How to store beets

Useful properties of beets have long been proven and undeniable. This is a unique vegetable, which is necessary for the human body. In addition, it tastes good. There are many dishes based on it. It's hard to imagine a beetroot soup without this root vegetable, or a salad "herring under a fur coat".The product is firmly in the diet of each family. Therefore, they try to store beets, especially grown on their own vegetable garden, as long as possible and enjoy its unique taste and vitamin composition.

Contents:

1. Beet preparation for storage
2. Storage conditions
3. Beet storage methods
4. Important rules
5. Beet preparation for the winter

Not all beet varieties differ in good keeping quality. Long-term storage is subject to late varieties, such as: Cold-resistant 19, Detroit, Late-Winter A-474, Bordeaux-237.It is best to store beetroot in a cellar or cellar, but you can keep it until about the middle of winter and at home, in a regular city apartment.

Preparing beet for storage

The crop just dug must be properly processed. In no case can damage the skin of the root. With an inaccurate pulling out of the earth, it can get off, and then the infection process starts. Root will be covered with rot, and with it a good half of the entire crop.

1. It is better to dig a beet with a shovel with a reserve together with the ground. And then carefully shake the ground with your hands.
2. For harvesting, choose a dry and fine day. As a rule, this happens in the autumn. It is better to follow the weather forecasts, because you need to have time to clean before the first frost. Otherwise, part of the root vegetables will freeze and become unusable for long-term storage.
3. Then carry out drying of vegetables. If the collection takes place in dry weather, then the beets can be dried directly on the ground. Leave it for 3 hours. It would be enough. With longer drying, the fruits can become sluggish. When harvesting from a moist soil, it is worthwhile drying it indoors. It is necessary to spread the beets into one layer. The room should be well ventilated. Drying can take from 3 to 7 days.
4. First processing. When the newly excavated beet is dried on the ground, it is necessary to clean it of dirt and clay. Do not do this with a knife or any other sharp object. These actions may damage the product. To beat one root crop about another, too, should not be. Hand cleaning in fabric gloves is the safest thing. It is not necessary to perfectly purify the fruit, a thin layer of earth is able to protect the beet from harmful effects. Then it is necessary to cut off the tops, not cutting to the base about 1 cm. You can not break or twist the tops manually.
   The side stitches are also carefully removed.
5. The main root is better not to crop.
6. You can not wash the beet, which is planned to be laid for long storage.
7. Sort the instances. Do not take damaged and rotten, they will not stay long.

Storage conditions

Ideal for storage of beets in winter - cellar or cellar, in which:

• is dark, not damp and there is natural ventilation;
• temperature from 0 ° C to + 2 ° C;
• humidity 90%;
• absence of low temperatures, due to which the freezing occurs.

It is important to monitor the temperature in the first 2 months. If it is above + 4 ° C, then inevitably the growth of the tops. Circulation of air will ensure the location of beets at a distance of not less than 15 centimeters from the floor.

Storage Methods

There are 2 main ways of storage: indoors and out.

• Closed method: in boxes with sand. Suitable for any room. Sand should be burned in a natural way, placing it under the sun's rays or in the oven. Putting beets in a box, we must ensure that individual copies do not touch each other.
• Open method: in baskets or drawers. Suitable for cellar or cellar with good ventilation.
• On the shelves laid out by the pyramid. For rooms with a large area. The height of the pyramid should not exceed 75 cm.
• .If the crop is stored in bins, they should be located 20 cm above the floor. Uniform cooling and air ventilation are provided. In the height of the bins - 1 m, should not touch the walls of the cellar. If the beads are installed, they must have certain dimensions: height - 75 cm, width - 1 m.
• On potatoes. Beetroot feels great in the neighborhood with potatoes, stored in boxes or bags. It fits into it in one layer. In this way two problems are solved at once: the potato is deprived of excessive moisture, and the beet absorbs it and becomes more elastic. Vegetables are scattered with ashes or sand.
• In clay solution. Suitable for any type of room.
• In peat, wood sawdust. The method is identical to where sand is used.

You can store beets in the apartment. But it can not be more than 4 months.

• In the presence of a glazed balcony, you can create excellent conditions for beets. Put it in a box and cover it with sand. It can lie until the spring, but we must ensure that the temperature does not decrease to negative values.
• If a minus temperature is possible on the balcony, it is possible to build heating for a box with root vegetables. You just need to hang a light bulb inside the container.
• Beet storage in the room. To do this, it must be poured with sawdust or sand, or dip into a solution of clay, after drying. Put in boxes. So the beets will last up to 4 months.
• It is wonderful to store vegetables in the refrigerator. It is necessary to wrap the root in a foil or parchment paper. Shelf life 3 months.

Little tricks of

Some gardeners advise:

• Pour the beets with table salt.
• Roll the beets in the ash.
• Transfer the root vegetables to the leaves of the fern.
• Add beets with peat, sawdust or shavings.
• You can "powder" the vegetables with chalk and put them in boxes.
• Simply fold the copies into a plastic bag, and leave access to oxygen.
• Put beets in containers, lay polyethylene liners between individual elements.
• It is better to store the various fruits separately.

Other methods of harvesting beet

In addition to storing fresh as a whole, there are other methods of harvesting beets for the winter.

1. Drying. Using this technique, you can save all the useful properties of beets. The process does not take much time. Preparation is easy. A root can be used in any dish: soups, borscht and salads.
2. Freezing. Suitable raw or boiled beets.
   • In the first case, the root crop is cleaned and cut with a knife into certain pieces. You can grind the blender or grate it. Depends on further use. Packed in portions in containers or bags.
   • In the second case, the product is heat treated. Cooked beets in uncleaned form. Cools, cleans and cuts. Further distributed in plastic containers.

   In a freezer, the vegetable can be up to 8 months old and does not lose its flavor.

3. Conservation. Most often, pickling a vegetable in a brine containing acetic acid is used. You can also make different salads and stews based on beets. It turns out a full dish, which you can immediately put on the table. In winter, when the body lacks vitamins, such a preparation will be very appropriate.

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