Keep your veggies crunchy and fresh!

What to do when your onions turn bad, your potatoes sprout, and your carrots grow again? Vegetables easily get bad – no wonder without the roots or mother plants they lose their water reserves and slowly start to shrivel or wilt.

After the harvest, the metabolism of vegetables and fruits is still working and so they absorb oxygen and important substances are broken down into water vapor and carbon dioxide. Because of this “respiration”, fruits and vegetables ripen, lose color and cell tissues. They are less immune against mold and other microorganism who destroy them. If you store them, much can be prevented what would otherwise go to waste. It’s good to remember that different vegetables need different ways of storing them and not all of them are good to keep at one place together. Some release a gas called ethylene which makes other vegetables ripen very fast. If we want to keep them over the winter, we need to make sure, that we treat them in a way that can help them to stay fresh and crunchy as long as possible.

There are different ways of preserving food like freezing, canning, dehydrating, placing in oil, etc.  You can read another blog article about that on our website, written by Raquel Vasilache.

In this article we will look at how we can store different vegetables in their original form.

Generally, many vegetables like to be stored at a cool and dark place. Most root vegetables enjoy sufficient humidity – placing a bucket with water in your cellar helps with that.

Let’s look at storage needs of some common vegetables in detail:

Onions (lots of antioxidants & used against inflammations, colds & flues)

4-10°C is the ideal temperature for onions to be stored. They need a dark place to not start sprouting again. Before storing, make sure that the peel and the green onion top is well dry, otherwise it might start to rot. They like a dry climate, less than 70% of humidity with lots of air circulation. Never store them in plastic bags. They can be stored in special onion bags and hung up on the ceiling or put into crates with holes.

Best is to store them with garlic since they have similar conditions. They can be placed in the attic since in the basement there are often other vegetables like potatoes. Potatoes and onions emit a gas which makes the other one to sprout faster or even rot faster.

Don’t put them in the fridge, they won’t last so long. If an onion is cut open, don’t leave it uncovered since it will absorb everything from the air.  Also, don’t cover it with aluminum foil, it gets a metallic taste and aluminum is absorbed, which is bad for our health.

Onions can usually be stored up to 8-10 months.

Pumpkins (high in potassium, vitamin C & fiber as well as antioxidants)

Depending on the kind of pumpkins, they can be stored between 3-8 months. Usually, they like more warmer temperature between 10-17°C. Under 10°C they easily start to rot. A pumpkin which gets bad is recognized on either the taste which becomes bitter or spots that are getting soft. It’s very important to not stack them on top of each other. Like with any other vegetables make sure that the ones you want to store are without any scratches or open wounds. They should be ripe which is seen when the peel is hard and the stem dry. If they are not ripe by the time of the harvest, one can put them at a warm place with about 20°C and lots of light until they are ready (within 2-3 weeks).

Pumpkins are better stored in the attic or even inside the house (for example on the stairways) than in the root cellar.

To keep fungal diseases away, one can spray or wipe them with a mixture of chlorine and water or vinegar essence.

Potatoes (rich in Vitamin B, C and Potassium)

For potatoes it’s best to only store the ones that are harvested late. They like to be stored at around 7-10°C and it’s important to not put them together with apples or pears. These fruits emit a lot of ethylene which makes the potatoes not last too long.

If one stores them under 7°C, the starch in the potatoes transforms into sugar and changes the taste. It’s important to store them dark. If there is too much light, they turn green and form solanine which is poisonous.

They should be dry before storing but don’t wash them with water. The soil is a natural protection against rotting.

You can place them in the garage if it isn’t too cold. The fridge makes them lose their flavor that’s why it’s better to store them in the basement or in a potato pot if one doesn’t have a basement. A potato pot can stay in the kitchen and is a traditional pot made from clay, ceramics, terracotta, or stoneware and has air slits for some circulation.

If you don’t have this, you can also store them in a paper bag which is placed in a cardboard.

Carrots (high in vitamin A)

Carrots are much more frost resistant and can withstand

1-5°C. Some can even be left in the ground when the first frost comes. In general harvest them before they become too big, since they often crack and can’t be stored too long after that.

When they are harvested, make sure that you cut the green tops because they withdraw moisture from the carrots. Don’t put them in a plastic bag, otherwise they will rot very fast. It’s better to have them in the basement put in layers into sand. It’s important that they don’t touch each other in the sand, and to have one layer of sand between each layer of carrots.

Carrots need high humidity and if one keeps them in a box, it’s necessary to cover them with a moist towel. If they become very pliable and soft, you can put them in water for a few hours and they become crunchy again.

Red Beets (high in iron)

Like carrots, red beets can tolerate temperatures of 0-4°C. Important is that they are stored at a dark place to not start to grow again. Usually, they last up to 5 months if stored well in the basement. Like carrots, they can be placed in sand. When cutting the top, leave the smallest leaf in the middle remaining. It will help them to keep fresh and keeps germs away.

If you don’t have a basement, you can wrap them in moist newspaper or towels and keep them in the garage or even in the fridge. Be careful in your garage with mice and rats.

