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Summer is a great time to saturate your body with vitamins, microelements and fiber contained in fresh vegetables. However, summer is short, and vegetables should be on our table in any season. Only with proper nutrition can you maintain youth and health for many years. This is where the question arises: how and where to store vegetables in order to extend the vegetable season. One of the important food products is all kinds of cabbage: white, red, Peking, cauliflower, broccoli and many others. Some types of cabbage are stored in the cellar until spring.
Cabbage is sold in markets and stores all year round, but its appearance does not always inspire confidence, the price does not always correspond to the quality, and in the spring the cost of vegetables becomes sky-high. It is no secret that in industrial production cabbage is treated with chemicals so that it grows better and is stored longer.The conclusion suggests itself: if a person cares about what to eat, then he needs to grow it himself, and figure out in advance how to properly store vegetables for the winter, how to preserve cabbage until the next vegetable season.
Variety selection
Only late-ripening varieties of cabbage are suitable for winter storage, since they have greater density compared to heads of early-ripening varieties and are less susceptible to rotting. To select a cabbage variety, see the table.
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If you don’t have a garden plot, or you don’t have the opportunity to grow cabbage yourself, you buy it in a store or market, and don’t know what variety is in front of you, then determine visually whether this cabbage can be stored in the cellar in winter. Choose medium-sized, round, slightly flattened on top, dense forks. Oblong and loose heads of cabbage are unsuitable for long-term storage.
Preparing cabbage for storage
Cabbage grown in your own bed and intended for winter storage must be harvested in accordance with the growing time; there is no need to keep it in the garden. Choose a dry, warm day to harvest. Carefully dig up the heads of cabbage, clean the stalk from the soil, but do not remove it. Sort the collected cabbage. Leave small and damaged cabbage for harvesting. Leave 2-3 cover sheets and place the cabbage under a shelter for ventilation. Make sure that it is not exposed to precipitation or direct sunlight. Depending on the storage method chosen, leave the roots or cut them off.
Long-term storage methods
The most common is storing cabbage in the cellar. Heads of cabbage can be hung, wrapped in paper or cling film, you can cover the cabbage with sand, or even dip it in a clay mash. The temperature range for storing cabbage is small, from 1 to 3 degrees C0. We will consider each of these methods in detail and show you how to prepare the cellar itself.
In paper
Wrap each head of cabbage in several layers of paper. This method isolates the heads of cabbage from each other, preventing them from touching and infecting each other. Paper creates additional thermal insulation and protects from moisture and light.Carefully place the heads of cabbage wrapped in paper on shelves or put them in drawers. Make sure the paper is dry. If the paper gets wet, it will cause the cabbage to spoil faster.
In film
You can store cabbage in the cellar using polyethylene. Take rolls of cling film. Wrap each fork tightly with several layers of film. Elastic, well-fitting polyethylene will preserve the cabbage until spring, ensuring moisture resistance. Place the packed cabbage on shelves or put it in boxes.
In a pyramid
Build a wooden platform about 10cm above the floor, leaving small gaps between the decking boards. Place the largest and densest cabbage forks in the bottom row, in a rectangle. Place smaller heads of cabbage in the second layer in a checkerboard pattern. Continue laying out the pyramid, placing the heads of cabbage on top that will be used first. Air circulates between the cabbage, preventing rotting. The disadvantage of this method is that if the cabbage in the bottom row goes bad, the whole procedure will have to be repeated, removing the rotten head.
In boxes
The simplest, although not the most effective way. After cutting off the stalks and removing excess leaves, place the heads of cabbage in ventilated wooden boxes. Place the boxes not at the very bottom of the cellar, but on pallets, this will slow down the deterioration of the heads of cabbage. There is no need to cover with a lid; let the air circulate freely inside the box with cabbage.
In sand
A troublesome, dirty, but quite successful method. Place the cabbage in large boxes, sprinkled with dry sand in layers. You can simply pour sand at the bottom of the cellar and place the heads of cabbage in the sand mound.
Suspended
An effective, environmentally friendly, but space-consuming method. For this storage option, the roots are not cut. Fix a one-inch board under the ceiling, maintaining a distance of at least 30 cm from the walls of the cellar, drive nails into the side of the board at equal distances so that the largest head of cabbage can pass freely between them. Secure one end of the rope to the stalk, the other to the nail. One head of cabbage should hang on one nail. The crop is ventilated, clearly visible, and damage can be immediately noticed. For a small harvest this is an ideal storage option.
In a clay shell
The method is original, and nowadays exotic. Coat each head of cabbage with clay on all sides (dilute the clay with water until it becomes thick with sour cream). Dry until completely dry. Cabbage, protected from external factors, should be laid out on shelves or put in boxes.
Any of these methods of storing cabbage will be effective if the cellar is properly prepared for winter.
Preparing the cellar for winter
If your site has a separate cellar or a basement under the house that can be used for winter storage of vegetables, inspect this room in advance and eliminate any deficiencies so that by the time the cabbage harvest is collected and stored for storage, the cellar is dried and disinfected. If the cellar was previously used to store crops, remove plant debris and debris from there. The cellar must have good waterproofing to prevent groundwater seepage. Signs of high humidity are drops of water on the walls and ceiling of the cellar and stale, musty air. Thoroughly ventilate and dry the cellar by opening the doors and hatches.A good solution for normalizing humidity is supply and exhaust ventilation; if it is not provided, then you can place boxes with salt or charcoal in the corners, this will also help reduce the humidity to some extent. About a month before planting vegetables, whitewash the walls and ceiling with quicklime: it dries the air and disinfects the surface.
If the cellar is heavily infected with mold and mildew, disinfect it:
- Remove visible mold areas mechanically;
- Seal the room by closing the ventilation openings;
- Place quicklime in a barrel at the rate of 2-3 kg per 10 m3 cellar, fill it with water and quickly leave the cellar, tightly closing the doors behind you. After two days, the cellar needs to be opened and thoroughly ventilated;
- In case of severe infection, repeat the procedure after a week, or use a sulfur bomb, acting strictly according to the instructions for its use;
- Prevent the appearance of rodents: seal all cracks, install mesh on ventilation ducts;
- Place rodent repellents or poisonous fertilizers and place mousetraps.
Storing cabbage in a trench
If there is no cellar, you can store the cabbage harvest in a trench; to do this, on a hill you need to dig a trench 60 cm wide and 50 cm deep. A layer of straw is laid out at the bottom, and heads of cabbage are placed on it in two rows. Next, there is another layer of straw, on top of this embankment you need to put a wooden shield, and sprinkle it with a layer of earth 20 cm thick. When frosty weather sets in, the trench needs additional insulation with straw.
Watch a video that will clearly help you learn how to store cabbage in the cellar:
