John Storey - Cold Storage for Fruits & Vegetables

Cold Storage for Fruits & Vegetables

Do you want to save what could be wasted garden surpluses? Want to lower food costs, and gain deep personal satisfaction?

Try storing food the natural way, in storage rooms and root cellars, in pits and trenches, or even in the garden.

Heres a way to keep large quantities of food that is cheaper, less work, and far more energy-efficient than canning or freezing. And for many fruits and vegetables, its the best way to keep them as close as possible to their just-picked or just-dug peak of quality.

Its not difficult, either, if you follow a few simple rules.

One of those rules is that crops are particular about where you store them. They want just the right humidity and temperature. You probably have ideal conditions for some of them in your home right now, and, with little effort, can provide satisfactory conditions for the others.

Onions like cool, dry conditions. If you have an attic or an unheated room, you have a good place for onions. The closer to the freezing point the temperature goes, the longer those onions will keep.

Warm and dry conditions are favorable for squash, pumpkins, and sweet potatoes. Many of todays homes have cellars that are fine. The furnace keeps the temperature in the 5055F range even during the coldest nights of winter. And the humidity is low. A few wooden racks to keep the produce off the concrete floor and you have good storage space for those crops.

The cold and damp cellars of old farmhouses were ideal for storing the root crops, the members of the cabbage family, and potatoes. They were unheated, so in winter were close to freezing, and even in summer remained cool. They were damp, summer and winter, with the packed earth floor giving off moisture, and more creeping in through the stone walls of the foundation.

Reproducing those conditions is possible, and will be explained under storage room construction.

Another rule to remember is that the maximum storage time for vegetables and fruits varies enormously. Ripe tomatoes and peppers can be held for only a few weeks, winter squash will last through the winter, dried peas and beans can be stored for several years. None should be stored and forgotten. They must be checked often, once a week is not too frequent, to make certain conditions are as ideal as possible, and to remove any produce showing decay.

The experienced root-cellar owner senses problem periods. One example: A warm fall will threaten those stored crops by raising the temperature of the root cellar. But if cool air is allowed to flow in during the night, then the room is closed off to hold in this cooler air, the crops may be protected.

A third general rule is that you should plan your gardening so that your storage crops reach maturityno more and no lessjust when you wish to store them, which in most cases is before the truly hard frosts that signal the approach of winter. Most of the crops require only drying in the sun for several days before being stored. They should not be washed before being stored, although dried dirt can be brushed off them, and they should be handled carefully at all times, so bruises do not invite speedy decay.

Here are some tips on storage, aimed at enabling you to store more food for longer periods with less loss.

. Select the best of the crop for storage. Vegetables should be mature, but not too old, and not damaged by disease or handling. One bad apple will spoil the whole barrel, and the rule applies to most vegetables as well.

. Dont handle crops for storage when they are wet.

. Proper ventilation is important. Air should circulate around the stored produce as much as possible.

. Get your crops in before a hard freeze. Some may not be damaged by heavy frosts; many of them will be.

. Turnips, rutabagas and cabbages give off strong odors. This is a good reason for storing them in an outdoor pit or mound.

. Sort potatoes carefully for storage. Use as quickly as possible those that are not mature or whose skins have been broken while being dug up.

. Most vegetables need to be cured before being stored. Check directions for individual vegetables. Proper curing will do much to increase the maximum storage time.

. Root crops must retain their moisture to keep their freshness. Store them in boxes of damp sand or sawdust, and keep the storage material damp. Or try perforated polyethylene bags.

. Most crops store best if kept in the dark. Light is not needed for any of them.

For most vegetables that need damp, cool storage conditions, a cold storage room or root cellar is the most satisfactory answer.

The homeowner has control over it, control over its temperature and humidity, and control enough to exclude hungry mice that may want to share the feast. The produce is available when he wants it. Carrots can be stored just fine in the garden or in a pit, but retrieving them in the midst of a snowstorm can be trying.

Top view of plan for storage room in corner of basement.

The homeowner must aim for certain conditions in his root cellar:

. Light should be excluded, but light for use when working in the cellar should be provided.

. The room should have access to fresh air. Thats why we recommend building it to include a cellar window. This air is needed for maintaining low temperatures and to provide the ventilation most crops require.

. The room should be insulated off from the rest of the house. This is essential if low temperatures are to be maintained. And its far better for your comfort and heating bills if the cold air of the cellar cant find its way up through the ceiling and into your house.

. It should provide ample space. The sample storage room we picture is 10 x 10, more than ample for a family of four.

. Bins, boxes, shelves, and slatted duckwalks should be used to keep all produce off the concrete floor.

. Humidity must be high. Water can be sprinkled on the floor. Some persons use damp sawdust, which is fine if you dont mind cleaning up that trail of sawdust you will leave through the house each time you leave the cellar. Try a layer of gravel or crushed stone instead. Youll find extra water will be needed most in the fall, when the storage room may be at its warmest and the most air is being circulated.

. The entire room, including all bins and storage areas, must be built with an eye toward easy cleaning. A good scrubbing of the entire room and all containers with a detergent and disinfectant is a must after each storage season. Thus painting the room with a moisture-proof paint will aid in this effort to keep the room clean and free of vegetable-spoiling disease and fungi. A concrete floor is recommended.

. The storage room should be in the coolest part of the cellar, not close to the furnace, have a window and, to minimize the construction costs, be in a corner. The north side is usually coolest.