A preexisting root cellar usually contains some sort of air vent or pipe located at the top of the area to allow warm air to rise and escape. If you don’t have a preexisting air vent, periodically open a window or door to the outside to allow warm air out and fresh air in.
Figure 20-1: A hydrometer for checking temperature and humidity.
In modern homes, cellars (or basements) often have concrete floors and are generally too warm and dry for food storage. Carefully measure your temperature and moisture content before placing your produce in a cellar that may not have optimum conditions.
DIY storage spaces
If you don’t have a cellar with a dirt floor, there are alternatives. Take a look at your cellar layout and consider the areas suggested in the following sections.
Stairwells
Does a stairwell lead from your basement to the outside? If so, add an insulated door to separate the stairwell from the main room, and voilá, you have a cold storage space that has built-in shelves: the stairs! Just place bins of produce on each step and pans of water under the stairs for moisture, and you have an efficient storage area (see Figure 20-2).
A stairwell is particularly good because the stairs create areas with varying temperatures, allowing for a wide array of conditions that can benefit many different kinds of foods.
Figure 20-2: A stairwell converted into a cold storage area.
Be sure to place a hydrometer in this area, as well as a few, inexpensive thermometers on different steps, to gauge the best conditions for your stored foods. There will be quite a variation in temperature as you go up the stairs.
Storm shelters
Do you have a storm shelter (also called a storm cellar)? In the Midwest, storm shelters are often underground cellars separate from the house or basement. (Think of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, when she runs through the yard to get to the storm cellar during the tornado.) These shelters are perfect for adding some shelves and neat bins of produce. They’re below the frost line, have adequate ventilation, and are weatherproof. Whether your home had a storm shelter when you moved in or you decided to build one yourself, be certain to block any ventilation pipes with fine screen to keep out rodent activity.
Your stored foods will be used up long before the storm season approaches. Even so, keep your cold storage organized and neat.
Straw-bale storage
If you have a small area in your yard, you can construct a simple straw-bale storage area (see Figure 20-3) to hold your root crops, like potatoes, rutabagas, turnips, and parsnips.
The best location for straw-bale storage is one that tends to stay dry. Don’t place these storage areas in high moisture areas (where you generally have a buildup of snowdrift, for example, or where water tends to puddle after storms). Also, don’t build one close to buildings that protect the area from winter temperatures. You want the straw bales to be able to stay freezing cold on the outside and yet insulate the produce inside.
Figure 20-3: Straw-bale storage
Once you’ve found a suitable location, follow these steps to build your storage area:
1. Place two bales of straw in a line, with the ends touching; about 16 inches away, place two more bales parallel to the first two.
The spacing is adequate for the bales that are laid on top to cover the open space completely.
2. Place one straw bale on each of the remaining ends to enclose a box shape in the center.
You’ve just made a large square in the center.
3. Cover the ground in the center of the square with a screen.
You don’t have use the screen, but doing so helps keep your produce protected from critters that may be inclined to dig under the whole thing.
4. Layer some soft straw on the bottom of the square to cushion the produce.
If you put a screen in the center, place the straw over the screen.
5. Layer your root crops, very gently, into the bin.
Take care to not dump or toss your vegetables. Bruised food quickly turns to spoiled food.
6. When the bin is full, layer another couple of inches of straw onto the food.
7. Place bales of straw across the top of the now-filled bin.
Your food is now protected from winter in a breathable storage bin.
To check on or access the food inside, simply remove the top two bales. Replace the bales carefully and evenly to cover the hole each time. In the late spring, or when the straw-bale storage area is empty, simply take the bin apart, and use the straw as mulch for your garden.
Some people use hay bales for these storage bins, but we don’t recommend it. Hay molds rather quickly, sometimes spoiling the produce inside. Hay bales also seem to absorb more moisture than straw bales. If you use hay, check periodically for moisture damage, and remove the offending produce immediately.
Rubber trash cans
You can bury these up to their rims in the ground, place your produce inside, put on the lid, and then cover the whole thing with a thick layer of straw for a simple cold storage arrangement. These bins are easy to wash and the tight lids keep the foods fresh and sanitary and keep rodents out.
Following Simple Storage Rules
Underground storage is the fastest and possibly easiest way to store foods. There are, however, some rules to follow, no matter what variety of food you want to keep over the winter:
Be careful about the quality of the food you store: Foods must be in perfect condition — not too ripe or picked too early. Overly ripe fruit is extremely fragile and in the last stage before naturally decaying. Food that’s too green doesn’t do particularly well, either. These foods may change color or become agreeably soft in storage, but they won’t truly ripen and develop their best flavor in these conditions.
Make sure you pick your food at just the right ripeness, as fresh as possible, and store it immediately. Don’t allow it to sit at room temperature while you decide what you are going to do with it.
