Rules and best ways to store cabbage at home

Cabbage is a healthy vegetable rich in vitamins. It is used in salads, soups and snacks. To keep cabbage at home to create culinary masterpieces, you need to remember the rules of storage. The shelf life of the product directly depends on the temperature, room ventilation and properly selected containers. To learn how to store fresh cabbage at home, you need to familiarize yourself with the basic principles of this process.

How to choose the right one

Not everyone knows that the shelf life of a vegetable depends on the correctness of its choice. What factors to look for when buying:

1. The leaves of the apple should be fresh and leathery. Slow fragments are an indicator of the loss of useful qualities of the product.
2. There should be no dark spots or streaks on the surface of the cabbage. The opposite case indicates a developing infection.
3. A mature product feels tight and heavy to the touch.If the head of cabbage is light and impressive in size, this indicates that it was taken out of the garden too early.

For harvesting, experts advise choosing cabbage in midsummer.

Choose the optimal variety

Some varieties are suitable for long-term storage. It is their experienced summer residents who advise buying them for the seasonal harvest.

mid-late

This type includes cabbage varieties with a growing season of 120-125 days. These vegetables are suitable for long storage, preparation and fermentation. The most popular types:

• F1 Aggressor;
• Winter storm;
• Devotee F1.

Mid-late cabbage heads reach a weight of 5 kg.

Late maturity

This type includes vegetables with a growing season of up to 180 days. Late ripening cabbage is considered a valuable food, rich in vitamins and minerals. It is recommended to use it for winter preparations and ferments. The most popular varieties that hostesses choose for storage:

• F1 leader;
• Expect F1;
• Gingerbread Man F1.

By weight, vegetables reach 5-6 kg.

Harvest rules

Before preparing the blanks, you should familiarize yourself with the main rules of harvesting:

1. It is best to pick vegetables on hot, dry days.
2. Cabbage heads are best removed with a shovel. In this case, you need to leave the buds and remove the soil from them.
3. Do not cut the integumentary leaves.
4. Before harvesting, vegetables must be dried. This can be done in a cool place out of direct sunlight.

After harvesting, cabbage heads should be peeled from the roots.

Preparing for long-term storage at home

To store cabbage for a long time, you will need to apply the following tips:

1. Vegetables must be rinsed and dried before wintering.
2. It is recommended to cut off all heads with a sharp knife, leaving about 3 cm of stumps.
3. Be sure to leave a few cover leaves to protect the cabbage from pests and sudden temperature changes.
4. For blanks, dense heads of cabbage are chosen, which are well ripened.
5. Vegetables should not be damaged. They can lead to the development of bacterial infections.
6. First you will need to prepare a storage room. It must be well ventilated. The optimum air temperature is 0-2 degrees Celsius. Humidity should be less than 95%.

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The room should be checked for fungus and mold on the walls. This will help avoid early spoilage of cabbage heads.

Basic methods

There are many ways to save cabbage for the winter. It is allowed to store vegetables in boxes, boxes, in the basement and in the pantry. All storage options have their own advantages and nuances.

Fridge

Gardeners say that the best conditions for preserving the taste of cabbage in an apartment are temperatures from 0 to 2 degrees Celsius. These are the conditions that the refrigerator provides. Cabbage heads are recommended to be stored in special compartments for fresh vegetables. They are found in almost all models of modern refrigerators. To protect them from moisture, the vegetables are wrapped in parchment paper.

Experts do not recommend using the film, as condensation can form on it.

However, paper also absorbs moisture over time and becomes damp. Therefore, it is worth periodically reviewing the blanks and changing the parchment. With the right temperature, the cabbage will be fresh all winter.

Balcony

For storage on the balcony, the optimum temperature is up to -5 degrees below zero. At high levels, there is a risk of spoilage of vegetables. To store cabbage on the balcony, you need to wrap the cabbage in parchment sheets and put it in wooden containers or thermal containers. It is also recommended to periodically examine the workpieces for damaged fragments.

This will help to throw out the sick vegetable in time and prevent other cabbage heads from becoming infected.

Pantry

To place cabbage in the pantry, experienced gardeners have determined acceptable temperature values ​​- from -2 to +3 degrees. In case of deviations from the norm, the products begin to deteriorate and become infected with fungi. For harvesting, you need to wrap the cabbage heads with polyethylene or parchment, put them in a deep wooden container and send them to a dark corner. Please make sure there is no mold in the part before shipping.

Cellar or basement

A cellar or basement is one of the most suitable places to store large vegetables. Here they are provided with normal temperature indicators, as well as an acceptable level of humidity. When harvesting, the vegetables are dried, cut from the roots, wrapped in paper and laid out in wooden crates. It is better that there are no products with a pungent smell next to the cabbage.

Additional methods

In addition to the basic methods of harvesting vegetables, unusual storage methods are often used. For example, burying in sand or storing vegetables in a bag.

