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How to store beets in the cellar in winter? How to keep beets in an apartment or private house for the whole winter How to store beets in plastic bags

Beets, like other root crops, are well stored in the cellar or basement. In such premises, ideal conditions are created for her. Its storage does not cause any particular problems, since its keeping quality is much better than that of potatoes or carrots. If the beets are stored correctly and prevent specimens affected by infectious diseases from getting into the total mass of the crop, then in the spring strong healthy root crops are taken out of the cellar that have not lost their taste.

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Preparing the crop for long-term storage

If the harvested crop is not properly processed, then the keeping quality of root crops is significantly reduced. Damage with a knife or a careless blow can provoke infection, which after a while leads to rotting, the development of diseases and a complete loss of the crop.

Keep in mind that different varieties of beets are stored differently. Some should be used immediately, while others can lie for months and not lose their qualities. The following varieties of root crops are suitable for long-term storage:

• Late winter;
• Mulatto;
• Detroit;
• Salad;
• Bordeaux 237.

Such vegetables have a dense skin, and they have a stable immunity to bacteria that provoke the appearance of rot.

Collection technology

Most often, beets are simply pulled by the tops of the soil. But it is easy to damage the skin - cut or scratch. Any damage, even the most minimal, leads to a reduction in the shelf life of vegetables. It is necessary to correctly collect root crops as follows: with the help of a pitchfork and a shovel, carefully dig up the beets, lift them together with an earthen clod and pull them out by the tops.

A warm and dry day is chosen for harvesting, as this helps to extend the shelf life of root crops. It is important to harvest beets before the first frost, otherwise they will be unsuitable for storage.



Drying

Before storing the crop, it must be dried. If the weather is sunny and dry, then the root crops can be left in the garden for 3-4 hours. Too much exposure to fresh air dries out vegetables.

If the crop has to be harvested in rainy weather, then it is recommended to dry the beets in a well-ventilated area. Moreover, it is scattered on the floor in one layer. Drying lasts 3-7 days.



Treatment

It is carried out immediately after drying the root crops. First, the fruits are cleaned of clay and earth. This should be done very carefully. You can not beat them against each other and clean off the dirt with any sharp object. Pathogenic microorganisms can penetrate into a healthy root crop through damage and cracks, and it will not work to save it.

When cutting the tops, you need to leave a tail no more than 1 cm long. It is forbidden to twist it with your hands, but it is better to use scissors or a sharp knife. The side roots are also cut off with these items. The main root is cut, leaving a tail of about 7 cm. If it is short and branched, then it is advisable not to touch it.

Beets intended for storage cannot be not only washed, but also wetted, because a thin coating of earth on the root crop protects it and promotes long-term storage.

How to store beets in the cellar or basement?

It is best to send beets for the winter to a cellar or basement, observing the following storage conditions:

• good ventilation;
• lack of light;
• humidity level 90%;
• minimum elevation (10–15 cm) above floor level;
• air temperature from 0 to +2 degrees.

If the temperature drops below 0 degrees, then the root crops can freeze, and its increase to +4 degrees leads to the fact that their tops begin to sprout.

Beets can be stored in plastic or wooden containers, bags, covered with sand, sawdust, or laid out on shelves. You can make a wooden lattice, lay it on the floor and sprinkle vegetables on it. Thanks to this method, air masses circulate better, favorably affecting the crop.

In sand and salt

You can store beets in a cellar or basement in river sand, and it must be clean and calcined. To do this, use scorching sunlight or an oven. It is important to disinfect the sand well, and by the time the vegetables are buried, it must be completely cool. Root crops are buried in such a way that they do not touch the sides, and sand is poured on top with a layer of 2-3 cm.

To keep beets as long as possible in the cellar, they can be sprinkled with salt, which has antimicrobial qualities and prevents rotting. Root crops sprinkled with salt tolerate winter well. Vegetables can be treated with a thick saline solution. After drying, they are stored for a very long time.

On potatoes and in plastic bags

The neighborhood of these vegetables is often practiced by gardeners. Beets are laid out on top of potato tubers. This creates the necessary level of humidity, since the potato is able to actively release it during storage. For maximum efficiency, onion or garlic heads can be placed on top of root crops. These vegetables release disinfectants that purify the atmosphere of the room and neutralize harmful bacteria.

