Many housewives complain that the beautiful and juicy carrots of the new harvest very rarely "survive" until the next year, and if they "survive", then in most cases they acquire a completely unmarketable look. How to store carrots correctly so that they do not get damaged by rot, do not dry out and do not become the prey of pests?
The first step is to select those varieties of carrots that are best suited for long-term storage. As practice shows, the carrots of the Shantane variety retain their qualities the longest. Under appropriate conditions, it can be stored until the new harvest, the root crops of carrots of the Vitaminnaya and Nantes varieties are stored a little less. It is best to choose for storage root crops with tops trimmed exactly flush with the neck, since root crops with remaining stumps germinate much stronger.
It is best to store carrots in the cellar, on horizontal shelves. The main condition that determines the success of the whole process of storing carrots is maintaining a constant temperature, best of all - within + 1 … + 3 degrees. If you store carrots at a higher temperature, the activity of bacteria and fungi increases dramatically. Therefore, it is better to install a thermometer in the place for storing root crops in advance. It is also advisable to avoid sudden changes in temperature, this affects the condition of the carrots in the most negative way.
Of course, there are other ways of storing carrots - for example, dipping each root crop in a clay mash before storing it or sanding (storing carrots in boxes with sand) gives good results. But, unfortunately, these methods are much more time consuming than just storage at a stable temperature. Usually they are used only when it comes to small volumes of root crops (no more than two or three buckets).
If we are talking about a large volume of carrots - for example, when the harvest is ten to twelve buckets or more - then it is better to simply properly prepare the room for storing root crops (dry and disinfect with lime), and create all conditions in it to maintain a consistently low temperature.
