Useful tips on how to store cabbage at home

Cabbage is a vegetable that, when stored properly, can stay fresh until warm. Its succulent leaves are a source of vitamin C, which is lacking in the cold season.

Ideal storage conditions for cabbage can be created not only in the cellarbut also at home. How to properly prepare heads of cabbage and where it is better to place them in an apartment, how to store cabbage at home, read the article.

Preparing for storage in an apartment in winter

Storage preparation cannot start several days before harvesting... It starts back in the spring months. The first step is choosing the right variety.

Variety selection

Winter varieties of cabbage are best stored. They were bred by breeders for this very purpose. Heads of cabbage are distinguished by high keeping quality and good immunity, capable of resisting bacteria and fungi that trigger the decay process.

Seeds to choose from:

• Aggressor F1;
• Amager 611 (this variety has been known to gardeners since the Second World War);
• Snow White;
• Valentine;
• Wintering;
• Kolobok.

All listed varieties are late-ripening. From the moment of planting to harvesting, it takes up to 5-6 months. Such vegetables are stored for a long time, up to 7-10 months.

Read more here.

Drying

If the cabbage was grown for winter storage, then you need to collect it before the onset of severe frost... The optimum temperature for cutting heads of cabbage is 0 ... -5 degrees, but not higher than + 7 ... + 8 degrees.

In an apartment, a loggia or pantry becomes the best place for drying crops.

After 5 days, the vegetables are sorted. Harvested fruits with cracks, stuck in frost, with signs of rot or other damage. Eat them first. They are not suitable for storage, as they will quickly deteriorate.

Selection of containers

For placing cabbage at home the following container is suitable:

1. Boxes. They can be wooden or plastic, with an open top. To save space, they can be stacked on top of each other.
2. On the shelves in the pantry or on the balcony.The heads of cabbage are wrapped in a suitable material and laid in one layer, stumps upwards.
3. Suspended, with fastening by the roots. The main thing is that the heads of cabbage do not come into contact with each other.
4. In a pyramid on pallets. The forks are laid out on a litter of spruce branches, layer by layer: stumps up, then stumps down. It turns out that 4 lower forks will support 1 upper.
5. In clay, suspended by a rope. The material should be thick, like sour cream. Each fork is dipped in it, and then suspended on a crossbar on a rope.

Conditions

Optimal temperature for storing cabbage from 0 to -1 degrees. The air humidity must be at least 95%. At temperatures above +4 degrees, the heads of cabbage will begin to sprout, if it drops below -6, the vegetables will freeze.

How to properly keep fresh vegetables at home?

In an apartment, cabbage can be stored on a glazed loggia and in the refrigerator. Place it in the pantry and even leave it at room temperature, but the shelf life in this case is sharply reduced.

At room temperature

Forks will not stay long at room temperature... Within a week, they will begin to deteriorate and rot.

As a rule, the air temperature in an apartment is +25 degrees and above. Therefore, this storage method is initially a losing one.

Plugs, without loss of quality, can be left in the apartment for 7-10 days. After this time, you need to take some measures, otherwise the crop will have to be thrown away.

In fridge

Heads of cabbage feel good in the refrigerator... So that they do not lose their useful properties longer, they need to be removed to the freshness zone, which all modern models are equipped with. Another option is to place them in the vegetable storage drawer.

If the cabbage is wrapped in plastic, condensation will accumulate underneath. A little trick helps to avoid its abundant appearance. Before wrapping the forks in polyethylene, they are cooled in the refrigerator for 24 hours. The film itself should also be cool. You need to act quickly so that the cabbage does not have time to heat up.

The vegetables will stay in the refrigerator for about 5 months.... A significant disadvantage of this storage method is that a large number of forks will not fit into it.

Read more about storage in the refrigerator. in this article.

On the balcony

Cabbage is stored on the balcony if the loggia is insulated and the air temperature does not drop below -6 degrees. The weather conditions, characteristic for a particular area, matter.

Storage features:

• wrap heads of cabbage in paper or cling film;
• place them in a box insulated with foam;
• cover the vegetables with a blanket or other suitable material.

Subject to all conditions, cabbage can withstand frost down to -10 degrees. If the temperature drops below, vegetables must be brought into the apartment. Such changes injure the leaves and reduce the shelf life of vegetables. Therefore, periodically they need to be checked for rot.

Do not expose the vegetable to direct sunlight... Ultraviolet light destroys vitamins and minerals that the vegetable is rich in, and also leads to its rapid deterioration.

In the pantry

The air temperature in the pantry is lower than in the entire apartment. Vegetables are placed in it if there are no other options.

In a small room, it is convenient to organize shelves on which cabbage is laid out in 1 layer, in a pyramid or in boxes. If space permits, you can hang the forks on the bar.

The shelf life of heads of cabbage in the pantry does not exceed 1-2 months... Provided that it is warm, dark and cool there.

Terms and ways to increase them

Shelf life of cabbage at home:

1. Up to 7-10 days it stays fresh at room temperature. The lower it is, the less active metabolic processes in vegetables.
2. Up to 6-7 months heads of cabbage can lie on the balcony, but optimal conditions must be created for this. Since it is difficult to maintain a stable air temperature and humidity on the loggia, the average shelf life is 4 months.
3. Up to 30 days the vegetables will stay in the refrigerator if they are not wrapped in plastic or paper.
4. Up to 6 months extends the shelf life cling filmwhen placing the crop in the refrigerator.

To keep the product fresh longer you can use a little trick:

1. Coat the heads of cabbage with clay. It acts as an additional barrier to microbes. At the same time, the shell prevents the vegetable from drying out.
2. Keep heads of cabbage at a distance. The less they come into contact with each other, the better.
3. Hang the forks by the rope or roots. With this storage method, they do not interact with the surface and are less exposed to rot.
4. Choose the coolest place in the house.
5. Change the cling film periodically to a new one.
6. Clean the top rotten leaves.

The more conditions are met, the longer the crop will stay fresh.

Possible problems and ways to solve them

When storing crops, problems may arise that need to be addressed immediately:

1. Cabbage began to rot quickly from the inside... Damaged heads of cabbage cannot be saved; they must be disposed of.

   The most common cause of rapid spoilage is contamination of vegetables on the site. Therefore, the minimum contact of the plugs with each other is so important.

2. Top leaves deteriorate... The reason lies in the too high air temperature. To save the crop, it must be moved to a cooler place.
3. Forks wither... This is due to moisture loss. You need to try to preserve it in any way possible: wrap vegetables with foil, coat with clay, wrap with paper.

Conclusion

Store cabbage at home you can. With a properly organized process, the entire crop will be able to withstand before the onset of heat. It is best to divide it into parts: put a few heads of cabbage in the refrigerator, and distribute the leftovers on the loggias and in the pantry.

First of all, you need to eat vegetables that are warm and only after that proceed to the harvest from the balcony.