2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
If you correctly approach the issue of storing watermelons, it is quite possible to preserve these juicy fruits even until the New Year. But fresh watermelon on the New Year's table is a real exotic. By the way, in terms of storage, watermelon is a rather durable product, because some of its varieties are excellently preserved for three months or more. And even after this time, they will taste exactly the same as the fruits that have just been picked from the beds
Which watermelons are suitable for storage
Care should be taken when selecting watermelons for storage. They must not be scratched or cracked. Broken copies are also not suitable for storage. Thick-bore watermelons are most suitable. All watermelons to be stored should be handled with extreme care and never placed on hard surfaces.
As for the varieties, only late-ripening watermelon varieties with strong pulp and a fairly dense thick skin are able to be stored for the longest time: these are Azhinovsky, Dessertny, Volzhsky, as well as Astrakhan striped and Melitopol. Such varieties as Kholodov's Gift and Bykovsky are also suitable.
Proper storage conditions
Best of all, watermelons are stored at a temperature of one to three degrees. And the air humidity should be in the range from 80 to 85%. If it is warmer in the cellar, the watermelons will begin to sour, and their pulp will quickly turn from sugar and crunchy into tasteless cotton gruel.
A basement or cellar equipped with a good ventilation system is perfect for storing watermelon crops - the air should not stagnate in them.
Storage options
There are various ways to save watermelons. These fruits are very well stored in moss. However, it is necessary to stock up on moss in advance - it is harvested in the forest, always in sunny and dry weather, so that the moss is dry. The collected moss is laid out in a solid layer on the bottom of any suitable container (most often these are wooden boxes), watermelons are placed on a layer of moss, and then they are well covered with moss around them. In moss, watermelons are usually stored in cellars, making sure that the thermometer does not drop below two or three degrees.
You can also keep juicy watermelons in the ashes - dried wood ash is poured into a wooden box or a capacious barrel in a thick layer, on which the watermelons are placed and thoroughly covered with ash on top. Then the container is tightly closed and transferred to the basement or cellar.
Best of all, watermelons are stored hanging - having wrapped the fruits with a natural and fairly dense cloth, they are placed in a strong string bag or net and suspended from the ceiling of the cellar.
Watermelons can be perfectly preserved in paraffin or wax. Only all watermelons must be strong and not lined. They are completely covered with a centimeter layer of melted paraffin or wax and sent to a cold place for storage. And you can store watermelons in alabaster or in clay - alabaster or clay is slightly diluted with water to a thick creamy consistency, after which the mixture is applied with a brush to the prepared watermelons and allowed to dry. Such watermelons are also stored in cold rooms.
Storing watermelons in straw is an equally effective option. Straw is laid out in a fairly thick layer on shelves in a damp cellar, and watermelons are placed on top of it and well covered with straw, as if wrapping them up. The air temperature in the basement must be maintained in the range of one to five degrees. With this method of storage, all watermelons must be systematically inspected and spoiled specimens promptly eliminated.
If the basement is not available, you can keep the watermelons at home. To do this, they need to allocate the coolest and darkest place in the apartment - the light should not have the slightest access to the watermelons. In addition, all watermelons stored in this way must be turned daily.
As for cut watermelons, they can be stored exclusively in the refrigerator, and no more than two to three days - watermelon pulp very quickly lends itself to infection with harmful bacteria.
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