Autumn is the time of harvest and vegetable fairs. If you have a cellar, it fills up with supplies for the winter, including carrots. I want tasty and healthy roots to lie as long as possible, stay juicy, not rot, wither, or sprout. This is a moody vegetable that can be a hassle. Many people are interested in how to store carrots in a cellar in winter so that they can last until the next harvest.
Collection and preparation of carrots for storage
If you are seriously thinking about how best to store carrots, first of all, harvest correctly and prepare them for laying in the cellar. To keep your vegetables fresh and prevent spoilage throughout the winter, you must:
- collect carrots on time, before the first frost. The maturity of root crops depends on the variety. Usually mid-ripening carrots ripen in 80-100 days. A clear sign that it's time to harvest is yellowing of the lower leaves;
- do not water the carrots on the eve of harvest;
- very carefully, so as not to injure the roots, lift the top layer of the earth with a shovel or pitchfork and pull out the carrots, holding them by the tops. Short vegetables can be pulled manually;
- Tear off the tops with twisting movements;
- after the vegetables are removed from the beds and the ground on them has dried, cut off the growth point with a knife, removing a 0.5-1 cm layer from the "head" of the root crop. The cut should be straight;
- keep the carrots in quarantine for a week, letting them ventilate under a canopy, lie down at a temperature of 10-14 ° C. During this time, the places of the cuts will be tightened;
- carefully sort through the carrots, remove all specimens with signs of spoilage, disease, with holes.
Many people are interested in how to properly store carrots - washed or unwashed? It is recommended to rinse the root crops if they are heavily soiled, which happens when harvesting in a rainy season. Dry the carrots away from direct sunlight, then cut the tops.
4 ways to keep carrots fresh in the cellar
1. Pour wet sand, preferably loamy sand, into a wooden box, in a layer of 3-5 cm. Put the root vegetables on top so that they do not touch, cover with sand. So alternate layers of carrots and sand until the crate is full. Put in the repository open. Alternatively, use buckets and dry sand.
2. Proceed as described, but use pine sawdust, garlic and onion peels instead of sand.
3. Pour the washed, cut dry carrots into plastic bags with a capacity of no more than 30 kg and keep them in the cellar without tying them to provide air access. In case of high humidity, it is recommended to scatter slaked lime around the bags.
4. Many summer residents successfully use the following way to store carrots in the cellar in winter. Each unwashed root crop is dressed in a clay "shirt", which allows it to remain fresh for a long time, as if recently dug out of the garden.
Prepare 0.5 buckets of clay and pour a little water overnight to swell. After that, mix thoroughly and pour over again - the liquid should cover the clay by 3 cm. After three days, a creamy mass will turn out.
Cover the box with plastic wrap, lay out a layer of carrots and cover with clay. After drying, repeat the same with the second layer and so on until the box is full. You can dip the root vegetables separately, dry them and put them in a box.
How to keep mice out of carrots in your cellar
So, now you know how to store carrots in the cellar in winter, so that in the cold season you always have your own fresh vegetables on hand. However, don't forget: mice love juicy roots, and if you don't think about thieving rodents, all efforts to save the harvest will be in vain.
Make sure the cellar is securely protected from mice: the doors are lined with iron sheets, the outlets of the pipes are sealed, there are no holes and holes. Ventilation must be closed with a fine grate, mousetraps must be placed. There are anti-rodent chemicals that are not recommended for use near food. Better sprinkle ashes around the boxes, buckets with carrots, spread wormwood sprigs.