Storing beets on potatoes

You can store beets in the cellar in plastic bags. The bags are not tied up so that air can enter the vegetables.

In ashes or sawdust

Root crops can be sprinkled with ordinary ash, which is previously sifted through a fine sieve. It prevents the process of decay.

Storing beets in sawdust

It is very effective to sprinkle vegetables with chalk powder, sawdust, peat or peat, which are products of natural origin that do not emit harmful substances and do not contain chemicals. You can shift the beets with leaves of horseradish, fern, walnut or branches of wormwood.

in clay

You can store beets in the cellar in clay. This method is harmless and quite effective. Clay collected in an ecologically clean place is sifted through a large sieve and diluted with water to form a consistency similar to sour cream.

Root crops must be lowered into this mass in turn. When the clay dries on them, the vegetables are sent for further storage. The clay layer prevents rotting and diseases from developing.

How to store beets in an apartment?

You can store beets without a cellar. If the gardener lives in an apartment, and he does not have a basement, then you can store vegetables at home on a balcony or loggia. It is desirable that they be glazed, and in winter the temperature does not fall below zero. For root crops, a plastic or wooden container filled with sand is best suited. It must be clean, sifted and calcined.

A layer of river sand is poured into the box, vegetables are laid so that they do not touch each other, sand is poured on top again, and then the beets are laid out again. From above, the roots are covered with another layer of sand. This method helps them to be stored for several months.

If the balcony is not glazed, then you can use a voluminous and tightly knocked down wooden box. Inside, it is insulated with polystyrene foam or polystyrene foam, and a small lamp is installed that will heat the container a little. The main thing is that the beets do not freeze with the onset of cold weather, as they will lose their beneficial properties and will be unsuitable for food.

If the apartment does not even have a balcony, then you can store vegetables in dark places:

• under tables;
• cabinets;
• beds.

The main thing is that there are no heating devices or radiators nearby. Here again, boxes are needed. Root crops are sprinkled with chalk, sand or sawdust. You can also use clay mortar. Beet under such conditions hibernates perfectly, does not lose its appearance and nutritional value for a long time. It is only necessary to sort it out from time to time, removing spoiled root crops.

Growing an excellent beet crop is half the battle. The main thing is to be able to save it in order to enjoy the fruits of your labor for a long time. In fact, it is not so easy to do this. It is necessary to take into account a number of factors that originate at the stage of choosing planting material. In order to avoid crop losses, it is necessary to arm yourself with knowledge on how to store beets correctly.

The beet harvest will be well preserved if you follow simple rules.

Selection of varieties

Not every variety is suitable for subsequent storage. When choosing a material, consider its keeping quality. The following planting materials have a high indicator in this regard:

• Mulatto.
• Bordeaux-237.
• Renova.
• Pablo F1.
• Late winter A-474.
• Detroit.
• Libero.
• Gribov flat A-473.
• Cold-resistant-19.
• Salad.
• Boltardi.
• The incomparable A-463.
• Single-growth.

Beetroot Late Winter A-474 demonstrates excellent keeping quality

Preliminary work on preparing fruits for storage

Sometimes gardeners unwittingly cause harm during harvesting. To start an irreversible infection process, it is enough to abruptly and inaccurately pull vegetables out of the ground or injure them with a knife during cleaning. In order for this not to happen and the storage of beets does not turn into torture, you should know some important nuances.

It would seem that there is nothing easier than pulling out a vegetable and sending it to dry. But it was not there. At this stage, the first difficulties arise. The earth at this time is dry, and no one cleaned it from stones, and during pulling out its thin skin can be damaged. Such a vegetable will not be stored for a long time. It is necessary to take the crop out of the ground with a pitchfork or a shovel. It is enough to dig a little, slightly raise it along with the soil, and the root crop is easy to get.

The vegetable must be removed from the ridges before the first frost, because. a frozen top will not allow the root crop to be stored for a long time. It is best to choose a dry autumn day for cleaning. This will have a positive effect on safety, and it is much more pleasant to work in such weather.

Before storing vegetables, they should be thoroughly dried. In dry weather, this can be done right in the garden. It is not worth keeping it in the fresh air for a long time, so that moisture is not lost. 2-4 hours will be enough.