Be careful about how you pair foods: Some foods produce gases that make other foods spoil. For instance, apples produce a gas that makes potatoes start to sprout. Put these two together, and you’ll end up with potatoes that are soft and inedible. Cabbage is a very strongly scented food that is better stored in an outside area, away from more delicately flavored items.
You must care for the foods, even while in storage. Weekly checking for bruising, decay, dryness, and mold is essential. The old adage about a rotten apple spoiling the barrel definitely applies here. As the winter progresses, remove any produce that has blemishes. Your remaining foods will continue to last longer.
Rearrange your produce carefully. If you’re like me (Amy), after a month, you may discover that you’ve used enough of your stored produce to enable you to bring the bottom layer up to the top. Be careful of excess handling though; gently place each food back in place to avoid bruising.
Pick the right storage container: Choose containers that let you keep things neat and very organized. Some ideas:
• Rubbermaid-style tubs: These can be stacked when not in use, their covers fit tightly, and they can easily be filled with damp sand for foods needing increased humidity. Use clear bins to avoid colors leaching into foods and so that you can easily see all the produce inside.
• Wooden bins or boxes: Recycle these from thrift stores and some grocery stores. Even if you have to pay a few dollars each, they will give years of service and allow for neat, tidy stacking. If stacking wooden boxes, place the first row in a line, place a couple of sticks across the boxes for air circulation, and then place the next boxes. You want to let the moisture and gases escape, which allows the food to last longer.
• Five-gallon pails: You can find these for next to nothing from bakers and other restaurants. You don’t need to include the lid; in fact, for cold storage, it is best not to. Fill the clean, dry bucket with produce, layer a damp cloth on the top and you can stack these buckets in a pyramid shape, allowing plenty of airflow between.
• Old dre
ssers: You can arrange these unconventional pieces against a wall and use the drawers to keep your produce in a dry and safe place. Line the drawers with newspaper for easy cleaning. Keep them slightly ajar for proper air circulation.
Preparing Foods for Cold Storage
Foods that store well are generally the less juicy and delicate things, like root vegetables and firm fruits. The following sections list several fruits and vegetables that keep very well in cold storage. They are foods that many families enjoy; they provide a fresh taste when bland winter fare abounds; and they extend your food pantry to include fresh, tasty choices. (Note: You may be able to extend the life of more tender foods, like eggplant or broccoli, but don’t count on them lasting for months as the other foods will. You can keep these treats in storage about two weeks, but no longer.)
As a general rule, harvest root crops as late as you can in the season and don’t wash the dirt from the roots. Simply use your hand or a rag to remove some of the loose soil.
Apples
Apples store very well. Choose a variety that is known for storage. Kept well, apples can last throughout the entire winter — four to six months! Toward the end of that time, a perfectly good apple may become slightly shriveled. This is simply from the loss of moisture, not nutrition.
Choose apples that are unblemished and firm (they shouldn’t give at all when pressed). Check in bright light for dents and soft spots.
To store, layer the apples carefully in very cold temperatures (between 30 and 35 degrees), with a high humidity between 80 and 90 percent. (Place a pan of water in the area where they’re stored.)
Try covering your bin of apples with a damp (not dripping) cloth, which remains damp for at least a day. And make it a habit to replace the cloth every couple of days when you check other stored produce.
Beets
Beets are prolific and inexpensive to grow, meaning you’ll end up with plenty for storage if you plant a few rows. Harvest beets late in the season, after the nights become freezing cold. If you’re buying beets at a farmer’s market, look for fresh, crisp tops. This is the best indication that the beets are just picked.
To prepare the beets for storage, cut off the tops, leaving the beet itself intact (don’t wash them). Then place the beets in your coldest storage, temperatures just above freezing, 32 to 40 degrees, with 90 to 95 percent humidity. To increase humidity naturally, place the beets on moist sand.
Some gardeners recommend leaving beets in the ground, covered with a thick layer of straw. They say beets and other root crops can be harvested directly from the ground into the coldest part of the winter. Be aware, though, that rodents may destroy root crops before you get a chance to harvest them. So before you follow the advice of the “leave ’em in the ground” crowd, make sure you — and not rodents — will be the benefactors.
Cabbage
Cabbage adds bulk and crunch to many winter dishes. Keeping cabbage in storage requires a few extra precautions, however, to ensure that it remains useable throughout the winter and doesn’t ruin other food nearby.
First, cabbage gives off a strong odor while in storage, which is normal (don’t confuse this smell with spoilage). The problem with the smell is that apples and other fruits can absorb the flavor of cabbage. The key is to make sure you don’t store cabbage too closely to these other types of foods. If you must store cabbage close to other foods, wrap individual heads with newspaper to contain the odor.
