Beets have long been firmly established in the diet each person. In addition to attractive taste, it also has a number of useful properties. Therefore, it is not surprising that people tend to grow it in their summer cottages and gardens.
Has long been after harvesting in the fall, people tried to keep it as long as possible. To be able to eat vegetables in the winter. Over the years, the basic storage rules for each vegetable have been developed by experience.
How to store beets at home, directly in the apartment, as well as in the underground at home, you will learn in this article.
Proper preparation
Preparation storage beets and carrots for the winter takes place in several stages, each of which is very important. The first step is to attend to the harvest time. Beetroot does not stand frost. Therefore, it is necessary to collect it before they occur.
The optimal time for the middle band is the beginning of October.. For southern latitudes - the end of October or the beginning of November. About the timing of the collection of carrots, read the link.
Beet harvesting should be carried out on a clear, sunny day. To be able to dry the vegetables on the same day. Drying should be carried out in the shade in the street..
If the weather is not lucky. Thats can be dried in a covered room. In this case, the drying time lasts several days.
Cut the roots. Central beet root trimmed with scissors if it is too thick. Cut the tops off with scissors, leaving only 1-2 cm. You can not break off the tops of the hands. In the place of breaking the beets can start to deteriorate.
After all these procedures, leave the vegetables for a week in a dry room with good ventilation. AND just after this week, put the roots in the roomwhere they will be stored. Where and how to store beets and carrots for the winter in the apartment, read on.
A place
Well-known place for storing vegetables - the underground of the house or in the common people, the basement. But, after all, not every apartment building has a place in the basement. Allocated to tenants for personal use.
People tried different places to store vegetables. The most popular ones are: glazed balcony, staircase, storage room, place under the bed.
You can also store beets simply in a box in the room or in the refrigerator. About storing carrots in the cellar and without it, read here.
On the main features of how to keep beets and carrots at home, read on.
What to store?
So, when you have already decided on the location of the vegetable for the next few months, you should think about how to store beets for the winter at home. In many ways it is depends on the expected duration of storage of beets and the selected location.
If it is planned to consume beets within the next month, then storage in the refrigerator, in usual plastic bags, will also be suitable. Packages should not close tightlyso that the beets will not deteriorate due to excess moisture.
You can do it yourself in the package small holes. In the refrigerator itself, the moisture should not be increased.
How best to store beets in the underground, look at the photo.
You can store beets in special boxes right in the kitchen. Keep such a box is better away from the plate. Better at the balcony door or window. A little longer, you can keep beets in the shade, under the bed or in the pantry in big bags. Kilograms at 20-30. Again, the bag can not be tied, otherwise the beets will start to sing.
If you plan to eat beetroot harvested in the fall, until spring, then it is worth considering other options. It is very good to store beets in wooden boxes, laid with foil. The beets are poured with wood ash., shavings of chalk, sawdust, sand or dipped each tuber in a talker of clay.
In the house, boxes of root vegetables go down to the underground. In the apartment you can store them in the staircase or on the balcony. Balcony should be glazed.
Before the onset of frost can not wrap beets. Then be sure to cover the top. Old cotton blankets are suitable for this purpose. Read also the material on how to store carrots and beets with sawdust and sand.
Temperature
Most favorable temperature for the safety of the harvest of beets ranges from 1-4 ºC. It is necessary to strictly adhere to these temperatures.
When the thermometer drops below one degree, beetroot freezes and is subject to various diseases. If you exceed 4 degrees, the fruits may wilt and lose weight.
It is also necessary to maintain humidity in the air from 80 to 85%.
Shared storage features
Storage conditions for beets and carrots are largely the same. They can be stored in the same cellar or on the same balcony. And even in the same box. But, only under the condition that they will not come into contact.
A layer of sand (sawdust, wood ash) is poured into the box, then the vegetables are laid out. Be sure to at a short distance from each other. Then again a layer of sand. And again vegetables.
When stored in one bag, keeping quality and carrots, and beets. And, accordingly, the shelf life of vegetables is reduced.
Timing
Even at room temperature, beets can be stored for about a week.. Thick skin prevents rapid loss of moisture. The content of the root in the refrigerator, in a plastic bag extends the shelf life of up to a month.
Interspersed with sand, sawdust, ashes and chalk chips, as well as treated with clay mash, vegetables are able to be stored for about four monthsif located directly in the room.
And until the next harvest, if placed on a glassed-in balcony. Provided that the temperature is maintained and humidity complies with the requirements. Interesting material will be about the proper preparation of carrots for storage for the winter.
Storage of beets in plastic bags, in packages for the winter, and also how to keep beets without a cellar further.
Ways
Plastic bags
In plastic bags, beets can be stored subject to the following conditions:
- Carefully check all vegetables.
- Package 35-40 liters filled with vegetables.
- Do not close or tie.
- Make frequent small punctures over the entire area of the package.
- Put the package in a cool place..
The temperature should not exceed 10 ºC. When doing punctures, be very careful. In order not to hurt the fruit.
Banks
There is a way to store carrots: when it is washed, dried and placed in three-liter jars with upward leaves.
Then this jar turned upside down and put on a shelf in the cellar.
Based on the fact that the storage conditions for beets and carrots are similar, it can be assumed that this method is also suitable for beets.
Fridge
As already mentioned, the beets are stored in the refrigerator for about a month. This method is good for a small amount of vegetables..
If the refrigerator is exactly what you need, then you must do the following:
- Select medium fruit.
- Check for rot and damage.
- Scrub dirt from beets with a dry rag.
- Cut tops to 1 cm.
- Put the roots in the package.
- Make small holes in the package.
- Put the bag of vegetables in the box for vegetables at the bottom of the fridge.
However, the shelf life of beets in the refrigerator can be extended. If, instead of the usual package, use vacuum. So beets stored twice as long. About storing carrots at home, read here.
Subfloor house
Underground is the most common place to store vegetables.
Even before laying vegetables in the cellar, need to do the following:
- Clean up, air out.
- Treat the walls with a solution of lime.
- Rid the cellar of rodents.
- The bottom row, on which there will be boxes or bags of beets, lift 15 cm from the floor.
You can place a subfield in this way. on the floor boxes or bags of beets. You can separate the special section and store the beet harvest there. The height of the limitation of this section can be up to a meter.
Besides, beets can be stored in bulk on the shelves, covered with straw or burlap. Mindful of the danger of contact with the walls, here you need to make a limiter. Also about 15 cm.
Pour roots on the shelves in the form of a pyramid. Leaving the gap between the vegetables and the top shelfso that vegetables do not spoil.
Boxes with beets interspersed with chalk can be lowered into the apartment underground, ash, sawdust and sand. Here everything is the same as when stored in an apartment. There are such methods of storing beets as freezing, drying and drying.
How to store beets in a subfield of a wooden house, see the photo below.
Suitable for underground and chatterbox. To do this, dilute the clay with water. So that it becomes liquid. Approximately in half. Give the solution to infuse. Better to leave for the night. Then dissolve a little more. Dip every root vegetable in this solution. When the clay dries, put it in the boxes.
Conclusion
There are many ways to store beets. You can try them all. To finally come to some one. Whichever method is chosen, the main thing is to remember the basic principles of beet storage.
Maintain the necessary humidity and temperature. In time to harvest. Do not damage. Periodically sort out, removing spoiled roots.
Useful video!
If after reading the article you are still thinking about how to properly store carrots and beets in the winter at home, if there is no cellar, then you should watch the introductory video, which will cover this topic in more detail.
