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Winter is a difficult time for housewives. I want to cook a lot of delicious vegetable dishes, but it’s not the season. Therefore, you have to carefully study how to store your favorite products. Much attention is paid to sweet carrots.
It is considered the leader in terms of the amount of nutrients during long-term storage, so the issue of its preservation in winter is very relevant. It is included in the recipe of various dishes – the first, second, appetizers, salads. Canned blanks cannot provide a complete diet, you have to look for a way out of how to save a vegetable in the winter without conservation.
If you are the owner of a good basement, then storing carrots will not be any particular difficulty. But if, in addition to the refrigerator in the apartment, there are no other cool rooms, then certain knowledge will be needed here. Root crops can be stored in the refrigerator, but you will have to take into account some nuances.
Learning to store carrots indoors
First you need to dwell on the issue of harvesting. This worries those gardeners who themselves grow juicy carrots for storage. Keeping quality directly depends on its competent collection.
What to consider:
- Cleaning time. Harvested root crops will require drying, so dry and warm weather is the best option.
- Digging method. Gardeners recognized the best way to dig with blunt pitchforks. And it is better after preliminary loosening of row spacings.
- The need for drying and cleaning carrots, removing tops.
When all the steps are completed, we begin preparing the vegetable for storage in the refrigerator.
To do this, we sort out the roots peeled from the ground. It is necessary to select whole, not damaged, without traces of decay and deterioration. There are several ways to store carrots in the refrigerator. How long will it keep its characteristics when stored in the refrigerator? It depends on the method you have chosen.
The simplest is to store in plastic bags. Preparing carrots takes a little time. Root crops are cleaned of the remnants of the earth, sorted out to remove damaged ones and put in a film bag.
The second option includes additional washing and drying of carrots before packaging.
Third – washed and peeled root crops without drying are immediately put into bags and placed in the refrigerator. It is immediately worth noting that the shelf life with this method is significantly reduced and is 14 days.
Fourth – chopped root crops are stored in the freezer.
Important Tips for Storing Root Vegetables in the Refrigerator
It is important for the hostess to know how to properly store carrots in the refrigerator. This knowledge will help you enjoy quality vegetables for longer with the preservation of nutritional properties. Therefore, taking into account all the nuances of storage, you can enjoy juicy carrots for several months or use it at the time of cooking.
It is best to use vacuum plastic bags when storing carrots in the refrigerator. Root crops should not be washed. Otherwise, it will not be possible to save them for more than two weeks.
The filled bags are placed in the refrigerator on the bottom shelf. If the carrots were not washed, then it will be possible to save them for 2 months. And then, the accumulated carbon dioxide will lead to damage to the root crops, they will have to be removed.
Food stretch film will help get rid of the rapid decay of carrots in the refrigerator. Carrots are washed and trimmed. Then each fruit is wrapped tightly with a film and laid so that two adjacent ones do not touch each other. How long carrots will last with this method of storage depends on the temperature in the refrigerator. But the average value is 3-4 months.
A plastic container is another storage option. These are convenient containers in which the storage conditions necessary for carrots are created. Root crops are tightly packed and placed in the refrigerator on the lowest shelf.
Shredded root crops are placed in plastic bags, placed in the freezer and taken out as needed. This option is very convenient for cooking second courses and soups. Root vegetables are crushed in a food processor, grated, cut into cubes.
For each dish, select the desired characteristics. It is best to pack pieces of different configurations separately, which will simplify further cooking with carrots. Such carrots are stored very well all year until the new harvest.
We already know how to store carrots in the refrigerator. It remains to consider some subtleties.
Choose varieties with good keeping quality. This characteristic is very important for a refrigerator.
Let the roots cool a little before packing in a plastic bag. So, you will avoid the rapid appearance of condensate.
Sort the fruits regularly to remove damaged ones in time.
Frozen pieces of root crops should not be thawed before cooking. That is unnecessary. This will not affect the cooking time of the dish.
Do not store carrots in open bags or without packaging. In this case, it will be stored very little.