Leek (high in vitamin K)

Leek can tolerate some frost as well. Storage is best at around 1-2°C. Generally, they are harvested around the first frost and can be taken in a big box where there is a little sand or soil in the bottom. There they keep well if placed standing close next to each other. That box can stay in the basement, next to the house wall or even inside an unheated greenhouse. If it gets very cold, it might be good to cover it with dark towels if it remains outside next to the house wall. In that way it stays fresh for a longer period.

One can also wrap it in moist newspaper to keep the humidity higher.

Tomatoes (high in lycopene – good for our heart health and sun protection)

Tomatoes come from South America originally and like to have it a bit warmer even when storing them. Between 12-16°C is a perfect temperature, so, don’t place them in the fridge. They will lose their aroma if you store them at a too low temperature. If you place them in a light and warm place with lots of oxygen, they also lose their aroma but much slower than if you have them in the fridge.

Green tomatoes can be harvested especially before the frost comes and will ripen at temperatures between 18-20°C. It helps to wrap them in newspaper or place them somewhere in a dark spot. They ripen without sunlight.

It’s important to wash them only before using them.

Because of their high emission of ethylene, it’s best to store them away from cucumbers, lettuce, kiwi and other vegetables and fruit.

Don’t place them in a plastic bag since they need some air. If placed in direct sun, they will ripen too much.

Bell peppers (highest vitamin C level of all vegetables & rich in beta carotene)

They like to be stored somewhere with low humidity and in a dark place. The perfect temperature is 8-10°C and it’s best to not wash them before storage and to cover them well with a dry towel. The towel will absorb some of the humidity.

If you harvest them still green in the end of the season, you can place them on the heater or on the windowsill. Give them 3-4 days and they will still ripen a bit. If your bell peppers are very small, they will remain green even if placed on the windowsill. Most likely they will shrivel a bit. Therefore, it’s best to use the small ones while they are green and fresh.

Eggplants (high in folic acid)

Eggplants are like bell peppers although they like a bit warmer temperature, around 9-13°C but also dark. It’s good to cover them with a towel or some paper to prevent too much moisture coming to them.

Usually, you can store them well a few weeks. They can be stored in the fridge as well but will shrivel faster and lose some flavor because of the temperature.

Your Storage

Many people use their fridge, garage, or basement to store canned food as well as fresh food. Here are two suggestions for what you can do if you don’t have a basement or garage:

1)  Vegetable clamp

Before there was electricity, people stored a lot of food for the winter. Some of them had hug barrels to make Sauerkraut. Others dried fruits and vegetables.

Many dug holes in the ground where both fruit and vegetables were stored. Vegetable clamps are usually filled in October, when the fall harvest happens.

Important is to find a place that is not too wet but also not too dry for the products not to rot or shrivel.

Root vegetables are perfect for the clamps. Potatoes can work as well but then it is important to dig the hole at least 60-80cm deep since they are sensitive to any frost. Apples are possible to store like that as well but not together with vegetables. Vegetables like zucchini or pumpkins should not be placed there, they need air and 8-10°C. For the clamp you can use a wooden crate, or even an old washing machine drum. Important is to place a wire mash fence into it for mice or other animals to not get to the products. Make sure that there is a possibility for some air to circulate.

Vegetables are placed inside the crate or drum into some sand. One layer of sand, one layer of vegetables – until the top. The vegetables shouldn’t touch each other to prevent them from getting bad.

Now you can dig a hole in the ground, place some straw on the bottom, at the sides and then put the drum or crate inside the whole. Close it with another layer of straw and a wooden lit on the top to find the place even when there is some snow.

Another option is to make it bigger and build a big crate with wooden boards. That can be several meters long.

Some also make a pile instead of digging down into the soil (like seen on the drawing above). For that it’s important to remove the gras, place a wire mash fence and some sand on the ground (about 10cm). In the middle of the pile (often like a circle) place a few branches which help with the air circulation. After that one can put vegetables in layers with sand between until the top. A layer of straw (about 10cm or more) can be placed over the whole pile and beneath it a wire mash fence to keep animals away. The whole pile is covered with a 15-20cm layer of soil. Important is to have a few holes where there is no soil (especially also on the top) and where air can circulate. If it rains a lot, it’s good to protect the pile with a tarp.

2)  Root Cellar

For those who have even more products or who would like to not have to build every time a vegetable clamp and have the vegetables easier accessible, a root cellar is very recommended. It can also be used to store canned food, seeds and any other fresh vegetables. Here are some ideas of how a root cellar can look like. In some countries you can dig a hole and buy a finished root cellar which is transported and placed into the ground by the company. Often those are relatively small and pricy.

Here and here are two examples of how a root cellar can look like.

To keep vegetables fresh and crunchy, I learned from one old neighbor how she places them in buckets with a wet towel on top and the lit placed over it but not fully closed. Every few days she makes sure that the towel is moist. I visited her in March and her red beets, carrots and cabbage were still fresh and crunchy.

I hope you have received some new ideas in how to make your products lasting even longer to be enjoyed by you and your families!

Rebekka Hart has grown up on a family farm and taken an education as a kindergarten teacher. After several years working and learning at different institutions within Europe, God has convicted her to work fulltime within gardening at the Adventist institution Bogenhofen in Austria. There she is still learning together with the students how to grow vegetables, and how to grow closer to God.