After drying, the fruits are cleaned of dirt and earth. In no case should you knock down the soil by beating them against each other and use a knife or wood chips when cleaning, this contributes to damage to the skin and infection.

Next, the tops are removed, but not completely, a small “tail”, about 1 cm long, must be left. The tops are cut off with a sharp object, and not pulled out by hand. All side roots are carefully removed. If the main root is small, then it is better not to cut it.

The next step is sorting. Only healthy and strong fruits are selected for storage. It is better if they are small in size, because. large ones become coarser over time.

Now you can safely send vegetables for storage.

Dirt is carefully removed from the dried beets, after which the tops are cut off.

Root storage methods

There are two main ways to store beets, which have proven themselves well for more than a century:

• outdoors (in pits or trenches);
• indoors (in a dark room or underground, in a refrigerator, on a balcony, etc.).

Everyone chooses a container for themselves, suitable for this: boxes (with and without sand), boxes, baskets, in bulk in bins or on shelves, on potatoes, etc.

Conditions necessary for the preservation of fruits

Beets are best stored in the cellar. It is there that the ideal conditions are present for her:

• the presence of natural movement of air masses;
• darkness;
• does not freeze;
• air temperature from 0 to 2 degrees Celsius;
• required humidity level.

Particular attention during storage should be given to root crops in the first months. With a slight increase in temperature, the tops may begin to sprout, which will reduce the storage time. A container with beets should not be located on the floor, but at a height of 15 cm from it.

During storage of beets, the condition of root crops should be regularly monitored.

It would seem that if the fruits are not damaged, then it will be enough to simply pour them in a slide in the storage room. Many gardeners, over the years of work on personal plots, know exactly how to store beets so that they do not have to be thrown away.

A good storage neighbor is potatoes, on top of which beets are laid in one layer. Fruits lack moisture in winter, and potatoes share it with beets.

The fruits are well stored in the sand, which is pre-calcined either in the oven or in the sun. A box is suitable as a container. Sand is poured at the bottom, one layer of beets is laid, then sand again, the layer of which is at least 2 cm. The fruits should not touch.

Ordinary table salt is also suitable as a material for pouring vegetables. It must be dry, like the root crops themselves.

For pouring, you can use sifted wood ash or dry fern leaves, sawdust, shavings and even peat.

The best remedy for diseases during storage is to roll the fruit in chalk, after which it is enough just to put them in a box.

Large and small fruits are best sorted and stored separately from each other.

Even plastic bags with a capacity of up to 40 kg are suitable for storage. Filled bags are in no case tied up so as not to impede the penetration of air.

If vegetables are stored in bulk, then a wooden grate is installed on the floor for constant air movement.

Beets can be stored in a sand box

Storage of vegetables in the apartment

Everyone knows very well how to store beets if there is a cellar or cellar. But what if you have to store vegetables in the winter in an apartment? It is much more difficult to do this, but with the right approach, it is possible to ensure the safety of the fruit for 3-4 months.

If you have a balcony protected from frost, you can safely keep the harvest. The main thing is that the temperature there does not fall below zero. It is best to put it in a box with sand; when the temperature drops, the box should additionally be wrapped with something. If the balcony is cold, then the boxes can be insulated with foam.

In the absence of a balcony in the room, a dark corner is selected, located as far as possible from the battery and other heating devices. Do it better in boxes. Sawdust or sand is suitable as a filling.

For storage, you can use a regular refrigerator. Each fruit is tightly wrapped in foil or parchment paper.

Thus, the storage of beets turns into a whole science. The main thing is to comply with all conditions, so that later throughout the winter you can enjoy delicious and healthy culinary delights made from fresh beets: borscht and beetroot, herring under a fur coat, boiled beets and much more.

And the beets are very much the same. They can be stored in the same cellar, on the same balcony (if it is glazed), and even in the same box, but only on condition that they do not touch.

ATTENTION: But carrots are considered the most difficult vegetable crop to store, and beets are the most storable, therefore, if possible, it is better to store them separately.