The longer cabbage remains in storage, the stronger the taste when it’s cooked. If your family does not like the stronger taste, plan on using up cabbage early in the storage season.
Second, cabbage needs to be stored in a damp area. If you store cabbage in a place that’s too dry, the heads dry out, and the dry, wilted leaves are wasted. Fortunately, you can take care of this tendency with a simple pan of water.
To prepare cabbage for storage, choose unblemished cabbage that has not been picked for long. Remove the tough outer leaves. Wrap each head in newspaper and store it where temperatures are just above freezing, 32 to 40 degrees, and the humidity levels are between 80 to 90 percent. Place a pan of water near the cabbage to provide enough moisture during storage.
Carrots
Carrots are another root vegetable that stores well and tastes sweet and crisp throughout the winter months. Just as you do with beets, pick carrots as late as possible in the season. Avoid any that have grown too large and pithy, however, because these carrots have used up their natural sweetness and will taste bitter.
To prepare carrots for storage, trim off the tops, leaving the carrot itself intact. Don’t wash them; simply brush off excess soil if you want to. Place carrots with beets in coldest storage of 32 to 40 degrees with high humidity of 90 to 95 percent. Carrots do especially well in moist sand.
Garlic
You can never have enough garlic, especially since garlic is so easy to store. If you’re growing your own garlic, simply pull the bulbs once the tops have dried and fallen over. Allow the garlic bulbs to dry thoroughly out of direct sunlight until the outside of the bulbs has become dry and papery. Purchased garlic bulbs have already been dried. Look for the papery outer layer that you always see on a store-bought bulb.
Dry bulbs on newspaper outside during the warm summer days, but bring them in during the cool nights to prevent condensation. Repeat this process for a few days, until the garlic is completely dry.
When the garlic is thoroughly dry, tie bunches of tops together, braid in attractive garlic braids. Alternatively, do what I (Amy) do: Trim tops from bulbs and place them in women’s stockings, tying a knot between bulbs. You can hang this long chain of bulbs on a nail in a cool and slightly damp area. I have luck placing my garlic in a cool coat room, instead of an actual root cellar. They are in a convenient location for cooking, and let’s face it, they make quite a conversation piece! If you do keep them in cold storage, place them in 30 to 45 degrees with a humidity level of 60 to 70 percent.
Onions
Most onions keep very well in cold storage. Some varieties, such as the extra sweet onions, however, don’t last long. When planting, choose varieties that say they work well for storage (you’ll see the term “good keeper”). These onions last throughout the storage season.
Harvest onions the same as garlic. Pull them when the tops turn brown and fall over. Once pulled, they must also be cured, like garlic: Place them on newspaper to dry during the warm days, bringing them in during the cool night hours to avoid condensation buildup. When storing purchased onions, you don’t have to worry about this step. They are already dried for you.
To store, gently place onions in a crate, loose mesh bag, or ladies’ stockings, tying a knot between each onion. To prevent mildew on onion skins, air circulation is vital, so make sure your cold storage has adequate ventilation (see the earlier section “Finding the Perfect Place for Cold Storage”). The ideal storage conditions are temperatures of 35 to 40 degrees and humidity of 60 to 70 percent. If, throughout the season, you find onions with some mildew on them, simply use those onions first. Generally the mildew is on the outer layers, leaving the inside onions fresh.
Pears
Pears store very well and make a nice change from apples. In years when apples are affected by blight or scald and are too expensive, pears can be more available.
Pick pears you plan to store when they’re just ripened. (Don’t choose pears that are too ripe, or soft; simply leaning against each other can cause them to bruise.) To help protect the fruit, wrap each pear in a sheet of newspaper before storing. Keep temperatures cold, 30 to 35 degrees, with high humidity (80 to 90 percent). Pears can keep for several months in this manner.
Potatoes
Potatoes are the easiest of all fruits and vegetables to store. To prepare for storage, harvest late in the season. Don’t wash the potatoes; instead remove excess soil with your hand or a soft rag. Inspect them carefully for bruising or nicks in the skin (fresh potatoes have a more delicate skin than those that hav
e been harvested for a few days). If you find any bruising or nicks, keep these potatoes out of storage and use them within a few days.
Store potatoes in complete darkness at 32 to 40 degrees and 80 to 90 percent humidity. Every week, check them for damage. At least once a month, turn and rearrange them. Finally, don’t let them freeze. A frozen potato is a ruined potato; it can’t be saved.
The most important rule for storing potatoes is to store them in complete darkness. First, the darkness signals dormancy for the potato, and it won’t sprout. Second, potatoes subjected to light become bitter over time. Other than perfect darkness, potatoes really do well in almost all storage conditions.
Canning and Preserving For Dummies Page 35