How To Store Carrots Properly. Part 2

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Keeping carrots juicy and tasty throughout the winter is a difficult task, but doable. The first part of the article dealt with the preparation of crispy root crops for subsequent storage, as well as storage of the carrot crop in sawdust and sphagnum. Now we will try to analyze in more detail the methods of storing the harvested carrots in onion peels, as well as in sand and clay. These methods are aimed at the safe storage of bright nutritious root crops throughout the winter period

Sand storage

This method has won unprecedented popularity among summer residents, especially among those who were lucky enough to become the owner of a garage pit, a spacious cellar, or at least underground. However, the popularity of storing carrots in sand is understandable - it significantly reduces the evaporation of moisture from stored root crops, and also ensures a constant storage temperature and actively prevents the emergence and spread of various putrefactive ailments. These qualities provide excellent keeping quality of carrots.

In order to safely save the harvested carrots in the sand, in addition to the boxes, you should also prepare water with sand. Sand should ideally be loamy - river sand is much less suitable.

Also, the sand must be slightly moistened - for this, about a liter of water is taken on a bucket of sand. Next, wet sand with a layer of three to five centimeters is poured onto the bottoms of the boxes and the carrots are placed in them so that not a single root crop touches the neighboring ones. From above, the carrots are covered with another sandy layer, on which a new layer of crunchy root vegetables is again placed.

By the way, some summer residents often prefer buckets instead of boxes, and dry sand instead of wet sand.

Storage in clay

In order to successfully use this method, plastic wrap, strong boxes or boxes, water with clay and a little garlic are prepared in advance.

Clay creates a thin protective layer over the entire surface area of the stored juicy root crops. It is this protective layer that protects carrots from unwanted wilting throughout the winter.

There are two ways to treat carrots with clay. In the first case, the collected roots are simply poured with clay. To prepare a clay mixture, half a bucket of clay is poured with water, and a day later, the clay swollen from water should be thoroughly mixed and again filled with water. In this state, under a layer of water of two to three centimeters, the clay should stay for three to four days. And immediately before use, it should acquire the consistency of sour cream. Next, a layer of carrots is placed on the bottom of the box lined with polyethylene film, after which it is poured with diluted clay. In this case, it is extremely important to try so that the roots do not touch each other. When the clay layer is dry, another layer of carrot is laid out on top, and it is poured with clay in the same way and dried. The procedure is repeated to the very top of all boxes.

The second method is to dip each root vegetable in clay. To do this, the unwashed root vegetables should first be dipped in a garlic, and then in a clay mash, and then spread them in intensively ventilated places so that they dry well. You can place the carrot in the attic or on the veranda, or even send it to dry under a small canopy. When the "clay shell" on juicy roots dries up, they are sent to cardboard boxes or wooden boxes. It is very simple to prepare a garlic mash: first, a glass of garlic is scrolled through a meat grinder, after which the resulting "minced meat" is diluted in a couple of liters of water. And to obtain the aforementioned clay talker, the clay should be diluted with water to the consistency of a rather thick sour cream - the resulting composition should not drain from the root crops.

Storage in onion skins

In advance, you should stock up on garlic or onion peels and strong boxes. In fact, this storage method is similar to storing harvested carrots in sawdust. Essential oils that are part of onion and garlic peels are also excellent at preventing sudden rotting of crunchy carrots. Summer residents who store carrots in this way claim that they do not spoil for a very long time.

Carrots are placed in boxes in layers, alternating with dry onion or garlic husks. Usually, for these purposes, the husk is harvested at the end of the harvest.