slightly frostbitten roots (at -1°C) blacken and rot. With an excess, just like with a lack of moisture, the shelf life of vegetable preparations is reduced. Therefore, it is important to keep it normal. Often, a violation of storage technology leads to the formation of excess carbon dioxide. It, in turn, has a detrimental effect on the condition of root crops. They become soft, darken and wither. Therefore, it is necessary to strictly adhere to the technology of storing vegetable stocks.. Then they will not be bitter later and will not dry out. If rodents are seen in the underground, you need to overlay containers with crop supplies with dry mint. Napkins soaked in an oily solution of peppermint are laid out in the corners of the room.

It is not allowed to store carrots near apples. Contact with apple ethylene distorts the taste of the orange root crop. And also many gardeners do not recommend keeping carrots near potatoes.