Suitable varieties

Late-ripening varieties of root crops should be chosen for storage.. The following varieties and hybrids of carrots are best stored:

Varieties of beets suitable for long-term storage:

• Bravo.
• Incomparable.
• Bordeaux 237.
• Red ball.
• Podzimnaya.
• Mulatto.
• Detroit.
• Nosovskaya is flat.

1. choice of root crop variety;
2. preparation technology;
3. temperature conditions in the room;
4. humidity mode;
5. lack of excess oxygen supply;
6. pest protection.

Among the methods intended for storage, each gardener will find his own, the most convenient and profitable. First you need to decide when and how to clean the root crop for storage.

You can read more about suitable carrot varieties and shelf life, and we talked about which varieties are suitable for long-term storage.

When is the best time to dig vegetables?

Too early harvesting of vegetables reduces the consumer qualities of the root crop, preventing the accumulation of a sufficient amount of sugars. Too long being in the garden makes it possible to accumulate sugar in large quantities, which makes the vegetable very attractive to rodents.

Usually, the harvesting time depends on the ripening period and the weather. The ripening period of root crops is usually written on the seed packaging.. It is better to dig up vegetables for storage when it is favorable according to the lunar calendar. The days of the waning moon are considered the most favorable, but this factor can be neglected for the sake of suitable weather conditions.

Harvesting should begin at a time when the lower 2-3 shoots of the tops have turned yellow. Such root crops already have good consumer properties. We remove the beets before the onset of the first frost (having frozen, it will not be suitable for storage), and carrots can be safely left in the garden until the first snow (chilled root crops are better stored). In rainy autumn, it is better to harvest early, as moisture-saturated root crops will not survive well until spring and will be more prone to rotting.

IMPORTANT: Carrots can be dug up after the first frosts, and beets must be harvested before them! Frozen beets will begin to rot almost immediately.

You can find out when to remove carrots from the garden for storage.

Watch a video about the timing of harvesting carrots and beets:

Harvesting methods

Someone pulls out root crops from the ground, someone digs with a pitchfork, someone takes up a shovel. How to do it right? Do not water the vegetable garden before harvesting.

It is best to dig with a blunt pitchfork, supporting the root crop by the tail. The pitchfork must be placed strictly vertically no closer than 5 cm from the row. This will help to avoid microtrauma, because the key to good storage is intact skin. Therefore, hitting root crops against each other to shake off the ground is also not recommended.

It is better to remove excess soil from root crops with gloved hands.. Then you need to cut off the tops, just cut off, and not break off, leave a tail of 1-1.5 cm, leave to dry for several hours. The haulm should be pruned immediately, as this will preserve the nutrients. Then sort the fruits, remove damaged and spoiled root crops to avoid rot.

Some vegetable growers advise this method of trimming carrot tops - cutting off 0.5-1 cm of the top of the root crop itself. If you use this method, then you should keep the vegetables for some time before laying them in the storage place - until the upper cut is covered with a crust, otherwise the fruits will begin to rot soon. In rainy weather, drying in the barn can take several days, even a week.

Root crops must not be washed before storage.! Washed beets and carrots can be stored in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator in a plastic bag for one month.

Shelf life of root crops

• At room temperature, beets and carrots are stored for no more than a week.
• In plastic bags in the refrigerator - 1-2 months.
• Boiled in the freezer - one month.
• In the cellar in a closed box - 5-8 months.
• In the cellar in coniferous sawdust or clay casing - until the next harvest.
• In the cellar in the sand - 6-8 months.
• In the garden - until the new harvest.

Where and how to keep them fresh at home?

Options

Beetroot is the most stale root crop. Therefore, the following storage rules should be observed:

1. Fall asleep in bins or boxes, at a temperature of about 3 degrees they will lie perfectly all winter in the basement.
2. It is well stored on piles of potatoes, which shares excess moisture with it.
3. In a box without holes, sprinkled with wet sand in the basement.
4. In polyethylene bags of 15-20 kg.
5. In the garden in small piles. To do this, they dig a hole 40 cm deep, put root crops there in the form of a prism (the height of the prism is 1-1.3 m), cover it with a thick layer of straw so that the collar height is 2 m, cover it with earth, and in winter additionally cover it with snow. Before laying, it is desirable to treat with chalk powder (200 g of chalk per 10 kg of beets).

