Root Cellaring

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Stoc king the Cellar

Many of the most reliable; winter-keeping vegetables are biennials—plants that flower and set seed during their second growing season—so they're natural programmed for long storage. When we try to keep beets, cabbage, and turnips, for example, to eat over the cold months, we're not breaking rules of nature, but rather cooperating with what you might call the vegetables' intentions—to live to see another spring so they can reproduce.

In addition to the sturdy root and cole vegetables that are obvious candidate;. for root cellaring, you can also store celery, leeks., brussels sprouts, pepper, grapes . escarole, and citrus fruits in your cold room for shorter periods ranging from two to eight weeks depending on the type of vegetables and the conditions. Onions, garlic, squash, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, and green tomatoes will last until spring if you keep them dry and cool. The place for these good foods is in an unheated bedroom or a cool closet rather than in the kind of damp, cold place where apples and root vegetables keep best.

For whatever produce you stash in your keeping room, there are several rules of thumb that will help keep the food sound and healthy till you're ready to eat it.

[1] Treat all winter-keeping vegetables gently at all stages of harvest, preparation, and storage. Bruised produce spoils sooner.
[2] Store only your best fruits and vegetables. Cut, bruised, or diseased vegetables not only spoil more quickly but also tend to encourage spoilage in neighboring foods.
[3] Pick foods at maturity—neither underdeveloped nor tough and overripe.
[4] Harvest during a dry spell if time permits.
[5] Leave vegetables in the garden as long as possible, but keep an eye on the weather and rescue them before black frost hits. Beets, for example, can stay out well past the first light frosts but should be dug before night temperatures dip to around 24°F unless their exposed shoulders are well protected by mulch. Low temperatures in fall encourage vegetables to store more sugars and starches than water, making them better keepers.
[6] Choose varieties of vegetables that are well adapted to storage: Long Season beets, Penn State Ballhead cabbage, and Kennebec potatoes, for instance.
[7] After digging them, chill root vegetables as promptly as possible. Don't leave them out in the sun.

To prepare root vegetables for winter storage, simply trim off the green tops, leaving a one-inch stub (if left on, the top growth will decay and encourage the deterioration of adjacent roots). Take care not to cut the root flesh, and don't cut off root tips, either; any skin break invites spoilage. Having done all this digging, selecting, and trimming, you'll be glad to hear that you needn't wash vegetables before packing them away; in fact, it's better not to clean them. Just gently brush off any large clumps of soil that may cling to them.

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