Canning and Preserving For Dummies (59 page)

Once you’ve found a suitable location, follow these steps to build your storage area:

1. Place two bales of straw in a line, with the ends touching; about 16 inches away, place two more bales parallel to the first two.

The spacing is adequate for the bales that are laid on top to cover the open space completely.

2. Place one straw bale on each of the remaining ends to enclose a box shape in the center.

You’ve just made a large square in the center.

3. Cover the ground in the center of the square with a screen.

You don’t have use the screen, but doing so helps keep your produce protected from critters that may be inclined to dig under the whole thing.

4. Layer some soft straw on the bottom of the square to cushion the produce.

If you put a screen in the center, place the straw over the screen.

5. Layer your root crops, very gently, into the bin.

Take care to not dump or toss your vegetables. Bruised food quickly turns to spoiled food.

6. When the bin is full, layer another couple of inches of straw onto the food.

7. Place bales of straw across the top of the now-filled bin.

Your food is now protected from winter in a breathable storage bin.

To check on or access the food inside, simply remove the top two bales. Replace the bales carefully and evenly to cover the hole each time. In the late spring, or when the straw-bale storage area is empty, simply take the bin apart, and use the straw as mulch for your garden.

Some people use hay bales for these storage bins, but we don’t recommend it. Hay molds rather quickly, sometimes spoiling the produce inside. Hay bales also seem to absorb more moisture than straw bales. If you use hay, check periodically for moisture damage, and remove the offending produce immediately.

Rubber trash cans

You can bury these up to their rims in the ground, place your produce inside, put on the lid, and then cover the whole thing with a thick layer of straw for a simple cold storage arrangement. These bins are easy to wash and the tight lids keep the foods fresh and sanitary and keep rodents out.

Following Simple Storage Rules

Underground storage is the fastest and possibly easiest way to store foods. There are, however, some rules to follow, no matter what variety of food you want to keep over the winter:

Be careful about the quality of the food you store:
Foods must be in perfect condition — not too ripe or picked too early. Overly ripe fruit is extremely fragile and in the last stage before naturally decaying. Food that’s too green doesn’t do particularly well, either. These foods may change color or become agreeably soft in storage, but they won’t truly ripen and develop their best flavor in these conditions.

Make sure you pick your food at just the right ripeness, as fresh as possible, and store it immediately.
Don’t
allow it to sit at room temperature while you decide what you are going to do with it.

Be careful about how you pair foods:
Some foods produce gases that make other foods spoil. For instance, apples produce a gas that makes potatoes start to sprout. Put these two together, and you’ll end up with potatoes that are soft and inedible. Cabbage is a very strongly scented food that is better stored in an outside area, away from more delicately flavored items.

You must care for the foods, even while in storage.
Weekly checking for bruising, decay, dryness, and mold is essential. The old adage about a rotten apple spoiling the barrel definitely applies here. As the winter progresses, remove any produce that has blemishes. Your remaining foods will continue to last longer.

Rearrange your produce carefully. If you’re like me (Amy), after a month, you may discover that you’ve used enough of your stored produce to enable you to bring the bottom layer up to the top. Be careful of excess handling though; gently place each food back in place to avoid bruising.

Pick the right storage container:
Choose containers that let you keep things neat and very organized. Some ideas:

•
Rubbermaid-style tubs:
These can be stacked when not in use, their covers fit tightly, and they can easily be filled with damp sand for foods needing increased humidity. Use clear bins to avoid colors leaching into foods and so that you can easily see all the produce inside.

•
Wooden bins or boxes:
Recycle these from thrift stores and some grocery stores. Even if you have to pay a few dollars each, they will give years of service and allow for neat, tidy stacking. If stacking wooden boxes, place the first row in a line, place a couple of sticks across the boxes for air circulation, and then place the next boxes. You want to let the moisture and gases escape, which allows the food to last longer.

•
Five-gallon pails:
You can find these for next to nothing from bakers and other restaurants. You don’t need to include the lid; in fact, for cold storage, it is best not to. Fill the clean, dry bucket with produce, layer a damp cloth on the top and you can stack these buckets in a pyramid shape, allowing plenty of airflow between.

•
Old dressers:
You can arrange these unconventional pieces against a wall and use the drawers to keep your produce in a dry and safe place. Line the drawers with newspaper for easy cleaning. Keep them slightly ajar for proper air circulation.

Preparing Foods for Cold Storage

Foods that store well are generally the less juicy and delicate things, like root vegetables and firm fruits. The following sections list several fruits and vegetables that keep very well in cold storage. They are foods that many families enjoy; they provide a fresh taste when bland winter fare abounds; and they extend your food pantry to include fresh, tasty choices. (
Note:
You may be able to extend the life of more tender foods, like eggplant or broccoli, but don’t count on them lasting for months as the other foods will. You can keep these treats in storage about two weeks, but no longer.)

As a general rule, harvest root crops as late as you can in the season and don’t wash the dirt from the roots. Simply use your hand or a rag to remove some of the loose soil.

Apples

Apples store very well. Choose a variety that is known for storage. Kept well, apples can last throughout the entire winter — four to six months! Toward the end of that time, a perfectly good apple may become slightly shriveled. This is simply from the loss of moisture, not nutrition.

Choose apples that are unblemished and firm (they shouldn’t give at all when pressed). Check in bright light for dents and soft spots.

To store, layer the apples carefully in very cold temperatures (between 30 and 35 degrees), with a high humidity between 80 and 90 percent. (Place a pan of water in the area where they’re stored.)

Try covering your bin of apples with a damp (not dripping) cloth, which remains damp for at least a day. And make it a habit to replace the cloth every couple of days when you check other stored produce.

Beets

Beets are prolific and inexpensive to grow, meaning you’ll end up with plenty for storage if you plant a few rows. Harvest beets late in the season, after the nights become freezing cold. If you’re buying beets at a farmer’s market, look for fresh, crisp tops. This is the best indication that the beets are just picked.

To prepare the beets for storage, cut off the tops, leaving the beet itself intact (don’t wash them). Then place the beets in your coldest storage, temperatures just above freezing, 32 to 40 degrees, with 90 to 95 percent humidity. To increase humidity naturally, place the beets on moist sand.

Some gardeners recommend leaving beets in the ground, covered with a thick layer of straw. They say beets and other root crops can be harvested directly from the ground into the coldest part of the winter. Be aware, though, that rodents may destroy root crops before you get a chance to harvest them. So before you follow the advice of the “leave ’em in the ground” crowd, make sure you — and not rodents — will be the benefactors.

Cabbage

Cabbage adds bulk and crunch to many winter dishes. Keeping cabbage in storage requires a few extra precautions, however, to ensure that it remains useable throughout the winter and doesn’t ruin other food nearby.

First, cabbage gives off a strong odor while in storage, which is normal (don’t confuse this smell with spoilage). The problem with the smell is that apples and other fruits can absorb the flavor of cabbage. The key is to make sure you don’t store cabbage too closely to these other types of foods. If you must store cabbage close to other foods, wrap individual heads with newspaper to contain the odor.

The longer cabbage remains in storage, the stronger the taste when it’s cooked. If your family does not like the stronger taste, plan on using up cabbage early in the storage season.