Vegetables are an indispensable storehouse of vitamins for the human body. Knowing some secrets, you can eat plant food fresh all year round. Cauliflower can be stored at home without losing its valuable properties using several methods.
- Harvest
- Storage methods
- Cellar <
- Suspended state
- Refrigerator
- Freezer
- Other storage methods
- Conclusion <
Harvesting
Even a novice gardener can grow and preserve cauliflower.This vegetable needs warmth, regular watering and top dressing, and direct contact with the sun is best avoided.
The traditional time for harvesting is from July to early August, but the variety’s features play a role here. The quality and degree of preservation of the vegetable depends on the literacy of the harvest.
- cut off inflorescences when they reach 10-15 cm in diameter;
- ripened vegetable needs immediate removal from the garden;
- a tool for cutting heads – a sharp knife: the inflorescence is captured along with the lower leaves;
- will properly store the cauliflower, freshly picked and fresh, in a dark and cool location.
If weather conditions require an immediate move from the open ground seedlings, transplant them in a greenhouse or a cellar that grows there.
Storage Methods
In autumn and winter, the body needs vitamins. Carrying them with you from the summer is quite real. The correct harvesting technique affects the duration of the preservation of vegetables, so it is so important to cut off the inflorescences on time. You can store cauliflower at home without losing its useful properties in certain places and using different methods.
Cellar
To save cauliflower for the winter, you need to keep it in the cellar. If the storage temperature does not meet the required conditions, you can take some tricks.
- Pre-lubricated and dried in clay, it will remain useful for six months. Prepare a thick solution and grease each head with it.
- A similar shelf life will ensure that the culture is stored in a bucket of sand.
- The containers in which you will store cauliflower should be wooden. On top of the boxes cover the film. Another option is hanging shelves.
Make sure that no condensation forms under the shelter. Check vegetables for disease. It is allowed to store cauliflower in the cellar for the winter for 2-3 months.
Suspended state
For about a month, a vegetable suspended by a stump on a plank will hold out in the cellar. Having decided to resort to this method to save your cauliflower, uproot the plant with the stem when cut. Periodically tear off overgrown leaves from it.
Refrigerator
The option of storing cauliflower in the refrigerator is not the best way if you want to stock up on vegetables for a long time. In the refrigerator, the product must be securely covered. You can wrap it in cling film (in 2 layers), paper or an airtight bag – each head of cabbage will need a separate one. You can save cauliflower without losing freshness for only 2 weeks.
To properly store cauliflower in the refrigerator, you must first cut the leaves and roots. You need to keep the culture in the upper compartments.
Freezer
To keep cauliflower in the refrigerator for a long time, you can choose a freezer. The culture can be placed there in any form:
- whole;
- cut into inflorescences;
- fresh;
- steamed in boiling water.
This solution is the best way to preserve cauliflower for the winter. A well-packed product is able to lie in the chamber without losing utility for about a year.
Other storage methods
In case none of the described methods how to keep color useful cabbage, did not fit, pay attention to other, less popular, but effective ways to solve the problem.
Inflorescences are dried in the oven at a temperature of 60-70 degrees, spread out in plastic containers. Shelf life – 1-2 months.
In salted / pickled form, the culture has no expiration dates. The selection of heads for conservation should be careful: dense, white specimens are suitable without sprouted inner leaves.
Conclusion
Keeping cauliflower at home so that you can get vitamins from it even in the winter is not difficult. Do not forget to pre-inspect each fruit, because one rotten specimen can destroy the entire batch. It all depends on the storage conditions of cauliflower: temperature range – 0-3 degrees, humidity about 90-95%, dark place. Too high ethylene accelerates heading aging. Observing all the rules for storing cauliflower, you will keep vegetables safe and sound for a long time.