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Where to store carrots in the apartment to stay fresh longer?

Every carrot has its place. Late varieties are better preserved in the cellar, in cool and dark places in the apartment. Early and young carrots will last longer in the refrigerator. One important nuance: you need to choose how to store carrots in the refrigerator. There are several ways - in water, in a bag, in film and paper. Peeled and washed root vegetables last longer in cling film.

Carrot storage

Preparing carrots for storage

Attention! Not all carrots are suitable for long-term fresh storage.

If you are stocking up on vegetables for the winter, you need to:

  1. Choose late variety carrots, dug up in a timely manner and correctly.
  2. Root crops should not be overgrown.
  3. Large clods of dirt are not allowed.
  4. Specimens with signs of disease, with wormholes, traces of carrot flies, sluggish, damaged, frostbitten cannot be stored.
  5. You cannot store wet root vegetables - you need to dry them well.
  6. Washed carrots have a shorter shelf life.
  7. It is better if the root vegetables are approximately the same size.

If there is a strong variation in size, small specimens are selected. You need to use them first, since they deteriorate faster (wither, dry out).

Storing carrots in bags

If you use your own carrots grown in the garden for storage:

  1. Harvest on time, not earlier and not later (refer to the dates indicated on the bag of seeds).
  2. Choose a warm, dry day for cleaning.
  3. The ground should not be wet. Stop watering for a week.
  4. Cut the tops at the level of the head without damaging the shoulders.
  5. Do not wash root vegetables if all of the above conditions are met.
  6. Properly harvested crops are stored immediately.
  7. If the carrots were dug up in wet weather and washed, they must be thoroughly dried.

Drying will take at least 1 week. The place should be dry, the roots should be well ventilated. The carrots are scattered in one layer. Dry under a canopy in the shade. Before moving to a cellar or basement, they are kept for another 7-10 days at a temperature of +10...+14 degrees.

Storage in the apartment

It is not as easy for city residents to keep fresh carrots all winter as for rural residents and those who have their own home or garage with a cellar.

Storing carrots in the cellar

Ideal conditions:

  • storage temperature 0...+1 degrees and relative humidity 95-98%;
  • or temperature +1...+5 degrees and relative humidity 90-95%;
  • Good ventilation is very important; air circulation should be noticeable.

Typically, several methods are used to store carrots in an apartment:

  • cold storage;
  • freezing;
  • storage on a balcony or other cool room.

Preservation of the product helps to partially overcome the situation. You can roll carrot juice and carrot puree into jars, fry it for soup, all kinds of vegetable salads, and sauces with carrots.Also, for long-term storage at home, carrots are fermented along with cabbage and dried in an electric dryer. Coarsely grated carrots are dried for about 8 hours at a temperature of 55-60°C.

In an enamel pan

An excellent way for apartment conditions. In large enamel pans, carrots are less susceptible to temperature changes and can remain fresh and juicy for up to several months.

Storing carrots in an enamel pan

What do we have to do:

  1. Place the carrots in an enamel pan, tails down.
  2. Cover with a paper towel or clean cotton cloth.
  3. Close the lid.
  4. Lower it into the cellar, basement or take it to the coolest room.

If you put the pan in the basement, the vegetable will last until spring and is guaranteed not to be damaged by mice.

On the balcony

Most often, a balcony is allocated for storing carrots in an apartment. It's usually cooler here than in the rooms. In addition, supplies do not dangle underfoot and do not bother anyone. Indeed, the balcony is a good place to store carrots if the temperature in the region does not drop too much.

In cold regions, the temperature on an unglazed balcony can drop to -1 or lower. The carrots will be frozen and will quickly disappear.

You can store supplies on the balcony until frost, and then move them to the pantry, hallway or other cool room.

Storing carrots on the balcony

What to store on the balcony:

  • in fabric bags;
  • in boxes: wooden, plastic;
  • in plastic bags (must be kept wide open);
  • in mesh bags (small volumes).