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Stripping

The acidification of vegetables is as follows:

1. Wash cabbage, chop finely and put in deep glass containers. Add spices to taste.
2. Store the product at 20 degrees Celsius for several days.
3. Taste the room. If it doesn't taste crispy and sour, let it steep for another 3-4 days.

Pack the resulting blank in jars and tighten with lids. It is recommended to store sauerkraut in a cellar or in the refrigerator. A suitable temperature is 2 degrees Celsius.

Stripping

For marinating, use the following recipe:

1. Finely chop the cabbage, add grated beets and carrots.
2. Put all the ingredients in a jar, add a few cloves of garlic.
3. Prepare a marinade with water, sugar, salt and spices. Bring it to a boil.
4. Pour the solution into jars and wait for it to cool.

When the curls are cool, they can be moved to a dark, cool place or stored in the refrigerator.

Frozen

Freezing cabbage is not the most suitable way to preserve the beneficial properties of cabbage heads. This method is used for winter harvesting. Salads and borscht are prepared on their basis. How to complete the procedure:

1. Rinse the cabbage, remove the roots.
2. Cut in half and chop with a large, sharp knife.
3. Pack the piece in sealed bags and store in the freezer.

When defrosting, it is recommended to first put the vegetables on the refrigerator rack so that the ice disappears. And only then can they be used to add to dishes.

Drying

To dry vegetables, you will need:

1. Rinse the heads of cabbage, chop them finely.
2. Wait until all the moisture has evaporated, place the workpiece on a baking sheet.
3. Turn on the oven to 100 degrees and send the chopped vegetables there.
4. After they have acquired a golden hue, the oven can be turned off.

The resulting piece is packed in bags or sealed bags and sent to the cellar or basement. Before the procedure, it is imperative to dry the vegetables.

Bury in the sand

Some gardeners advise keeping cabbage in the sand. Thus, it retains its beneficial properties and does not lose its taste. How to complete the procedure:

1. Rinse the cabbage, cut off the heels.
2. Put the part in deep wooden crates. Heads of cabbage should be a short distance from each other.
3. Spread dry sand in layers until the cabbage is completely covered with it.

Thus, cabbage can be stored all winter.

in the package

One of the unusual uses for gardeners is for bag storage. This requires strong bags and moist soil. Pour the earth into the bag, put the cabbage in it, tamp it slightly and fill it to the end. The resulting room should be moved to the basement and periodically watered with cold water.

Possible illnesses during storage

The storage process does not always go smoothly. Sometimes cabbage heads are affected by pests and diseases. What pathologies can be found on cabbage:

1. Gray rot. Appears after the development of mold on the leaves, affects the head of the cabbage itself, its leaves and the inside. Most often, pathology appears due to a sharp drop in temperature and improper storage conditions. If a problem is detected, chalk the affected areas and return them to the storage container.
2. Soft rot. Pathology develops against the background of damage to vegetables and cracking of buds. Soft rot can also form if the proper temperature is not observed. If the cabbage heads are damaged, it is recommended to sort them and discard them.This will help prevent contamination of healthy vegetables.

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As a preventive measure, you should regularly examine the parts and check them for damage.

Storage characteristics of some varieties

Some varieties of cabbage require certain conditions to maintain their beneficial qualities.

white-headed

White cabbage is considered one of the healthiest varieties that retains its taste for a long time. Acceptable storage temperatures are considered to be between 0 and 3 degrees Celsius. The most optimal way to store white cabbage is a basement, sand and a refrigerator.

Colored

Colored heads of cabbage are stored in the refrigerator. At the same time, they are wrapped in foil or parchment sheets. The shelf life of this variety does not exceed 1 month. For preparations, cut vegetables are also used. Under such conditions, the beneficial properties of the product are retained for several months.

Broccoli

Broccoli is rarely kept cool. Most often, vegetables are frozen or preserved in canned form. It should be remembered that the shelf life of this product is shorter than that of ordinary cabbage. It varies between 4 and 6 months.

Early or young

It is advisable to keep the young cabbages intact. To do this, she is sent to the basement, storage room or balcony. In this case, the vegetables should be wrapped in thick paper to avoid the risk of fungal infection.

Rules for storing fresh cabbage in the summer

In summer, vegetables need constant ventilation and humidity. Therefore, it is forbidden to store them in the kitchen at room temperature. It is better to wrap cabbage heads and send them to the basement.The use of sand and wooden crates is permitted.

The main rule is that the ambient temperature should not exceed +4°.

Additional tips and tricks

Experts have prepared additional tips to help you increase the shelf life of vegetables:

1. It is recommended to soak small heads of cabbage in salt water before harvesting. This method helps prevent bacterial infections.
2. If rotten areas appear on the vegetables during storage, you need to cut them with scissors. If the territory of the affected area is small, then the cabbage heads are sent to boxes.
3. If the vegetables become soft during storage and have lost their flavor, then you need to urgently use them as food. For example, as a salad or as a base for borscht.

If a large amount of rotting occurs, it is better to discard the cabbage. This approach helps prevent infestation of healthy cabbage heads.