Best Ways to Store Root Celery for the Winter at Home

Delicious and juicy celery roots are extremely beneficial... If stored under optimal conditions, it can be a useful dietary supplement and a source of vitamins and minerals in winter.

How to properly store root celery for the winter, so that the plant contains a maximum of nutrients, will be discussed further.

Storage rules for root celery in winter

If you plan to use a root vegetable within a week, it is enough to wrap it in film and put in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator. Under these conditions, it will keep the spicy aroma intact.

Celery can be stored for a long time subject to strict adherence to the following rules:

• the leaves are cut off at the root, small roots are left;
• for storage, fruits are left with a smooth and even surface, without knotty growths;
• the skin over the entire surface should be dense and elastic;
• when knocking, the root makes a dull sound, which indicates the absence of voids.

If you plant a few remaining small roots in the pot, during the winter you can get vitamin leaves for salad.

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How to make sure that it does not lose properties

In central Russia, root celery is harvested from the beds at the end of September - early October. To keep it unchanged longer, it is dug out until the first frost.

The dug up roots are left in the beds for final ripening for several days... The skin will become denser and firmer and protect the pulp from pathogenic microorganisms. Ripe and dried root crops are less deformed during transportation and do not rot during long winter storage.

Harvested root vegetables are prepared for storage:

• cut the tops at an angle, leave a stalk 2-3 cm long;
• cleaned from the ground and remove thin roots;
• sorted into whole and damaged.

Root crops damaged during harvest are eaten Firstly.

In the southern regions of the Russian Federation (Kuban, Rostov region, North Caucasus), root crops are stored throughout the winter in trenches... Prepared vegetables are placed in 2-3 layers in trenches and sprinkled with sand. Top covered with a layer of dry straw and earth. The optimum thickness of a soil pad for trench storage of celery is 20-25 cm.

Storage methods

Thrifty housewives process and store damaged, rotten and hollow vegetables in the form of blanks.

Canned

Canned celery - spicy appetizer for meat, fish, vegetables.

For the marinade boil 1 liter of water, 40 g of salt, 30 g of sugar, 1 tsp. fennel and 1 tbsp. l. lemon juice for 5 minutes.

Marinate celery like this:

1. 600 g of root is peeled and cut into 1 x 1 cm cubes.
2. Sprinkle with lemon juice, blanch for 2-3 minutes.
3. Put the root in a jar and fill it with marinade.
4. The jar is wrapped in a blanket for 3-4 days.

Freezing

For freezing, the celery root is peeled, cut into strips and blanched... The workpiece is dried and put in portioned bags in the freezer. Used for making sauces, soups.

Drying

Drying the root is the most economical storage method. The harvested vegetables are washed, peeled and dried. The pulp is cut into strips or slices and dried. Drying celery is convenient:

• in an electric dryer;
• in the oven;
• in the fresh air.

Blank stored in glass jars under lids or in bags from wax paper in a dry place.

Fresh

Spicy flavor and aroma remain unchanged when stored unwashed root, leaf and petiole celery in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. The safe storage period is no more than 7-10 days.

Storage in the cellar, garage, basement

One-piece, selected celery root retains the maximum amount of valuable substances during the winter... Such a vegetable compensates for the deficiency of vitamins in a meager winter diet and diversifies the usual menu.

In the cellar, celery is stored in one of the selected ways:

1. Root crops are immersed in sand in an upright position, but the petioles are left on the surface.
2. It is dipped in a liquid clay solution, dried, put into boxes of 5-6 kg.
3. Put the roots in a heap, sprinkle each layer with a layer of sand or soil with the addition of chalk to protect it from decay.

If this rule is strictly followed, the root celery retains intense aroma and firmness until spring.

At home

Do not store celery root at room temperature, the balcony is also not suitable due to temperature changes. In the absence of a cellar, barn and basement, city dwellers organize home storage of root crops in the refrigerator.

In a refrigerator

A small crop of root celery is easy to store unchanged in the refrigerator until spring. The prepared vegetable is cleaned of soil and washed thoroughly. Large and small roots, tops are cut off, the workpiece is dried.

Celery is packed in plastic bags and placed in the vegetable compartment... There he will lie until spring.

How to store leaf and stalk celery

Not only roots are eatenbut also celery leaves and petioles. They are also stored in a cellar or apartment until deep winter.

Leafy celery after collection, washed and dried on a paper towel... The leaves are wrapped in aluminum foil and stored in the refrigerator. The shelf life of greens is 10-14 days.

Attention! Damp greens wrapped in polyethylene are stored in the refrigerator for no more than 2-3 days.

Petiolate celery used for making juices and salads... The main task when storing such a workpiece is to save moisture in the pulp as much as possible. Petioles are stored for no more than 2-2.5 months. In the future, they lose their juiciness and a significant amount of vitamins.

For storage, the stems are pulled out of the ground along with the roots, cleaned... The bundles are kept intact and are not disassembled into separate parts. Dried for 2-3 hours in the fresh air, the stems are wrapped with cling film and stored in a cold, dry place.

Tips and tricks on the topic

Experienced gardeners know a few secrets of long-term storage of celery:

1. The optimum temperature for storing root celery in the cellar is 0 ... + 1 ° С, humidity - no more than 90%.
2. Petiolate celery is often left in the ground before the first frost. To keep the petioles white longer, not green and bitter, they are covered with a dark non-woven material.
3. Leaf and petiole celery are stored together with the root and clod in the cellar. To prevent the plant from withering longer, it is dropped into boxes with sand, which is periodically moistened.
4. Celery cut before flowering is suitable for freezing. The green part of such plants tastes more delicate.

To keep crop losses to a minimum, vegetables are periodically sorted, rotten specimens are thrown away.

Conclusion

Celery is a non-capricious plant that can be stored unchanged until the end of winter. The choice of storage method for root celery depends on the amount of the crop and the availability of a cellar or a spacious refrigerator.