Carrots are one of the most healthy vegetables on our table. It contains many vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. To benefit from carrots, not only in summer, but also in winter, it is stored for storage. Storing carrots in winter is much more difficult than other root vegetables.
Therefore, think about the tab in advance, in the spring, when choosing the appropriate seeds for planting. There are early-ripening, mid-ripening and late-ripening carrots. Early maturing is not suitable for storage. These fruits have a short, rounded shape (Parisian carrot), low immunity to diseases and they deteriorate in the first place.
Therefore, if procurement of stocks for the winter is planned, preference is given to late-ripening varieties with a ripeness period of 120-140 days and some middle-ripening varieties with a period of 100-120 days.
They have fruits of elongated conical shape and have excellent keeping quality.
Late-ripening varieties proved best for winter storage:
Queen of autumn.- Flaccore.
- Vita Longo
- Karlen.
Queen of autumn.And mid-season:
- Samson.
- Vitamin
- Shantane.
- NEAH-336.
More details about which varieties are best suited for storage can be found in our article.
The presence of a variety of such properties as keeping quality does not guarantee that the harvest will be successfully preserved.
Do I need to do this after the harvest or not?
Very often in the shops we see washed, bright orange carrots and close by, as if freshly pulled from a bed with stuck pieces of earth. Bright orange carrots look more attractive. It is washed at the stage of preparation to give the best presentation.
There is a strong opinion that carrots should not be washed before laying for the winter. You can only slightly clear large pieces of land and lay in storage as is. Washed carrots fade faster and can not withstand long storage.
But at the same time, on the shelves of the stores, we see washed carrots that have survived as well as unwashed ones. Let's see. To wash or not to wash carrots before laying?
pros
There are supporters of washing carrots before long winter storage. They put forward the following arguments:
When washing, skin lesions or areas affected by rot can be found hidden under sticking clumps of earth.- If the soil was treated with chemicals in the summer, and the summer was dry, the chemical residues could remain in the ground and enter the root crop during storage.
- Disease organisms contained in the soil penetrate through the skin of the fetus and are the causes of disease and decay. When washing this danger is practically reduced to zero.
- During storage, it is recommended to regularly sort through root crops in order to detect specimens starting to deteriorate.
On a note. If the carrot is washed, it is much easier to identify the diseased fruit and prevent it from hitting the rest.
When washing, skin lesions or areas affected by rot can be found hidden under sticking clumps of earth.Minuses
The main disadvantages are only in the complexity of the process:
- With large volumes of the grown crop, it is quite difficult to wash each carrot thoroughly. It is necessary to wash in running water. Not every household plots have this opportunity. We have to deliver a large amount of water for high-quality washing of vegetables.
- Just carrots pulled out of the ground must be dried. It takes 2-3 hours. If it is wet during washing, then time for drying is required much more.
- To store washed carrots, it is necessary to more carefully prepare the premises, boxes, baskets or bags. Washed carrots should not be in contact with unwashed, otherwise it will be unprotected against pathogens.
Is it necessary to put it in the cellar?
If a private owner or a farm has an agreement with stores or restaurants for the supply of fresh produce, then the carrots should have an attractive presentation. Then vegetables should be pre-washed before laying.
If this is not done in time, in the fall, then it will be almost impossible to wash a large amount of root crops in winter, in running water, and then dry before delivery.
The basement or cellar is a great place to store any vegetables in a private household. Both washed and unwashed carrots are well kept in the cellar (for more information on storing carrots in the cellar, see here).
Important! Before laying the carrot washed walls of the room, containers, plastic and wooden boxes, baskets and barrels in which vegetables are stored must be processed with lime or copper sulphate.
Before laying some gardeners prefer to cut not only the tail, but also the ass, so that the carrots do not germinate and did not lose useful qualities (for more information on how to cut carrots for storage for the winter, you can find out here).
After cutting, the carrot is cut into a wood ash by a cutting place.
To protect against white rot and pests, prepare a solution of potassium permanganate and immersed carrots in it for 2 hours. After that they dry out and make a bookmark.
How to do it?
Carrots are washed in cold running water before storage. If there is no running water, carry out several water changes. When cleaning is carried out in rainy weather and large pieces of dirt are stuck, the water must be changed more often. Usually 3 shifts is enough.
Vegetables are washed in rubber gloves. Gently remove large fractions of the earth trying not to damage the skin. In the second and third water, carrots are already washed clean, while carefully inspecting and setting aside damaged or diseased roots.
If the vegetables are grown in heavy clay soil, you can clean them with a soft brush.
Before laying carrots dry thoroughly. Drying is done on a canvas in a shady, well-ventilated place.
In no case can not stand carrots in the sun. From the moment of harvesting until the moment of laying, the temperature of the carrot should gradually decrease until it reaches + 2C.
Storage methods
Scoured
If the number of carrots is small, then it is convenient to store it in plastic bags. Take special packages for freezing, lay carrots in them and pump out the air creating a vacuum. From large bags you can pump out the air with a vacuum cleaner. The bag is then tightly tied and stored. You can store in the refrigerator and freezer, on the balcony, in the basement, in the cellar. Without air supply, root crops do not spoil for a long time.- In a peel of onions and garlic. In a box interspersed with layers of onion peel and layers of carrots. Stored until the next harvest without losing nutrients.
- In coniferous sawdust. Just as in the onion peel, carrots are poured with pine or fir chips. Phytoncides contained in coniferous chips do not allow vegetables to dry and rot
If the number of carrots is small, then it is convenient to store it in plastic bags. Take special packages for freezing, lay carrots in them and pump out the air creating a vacuum. From large bags you can pump out the air with a vacuum cleaner. The bag is then tightly tied and stored. You can store in the refrigerator and freezer, on the balcony, in the basement, in the cellar. Without air supply, root crops do not spoil for a long time.On a note. With any of these storage methods, the roots remain clean, fresh and ready to eat.
Wash carrots can be stored in a warm basement or stored in a cellar without a cellar. As a container, you can use jars or grate a grated vegetable and dry it.
Carrots for the winter. Handling and storage:
Unwashed
- In sand. Carrots are stored in lightly moistened loamy sand in boxes. The sand maintains a constant storage temperature and does not allow bacteria to spread.
- In a clay shell. Each root crop is dipped in liquid clay, dried and stored for storage in boxes.
- In open plastic bags. Bags of carrots (5-30 kg) are kept open for the evaporation of CO2. Condensate from the walls of the bags flows through the holes made in the bottom of the bag.
You can also use moss as a filler.
Storage of unwashed carrots:
- How to save carrots if there is no cellar?
- Storage of root vegetables in banks and boxes.
- How to keep the vegetable in the fridge?
- Storing carrots in the winter in the ground.
- How to store vegetables on the balcony in the winter?
- How to keep carrots until winter is fresh?
Despite the opinion of gardeners that washing carrots harms its long storage, practice shows that with proper observance of the rules of preparation, storage and storage, it can be kept cleaned for a long time without losing valuable properties and presentation.
We also bring to your attention useful articles on how to store carrots right on the garden bed, in the ground and how to store carrots along with beets.