Long-term home storage is possible if you use:

  • Sand. In order to prevent the carrots from drying out quickly and stabilize the temperature, wet sand is used. Pour 1 liter of water into a bucket of dry sand and mix thoroughly. Then pour a 3-5 cm layer of sand into a box or bucket.Lay out a layer of carrots. Covered with sand. The root vegetables are laid out again. And so on until the very top of the container. The last layer is sand.
  • Sawdust. Sawdust from coniferous trees, rich in phytoncides, is used. They prevent the proliferation of harmful microorganisms and slow down the processes of spoilage and germination of carrots. You need to line the bottom of the box with sawdust, lay out the root vegetables in a layer, and cover it. The optimal thickness of the sawdust layer is 5-7 cm.

In a refrigerator

A couple of kilograms of carrots can be stored in the refrigerator. A fresh zone with a temperature of 0...+5 degrees should be used.

Storing carrots in the refrigerator

How to store:

  • In a tight bag (with a zip-lock fastener or a regular one). Do not wash or peel the carrots. Place it in a bag. Tie or button up to remove as much air as possible. Make sure that condensation does not form inside. If droplets of moisture appear on the walls of the bag, the carrots need to be taken out, dried and can be stored again.
  • In a container or jar with water. This is how peeled carrots that turn out to be surplus are stored. You can cut the root vegetables into large pieces (cut into 2-3 parts). Place the carrots in a container, fill with cold water to completely cover, and close with a lid. The water needs to be changed every 1-3 days.
  • Store washed or peeled carrots in cling film. First it is dried at room temperature. Then wrap it very tightly in 2-3 layers of cling film. It will keep in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.
  • On paper. Carrots need to be wrapped in paper. Each copy is wrapped individually. Place in the vegetable compartment. The paper wrapper allows the root crop to “breathe” and absorbs excess moisture. If the paper becomes noticeably wet, it should be replaced with new one.

At room temperature

It is not recommended to store the root vegetable at room temperature. It will germinate quickly. The shelf life will depend on the temperature, humidity in the room, and the season. In the last months of winter, root vegetables can germinate even in the refrigerator.

Storing carrots at home

To keep carrots for as long as possible:

  1. Choose the coolest and most ventilated area. The kitchen is strictly not recommended due to constant temperature fluctuations. A corridor, a bedroom, a glassed-in loggia (balcony), and a living room are suitable.
  2. Use boxes that allow supplies to be ventilated.
  3. Choose the darkest place.
  4. Can be stored in paper or sawdust.

In the freezer

Some carrots can be stored in the freezer. If you freeze the root vegetable correctly, the shelf life will be 12 months.

How to store carrots in the freezer:

  1. Wash and clean.
  2. Cut into strips, rings, half rings, and cubes.
  3. You can grate it on a coarse grater.
  4. Place on a tray or paper towel.
  5. Distribute so that the carrots do not lie in a thick layer.
  6. Leave to dry for 1-2 hours.
  7. Distribute into small bags or wrap in cling film in portions.
  8. Send to the blast freezing department (if available) for 3 hours.
  9. Store in the freezer in a container or in a tight bag separately from fish, meat and fruit.

Storing carrots in the freezer

Frozen carrots should not be thawed before use. It is thrown into boiling water or sent to a heated frying pan. You can cook:

  • soup;
  • borsch;
  • sauté and stew;
  • pilaf.

Storage in a cellar, basement

Large quantities of carrots, 30 kg or more, are best stored in a cellar or basement. There are several accommodation options:

  • In boxes (cardboard, wood, plastic). Dry carrots are placed in boxes and placed on the shelves.You can stack one drawer on top of another, but in this case the lower drawers are not completely filled to allow air to circulate.
  • In bags. To store carrots, it is good to use polypropylene vegetable containers with ventilation. If you have a regular bag that does not allow air to pass through, it is better not to tie it.
  • In bulk. If the ventilation in the room is good, the temperature is stable (keeps within 0...+5 degrees), and the variety is characterized by high density and good keeping quality, you can pour the carrots onto a slight elevation and store them that way. The maximum height of the embankment should not exceed 2-3 m.

It is unacceptable for carrots to be stored in close proximity to the ceiling or walls. There should be 30 cm free at the wall so that air can circulate well. The optimal distance to the ceiling is 80 cm.

Storing carrots in sand

Advice. If the temperature in the basement (cellar) is unstable or above +5 degrees, sprinkle the carrots in the boxes with wet sand or sawdust.

Important! For winter storage of crops, the room must be disinfected annually. For example, a 3-5% solution of copper sulfate. The composition is sprayed (applied with a washcloth) onto the ceiling, walls, floor. It is also recommended to dry in the sun and treat the shelf boards.

Shelf life

You can see how long fresh carrots can be stored in the table:

Carrot Where is it stored? Temperature Shelf life
late cellar, cellar, special room 0…+5 degrees 4-6 months
mid-late cellar, cellar, special room 0…+5 degrees 2-4 months
late in the apartment +15…+18 up to 2 months
any whole fridge 0…+5 degrees 30-40 days
cleaned, washed fridge 0…+5 degrees up to 10 days
frozen freezer -18 degrees 9-12 months

Unpopular methods: in clay, onion skins, chalk and moss

There are more than 10 ways to store carrots in winter, but many of them have already become obsolete or are too labor-intensive.

  • Cropped. Removing the tops along with 0.5-1 cm of hangers allows you to remove the growth point. Carrots do not germinate and can be stored in the cellar for a long time. Pruning is carried out in 2 stages. After digging, the tops are immediately cut off. Then the root vegetables are washed and the shoulders are cut off from the place where the tops grow (no more than 1 cm). The harvest is well dried and kept at a temperature of +10...+14 degrees for 1-2 weeks.
  • In clay. The bucket is half filled with clay and water is poured to the top. After a day, stir. You should get a mash with the consistency of sour cream. Carrots are dipped into the mash one by one or placed on a net and watered several times. Then they are dried and stored.
  • In chalk. Loose chalk is sprayed onto root vegetables or immersed in a 30% solution and dried.
  • In onion skins. The husk is used in the same way as sawdust.
  • In the garden. In the fall, carrot tops are cut off, covered with a layer of sand and covered with film. Manure, peat, and leaves are laid out on top. Cover with a second layer of film. They dig it up in the spring.
  • In the moss. The vegetables are placed in boxes covered with moss. Cover with another layer of moss.

Question answer

Why is it poorly stored?

Carrots may spoil prematurely if they are grown in soil with too much nitrogen. A large amount of fertilizers has a negative effect on keeping quality.

What should you not store next to?

Fresh carrots can quickly spoil if stored in close proximity to apples, apricots, bananas, pears, potatoes, and other fruits and vegetables that emit ethylene. You can’t store it next to tomatoes and peppers - it will become bitter.It is placed in the refrigerator separately from meat, fish, prepared and strong-smelling foods.

How does the variety influence?

When choosing carrots for long-term storage, always pay attention to the keeping quality of the variety. It must exceed 5 months. The varieties “Losinoostrovskaya 13”, “Moskovskaya winter A 515”, “Chantenay 2461”, “Valeria”, “Geranda”, “Incomparable” are stored longer than others.

Will imported goods be stored?

If carrots are grown and harvested more than 150 km from the storage location, the shelf life is reduced by 1 month from the variety stated in the description.

How to understand at first glance whether it will be stored for a long time?

Varieties with excellent keeping quality have several features: conical-shaped root crops, long or semi-long from 15 to 45 cm.

Well-ripened late-ripening carrots can be stored all winter and half of spring if ideal conditions are created. At home, and especially in an apartment, it is difficult to follow all the recommendations. Therefore, expect that the period will be shorter. In winter, stocks should be regularly checked, removed and used for cooking first of all those root vegetables that have begun to sprout and wither.

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