Carrots are difficult to keep in perfect condition because they have a thin skin., which poorly retains moisture, root crops quickly dehydrate and dry out. Plastic bags with a capacity of 20-30 kg will help to save the necessary moisture. Root crops are poured into them by 2/3, sprinkled with sawdust on top, it is not necessary to tie bags so that condensation does not form.

The “clay shirt” preserves the carrots just as well - a clay mash is made (clay is diluted in half with water), we dip the carrots into this mash and dry it. In such a shirt, carrots retain their juiciness well and do not deteriorate.

ATTENTION: If during harvesting a lot of spoiled or injured root crops come across, then they can be processed and stored for storage in a processed form.

How to save for the winter?

Carrots can be stored in several ways.:

These are labor-intensive methods, but they are used more often, as they will better preserve all the nutritional properties of vegetables in the winter. It is also used when small root crops are grated and placed in the freezer. You can show imagination and make curly cuts. A cheerful mix of vegetables (carrots, sweet peppers, green peas) will also please you in the cold winter.

Avoid storing root vegetables and apples in the same room, this will keep root vegetables longer.

Harvesting beets and carrots is a troublesome business, and it should be approached responsibly. If you do everything on time and follow these simple storage rules, then your vegetables from the garden will be fresh until spring, and maybe until the next harvest year.

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It is convenient to keep beets, like other root crops, until the next season in the cellar or in the basement, where the best conditions are created for it, but how to store beets in the cellar so that it remains firm all winter and does not lose its taste?

The key to successful storage of beets is proper cultivation and harvesting

With long-term storage of this most useful root crop, many have problems. But it’s hard to imagine Russian cuisine without beets! And with the approach of spring, it would be nice to increase the consumption of beets, given its many medicinal properties.

In fact, the storage of beets should not cause much trouble, because it belongs to the table root crops, the keeping quality of which is much better than that of carrots or potatoes. If you know how to properly store beets and prevent specimens affected by infectious diseases from getting into the total mass of the crop, then in the spring you will get strong, healthy root crops from the cellar that have not lost their marketable appearance and taste.

Storing beets for the winter will be successful if you not only provide suitable conditions for it in the basement, but also grow it correctly, carefully harvest and sort the crop, and most importantly, select varieties that have the best keeping quality and cold resistance.

Video about the collection and storage of beets

Before you start growing beets, you need to remember that the highest quality, healthy root crops are obtained on fertile sandy or loamy soils. If you plant beets in acidic soil, it can be affected by common scab, as a result of which the skin of root crops will become covered with warts and cracks, and become rough. Subsequently, other diseases that adversely affect the keeping quality of beets will easily develop in the cracks.

Beet varieties with high keeping quality are well suited for personal plots: Incomparable, Bravo, Bordeaux 237, Krasny shar, Podzimnyaya, Odnorostkovaya, Nosovskaya flat, etc.

Choose varieties with small root crops - they are tastier, not as fibrous as large ones, and they store much better. But too small beets should not be left for storage.

Choose varieties with small root crops - they are tastier

Beet harvesting should begin earlier than, since the ripened beets that are on the surface of the earth quickly freeze at the first frost. Dig up root crops as carefully as possible so that fungal and viral diseases do not develop in them due to mechanical damage.

Diseases that reduce the keeping quality of beets:

• gray rot often develops on beets that have been frozen or damaged during digging;
• in root crops overfed with nitrogen and phosphorus, susceptibility to white rot increases;
• white and gray rot can be brought into storage along with lumps of earth adhering to root crops;
• in summer, beets are often affected by fusarium, as well as phomosis, which develop during winter storage, forming hard black spots and voids in root crops;
• during wet spring and dry summer, there is a deficiency of boron salts in the soil, due to which beets develop heart rot, which passes from the root head inward, forming voids. Such root crops rot at the very beginning of storage.

It is advisable to leave the dug crop for a short time under the sun in the garden.

How to store beets in winter - preparation of root crops and storage conditions

It is advisable to leave the dug crop for a short time under the sun in the garden (therefore, it is better to dig it out in dry, cool weather), so that the beets dry out a little and are better cleaned from the ground. Root crops cannot be washed! Next, the beets must be carefully sorted out, leaving for long-term storage only those specimens that look healthy, do not have mechanical damage or signs of disease. The tops of the beets are carefully cut with scissors or a sharp knife, leaving "hemp" one centimeter each. Just do not cut off the leaves with your hands and do not touch the tails of the beets, otherwise you will inevitably damage the root crops!

