2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Pumpkin is very healthy and tasty in any form. In addition, it is ideal for dietary and baby food, because it contains a unique vitamin T that cannot be found in other vegetables. If you eat pumpkin dishes regularly, you can not only relieve fatigue and irritability, but also significantly improve your mood. Therefore, many summer residents do their best to keep it as long as possible. It is quite possible to do this - if you listen to some recommendations, this valuable vegetable can be saved until the next harvest
Suitable varieties for storage
It is quite logical that late-ripening pumpkin varieties will be best stored: Vitamin, Pearl, Butternat Ponca, Testi Delipe, Intercept, Vita and Muscat. Almost all of these varieties are nutmeg, and it is on them that you should first of all pay attention. Mid-season and early-maturing varieties are less keeping quality, therefore they will not be the most suitable option for long-term storage.
When to harvest
As a rule, the pumpkin harvest is harvested in September-October, trying to keep within before the first frost. You can determine the maturity of pumpkins by the stalks - in mature specimens, they are usually dry and rather tough. In no case should you break them off.
Harvesting is best in sunny, dry weather, and after harvesting the fruits, they are given a week to dry in the sun in an open area.
What should be a pumpkin
For storage, it is necessary to select a pumpkin with intact stalks and crusts, on which there are no dents or damage. To avoid possible troubles, during harvesting, you should not drag the pumpkin by the stalks, or, even more so, throw it. The optimal stalk length should be between 7 and 10 cm.
If traces of damage or any damage were found on the pumpkin, you should not try to preserve it for as long as possible - this is unlikely to work. In such fruits, the spoiled parts are usually cut out, the seeds with pulp are removed, cut and stored in the freezer. Better yet, use them right away.
To remove too far a pumpkin that has no stalks is also not worth it - it must be consumed first.
Where to store
The best place to store a ripe pumpkin, of course, will be a cellar, in which all the necessary storage conditions are met: it should be dark, well-ventilated, fairly cool (the temperature in it should be in the range of three to fifteen degrees) and sufficiently dry (with humidity from 75 to 80%). If at least one of the above conditions is not met, the shelf life of the coveted crop will be noticeably reduced. Humidity is considered a particularly important indicator - with excessively high humidity, the pumpkin will be stored for two to three months less. In principle, the very low temperature, which negatively affects the keeping quality of the fruit, is no less destructive.
The pumpkin is usually not sent to the cellar right away - before that, you need to let the pumpkins lie in the sun so that excess moisture evaporates from them.
Of course, not everyone has a cellar. But do not despair if it is not there - attics, storage rooms, garages, sheds, undergrounds, verandas and loggias with balconies are also well suited for storing pumpkins. And especially inventive summer residents manage to keep the pumpkin even under the bed. The most important thing is to comply with all the conditions listed above.
In addition to the basic, any additional storage conditions for pumpkin are not required - this vegetable is very unpretentious.
How to store
It is recommended to store pumpkin on pallets, racks or on shelves. But on the ground it should not be stored. All fruits are laid with the stalks upward, while the pumpkins lying in the neighborhood should not come into contact with each other.
Many gardeners successfully store pumpkin in straw or hay. And the pumpkin stored on the balcony is covered with a rag in order to protect it from sunlight. From time to time, all fruits should be checked for the presence of decaying specimens and removed in a timely manner if found.
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