Stocking the Root Cellar

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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.

Some root cellar owners simply pile their apples and root vegetables in crates or baskets. Others prefer to pack the produce in leaves, hay, sawdust or moss to help prevent drying, especially if using a basement room, which might not be as damp as an outdoor cellar. When we kept turnips, rutabagas, carrots and beets in a cold, dirt-floor cellar in the old house on our farm, we always packed them in dry leaves or sawdust. Sand can also be used for winter vegetable bedding, but it's not as easy to wash off as sawdust.

Certain vegetables must be cured in order to keep well. After clipping off their tops—leaving a one-inch stub—expose garlic and onions to the sun for a week, and then spread them loosely in shallow boxes or hang them in net bags or old panty hose.

Cure pumpkins and squash (except acorn squash in the sun for two weeks after picking them so they'll develop a hard rind. Always leave stems on.

Freshly harvested sweet potatoes should be cured in a warm, damp place—aim for 80-85°F and 90% humidity—to toughen their skins and encourage healing of small scratches. We cure our sweets in crates near the wood cookstove, with a damp newspaper spread over the top of each crate. Then, after seven to to days of curing, we wrap the potatoes individually in newspaper, sort them for size, pack them in cartons and keep them in a cool room.

Curing white potatoes isn't as essential as it is with sweet potatoes, but it's a good idea to spread the spuds out in a sheltered spot-about 60° - 75°F — for a two-week skin-toughening program before piling them into crates in the root cellar. Be certain to keep them in the shade, though; sun will turn potatoes green — and toxic.

Some leafy vegetables can be replanted in buckets of sand, soil or moss in the root cellar. We've had good luck with Chinese cabbage, escarole and leeks. Celery is a good candidate for this treatment too. Chinese cabbage has kept for us until February — the crunchy fresh inner leaves hidden inside an outer layer of wilted, paper-dry wrapper leaves.

Editor's note. The Bubels' 297-page hardcover book,Root Cellaring: The Simple No-Processing Way to Store Fruits and Vegetables (Rodale Press), is no longer in print, but copies may still be available through used-book stores or gardening outlets.

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