Place the sorted beets, cleaned of lumps of earth and tops, in a dry room with good ventilation and no direct sunlight, so that the root crops dry out completely within a week. After that, you can transfer the beets to storage for the winter.

Storage of beets in a basement or cellar is recommended at a humidity not exceeding 90% and at temperatures between zero and two degrees Celsius. Higher temperatures will lead to rapid wilting of root crops, rotting and the development of diseases. Beets are especially sensitive to elevated temperatures at the beginning of storage: at +4 degrees, tops will immediately begin to sprout in them.

Natural ventilation should be provided in the basement, and beet bins should be arranged 15 cm above the floor

Keep in mind that the higher the air temperature in the storage, and the higher the humidity, the faster the development of fungal diseases will occur, which will spread very quickly to the entire crop. But the signs of some diseases when sorting the dug out crop are outwardly completely invisible.

Air circulation in the storage is also of great importance - natural ventilation should be provided in the basement, and beet bins should be arranged 15 cm above the floor so that the air circulates calmly, evenly cooling the root crops and preventing them from sweating.

Winter storage options for beets

In fact, storing beets in the cellar is not much different from or carrots. You can simply store root crops in bulk on the floor, but it is more convenient to make bins with walls up to one meter high and provide a wooden grate at the bottom for better ventilation of the beets. Bins should be placed ten centimeters from the walls of the cellar or basement. Make sure that the gaps between the boards in the walls do not exceed five centimeters, otherwise the beets will fall into them.

Video about proper storage of beets

How can you store beets in the basement and cellar:

• The most common option is to store beets on top of potatoes. By doing this, you will immediately kill two birds with one stone: the beets will absorb the moisture it needs, and the potatoes, on the contrary, will be protected from excessive moisture.
• For better preservation of root crops, some gardeners sprinkle them with sand or powder with sifted ash.
• You can store beets in the same way as carrots - in boxes filled with sun-dried river sand. Only during the winter it is necessary to ensure that the sand does not become wet.
• Beets are also well stored in the boxes, pre-treated with brine or sprinkled with salt (after the brine, the roots must be well dried).
• Under the beets and on top of it, you can lay the leaves of a fern or any other plants rich in phytoncides.

You can store beets in the same way as carrots - in boxes filled with sun-dried river sand

Now you know how to store beets in the cellar, and what you need to consider so that the root crops remain as firm and tasty until the next season as after harvest. The main thing - do not allow the appearance of rodents in your cellar or basement!

Whether you grow beets yourself or buy them in the fall, you will definitely have to decide how to store beets at home. It is necessary that the root crops do not rot, wilted and dry. So that all winter you can cook a variety of dishes from it and serve not only healthy, but also delicious food.

The task is simplified if you are the owner of a well-equipped underground or basement in a private house. Sawdust, dry sand, clay and wooden boxes, that's all you need to keep the beets juicy and unspoiled.

And if you live in a city apartment, but you always need to have some kind of beet stock on hand, what should you do? A few fresh beets should be in the kitchen at all times. Especially if the family loves borscht and salads, and the hostess understands how much this is necessary for everyone: from old to small.

Perhaps, only carrots and potatoes can be more accessible than beets. Yes, and it is easier to save the beet crop until spring than, say, cucumbers or tomatoes.

Light varieties of beets

First of all, you need to know which variety is worth buying for storage, and which one is better to use quickly. It is most profitable to take beets at autumn farmers' markets, from trusted sellers, using the recommendations and reviews of regular customers.

Root crops from large retail chains are processed with chemicals (from rodents and for keeping quality), which does not add usefulness to the human body. Especially when you consider that we are not told how they process what people use for food.

Try to find out what kind of beets the sellers offer if you buy them.
If you are planting yourself, carefully choose the varieties for planting. On the packages of seeds, it is always noted whether the variety is soft or not.

The best keeping quality in the following varieties:

• Late winter A-474;
• Libero;
• Mulatto;
• single-growth;
• Cold resistant 19;
• Gribovskaya flat A473;
• Boltardi;
• Bordeaux-237;
• Renova;
• Salad.

