Fresh tomatoes and peppers contain organic acids, micro- and macroelements, vitamins and other biological active substances, which the human body needs so much to function normally. Unfortunately, the Russian climate does not allow you to eat vegetables from the garden all year round, but at a certain temperature you can keep fresh tomatoes and peppers for a long time.
How to keep tomatoes fresh for a long time
It is impossible to keep tomatoes fresh for the winter, but for two or three months they can lie down and at the same time retain valuable nutritional and taste properties. For the long-term preservation of vegetables, a favorable temperature and humidity regime is needed. And one more factor affects the keeping quality of tomatoes - their ripeness. Fruits of different degrees of ripeness are stored separately, since they require different temperature conditions.
Tomatoes are harvested in dry weather, preferably in the afternoon, so that the dew dries up on the fruit. They are sorted by size, discarded damaged, rotten, frozen fruits. Ripe tomatoes are poorly stored; in the refrigerator at a temperature of + 2-0˚C, they can stay for 10-15 days.
Immature fruits are laid for long-term storage. They are stacked in one or two rows in vegetable boxes or on racks. Clean paper is used as bedding. Small fruits are laid in the first layer, large ones are placed on top, because large ones ripen faster. Sprinkle vegetables with dry sawdust or small shavings.
Green tomatoes can be wrapped in black tissue paper and taken out to a ventilated dark room. At a temperature of + 8-10˚C, they can lie, keeping their commercial qualities, until January.
Vegetables of milk ripeness are stored at a temperature of + 10-12˚C, humidity 80-85%. Such conditions allow keeping fresh tomatoes for a long time. Brown fruits are stored at a temperature of 5-6˚C and an air humidity of 85-90%. At a temperature of + 1-3˚C, tomatoes lose their ripening ability. An increase in humidity also negatively affects the preservation of the fruit.
How to keep peppers fresh for longer
Peppers can be kept fresh for up to two months. Sort the harvested vegetables according to the degree of ripeness, place tightly in the boxes with holes and cover them with paper. Peppers can also be folded into perforated plastic bags with zip locks. If there are none, simple bags will do, you just need to pierce them in several places with a knitting needle. Storage temperature + 1-0˚C.
You can do it even easier: pull out the bushes of peppers and hang them in the basement with the roots up. Sick and damaged fruits must be removed from the bushes.
The room where vegetables are stored must be ventilated at intervals of two to three times a week in order to remove carbon dioxide emitted by the fruit. This rule applies to both peppers and tomatoes. And one more general rule - open field vegetables are stored better than greenhouse ones.