Probably the most popular and favorite variety among Russian summer residents is the Cylinder. It grows well, has excellent taste, but is not stored for a long time (no more than 2 months).

This long, cigar-shaped beetroot is best eaten quickly. All efforts to keep it for the winter at home until the next harvest will be in vain.

When to Clean and How to Prepare

Proper preparation of beets for storage for the winter is an important step. Ideally, medium-sized, even, undamaged tubers are suitable. Preparation begins with harvesting, if you grow it yourself.

Digging up beets seems to be an easy task, except for strained muscles and a buzzing back. However, there are tricks in this simple matter, and it is useful to know them in order to preserve what has been growing all summer with such labor.

1. You can not scratch the delicate beet skin, just pulling the tubers out of the ground.
2. Take a fork and pry, lift the plant under the roots, being careful not to injure the tuber.
3. Lift the tops and pull out the beets.
4. Shake off the ground.
5. Scatter to dry so that each beetroot lies loose and well ventilated.

You need to harvest in dry weather before the first frost. Frozen or broken root crops are not suitable for bookmarking. Just one spoiled vegetable can infect and kill neighbors in a very short time. You will have to forget about beet stocks for the winter.

But there will be more worries about pulling rot out of the underground or drawers. Yes, and cleaning the place of unsuccessful storage of beets is not a pleasant task. It is worth missing and rot will infect the room with a fungus that will have to be washed, dried and processed. It is not easy to remove the mold that has settled on the walls.

Keep beets from the garden dry

If the weather is warm, leave the dug beets along with the tops right on the garden bed. Let it lie down for three hours, wind and dry. It is not worth leaving it outside for a long time in order to prevent wilting due to loss of moisture or soaking in the rain.

note

In no case do not wash the beets before storing them.

If you dug up a crop from wet ground, you will have to dry it in a well-ventilated area at a temperature of 10 to 15 degrees, or under a canopy.

Scatter the beetroots in a single layer on paper, burlap, or wood flooring and air it outside for a couple of days to allow the soil left on the tubers to completely dry and crumble. Clean it in the underground or boxes should be exceptionally dry and clean.

good advice

The same drying principles must be followed if you brought a couple of kilograms from the store. Dry the purchased beets and do not store in a bunch in a plastic bag. Without air, it will rot. But too dry kitchen air is not good for root crops. They dry out quickly and should not be eaten.

Do not lose sight of the following steps:

• If soil remains on the tubers, it must be removed very carefully. In no case do not clean off the dirt with a knife or other objects, so as not to damage the thin skin. Do not be lazy, with hands in fabric gloves, clean each root crop from lumps.
• Cut off the tops with a sharp knife. Do not twist the leaves with your hands, do not cut everything at the root. Leave tops up to a centimeter long.
• Remove the side roots, and cut off the main tail-root to 5 centimeters.

While removing roots and excess tops, sort the root crops immediately. Set aside small or damaged beets for processing and use first. Too large ones are also better stored separately, but they do not need urgent processing. They just need to be better monitored - there may be hidden defects in large tubers.

On a note

Substandard beet tubers will have to be processed and stored in jars, in the form of dressings and salads. Either frozen, previously passed through a grater or cut into pieces. Another option is to cut into thin slices and dry in household dryers such as Sukhovey.

Smooth root crops with a diameter of 8-12 centimeters are ideal for long-term storage. Such beets are stored for a long time and are quickly cooked. It can be taken until the new harvest, and it will not be sluggish or rotten.

How to store beets at home (in the apartment)

In an apartment, beets are usually not purchased in large quantities. But 20 kilograms can be placed in a specially insulated balcony or loggia. To do this, they make special chests with insulating walls or use boxes, wrapping them up. If there is a balcony protected from drafts, the shelf life of beets increases to 8 months.

On the loggia, these chests for storing vegetables perfectly disguise themselves as sofas, performing a dual function.

For those who do not have handy men, but you need to store vegetables, including beets, use improvised means. For example, plastic boxes from stores that are usually thrown away. Such racks can be arranged even on an unglazed balcony.

True, you will have to wrap the improvised storage very carefully and use the tubers before the onset of severe frosts. On the loggia, they perform their task until the next harvest, if necessary.

All these efforts are worth it to use vegetables grown naturally and not treated with chemical preparations for family nutrition. Namely, such you bring from the store. Where do they come from storage facilities, where root crops are protected from rodents and rot by special means. Otherwise, the trade in inexpensive vegetables will become unprofitable.

If the temperature on the balcony does not drop below plus 2 degrees, put the beets in boxes with sand or dry sawdust and stack them on top of each other. The main thing is that the filler is dry and clean.

If there is no loggia or balcony, then the shelf life of beets in the apartment is about 2 months, no more. Find a place where the temperature does not rise above 12 degrees. A pantry or a dark closet in the hallway is perfect.

But in this case, it would be better if you take the time and process the purchased beets, put them in the freezer or pickle them in jars.

In the refrigerator, beets are placed wrapped in parchment, wrapping paper or food foil. You will have to wrap each root crop so that it does not become flabby.

For long-term storage of beets in an apartment, this method is not rational (there is not enough space), although beets can be stored in this way for up to 90 days or even more.

Underfloor storage

If there is an underground or cellar, there are many ways to lay root crops for winter storage, and each owner has his own secret. Everyone knows what beets need for long-term storage. Taking into account this knowledge and based on their characteristics of the basement (deep or shallow; raw or dry), a place is arranged for storing each vegetable.

The subfloor must be prepared in advance: cleaned of debris and dried before laying vegetables for long-term storage. There should not be any traces of mold or moisture in it. Well, if it has shelving. In their absence, the floor is laid with boardwalks at a height of at least 15-20 cm.

Under what conditions beets are stored for a long time:

• temperature from 2 to 4 degrees with a plus sign;
• the room is dark;
• humidity is quite high -80%;
• drafts are excluded;
• there is ventilation;
• temperature constant;
• root crops are not scattered on the floor.

At 4 degrees Celsius, roots and tops begin to grow rapidly in root crops, which significantly reduces the shelf life and increases the risk that everything harvested will be lost.

For your information

You can store beets along with well-dried and properly prepared potatoes for storage. Beet tubers are stacked on potatoes in one layer. So they get the moisture that potato tubers give off.

Useful to consider

1. Beets keep well in boxes with clean sand. Sand must be calcined in the sun in advance. Pour a layer of a couple of centimeters, lay the beet tubers at a small distance from each other and cover with sand to cover with a layer of two centimeters. It's enough.
2. To prevent pests from spoiling the beets, take a bucket of wood ash. Each tuber must be powdered with ash before being stored. This is done simply: each root crop is dipped in ashes. Instead of ash, for the same purposes, you can use crushed chalk.
3. If you plan to store beets in bulk, be sure to place a wooden pallet under the boxes to allow air to circulate. And do not forget that beets can be stored 15 centimeters from the floor, but not on the floor itself, even if it is wooden.

Beets are a vegetable that not only nourishes, but also heals. It is enjoyed by both children and adults. From it you can cook an incredible number of dishes. Therefore, it is worthwhile to think carefully about how to store beets at home, so as not to deprive the home of a source of valuable nutrients during the long cold months.

Outline a plan of action before you need to urgently place beets and other vegetables for storage:

1. Prepare boxes in advance.
2. Build a chest when it comes to storage on the loggia.
3. Buy baskets made from natural materials for vegetables, if the storage space is only in the kitchen.
4. Consider where to get the filler and which one is better to use.

Even if it seems to you that there are no conditions for more or less long-term storage of beets in your apartment, they can be created. Or come up with devices such as boxes and chests combined with household utensils.

In any case, beets are worth the trouble, just like carrots and cabbage with potatoes. These vegetables form the basis of a healthy diet. In a house where they want to see the family healthy, beets are served on the table almost daily.

It is impossible to give a single advice on how to store beets at home, since the conditions are all different for us. However, knowing what beets need to stay fresh all winter, you can and should come up with something of your own, special. Convenient, environmentally friendly, not interfering with the life of households with a shortage of space in a city apartment.

And ... Better than wooden chests, boxes or wicker baskets for storing beets for the winter, they didn’t come up with anything, despite the huge selection of plastic containers of all sizes and colors.