Where to store cauliflower. Let's save the cauliflower for the whole winter. Fresh storage

How to save cauliflower to feast on fresh vegetables all winter? Many people think that it is impossible to store a vegetable for a long time, because the maximum shelf life in the refrigerator is a month. However, it is realistic to keep cabbage fresh for the whole winter, and under properly created conditions, it can be stored until summer.

Preparation for harvesting for the winter

The blanks created from self-grown vegetables are stored for the longest time. After all, cabbage can be prepared in advance, taking into account the following points:

• Wet heads of cabbage are unsuitable for storage, so it is necessary to harvest on a warm day without precipitation.
• An overripe vegetable automatically loses most of its nutrients, so it’s worth harvesting cauliflower in advance, ensuring that it ripens with your own hands.
• Inflorescences must be collected together with the leaves covering them. Fruit must be protected from direct sunlight. After all, ultraviolet provokes yellowing of the crop. Such cabbage should not be consumed. Sometimes a head of cabbage is dug out along with the root.
• If long-term storage is planned initially, then nitrogen fertilizers should not be applied during cultivation. In such conditions, cabbage will quickly deteriorate even with perfect storage.
• A fresh head of cabbage is slightly dried on fresh air under thin cloth. After that, you can start bookmarking.

Properly organized preparatory stage ensures the safety of most vitamins and trace elements in the composition of the fetus.

Video “Freeze”

From the video you will learn how to freeze cabbage for the winter.

How to store in a cellar or basement

As for the storage of cauliflower in the cellar, in it, first of all, it is necessary to maintain a temperature of 0 to 4 °. Excellent ventilation of the room and humidity of at least 90% are also required.

Before laying cabbage for the winter, it must be sorted. So, spoiled and loose vegetables are not subject to storage. The method of storage depends on its duration. So, you can store cabbage in the cellar in several ways:

• Head down. It is necessary to remove excess sheets from the head of cabbage and hang each individual by the leg on the ceiling. In this form, cabbage will significantly save space in the room. However, you can store the vegetable hanging for no more than a month.
  
• In a box or on a shelf. The top leaves and roots are cut from the vegetable. In this form, the cabbage is placed in boxes or on a shelf so that the heads do not directly contact each other. Sunlight exposure should be minimized. To do this, each head of cabbage is wrapped in a newspaper or cellophane. If there is a lot of crop, it is worth covering it with an opaque film. Weekly it is worth monitoring the status of the bookmarks. When the polyethylene is formed a large number of condensate, it needs to be changed. Thus, heads of cabbage can be stored up to 3 months.
• In clay. Each cabbage is coated with a clay solution, after which it is dried and placed in this form in a cellar or basement. Clay protection lasts up to 5 months.
• In sand. Leaves are cut from each fruit (but not roots!) And they are buried in wet sand. Periodically, the “substrate” should be moistened, and the vegetables should be inspected and removed those that have begun to rot. The duration of sand storage is six months.
  
• Growing. If the heads of the vegetable are still small at the time of harvest, they can be grown directly indoors. To do this, a few days before harvesting, you need to actively moisten the plantings, and then dig up the vegetables along with the earthy clod. In this form, individuals are transplanted into the prepared beds of the cellar. Planting individuals is close to each other, falling asleep on top of the earth. The bed is covered with an opaque film, cardboard or plywood sheet. In conditions proper organization storage, you can harvest almost all year round.

Storage in the refrigerator or freezer

In the conditions of the apartment, long-term storage of the vegetable crop is also permissible: on the balcony, in the refrigerator or freezer. If the harvest is rich, you can organize a special locker on the loggia for its storage. Such a container should be insulated with foam or other insulator. Vegetables are completely cleaned of yellow leaves and roots. Each head of cabbage is wrapped in newspaper or polyethylene and laid out on the shelves of the cabinet. The packaging should be changed from time to time and black spots should not appear on the vegetables.

If the apartment does not have a balcony, the colored vegetable can be stored in the refrigerator. However, the period of such storage is short. Peeled heads are wrapped in cling film or plastic bags and placed in the vegetable compartment.

Every 5 days, cabbage packaging must be eliminated, as moisture condenses on it. The fruits themselves must be dried and wrapped in another wrapper. Regardless of how often the packaging is changed, the maximum duration of such storage is no more than a month.

Storing cauliflower for a long time is possible only in the freezer. At the same time, the vegetable loses some of the vitamins, but such a product is widely used in cooking. In order to freeze the fruits correctly, it is necessary to separate their inflorescences, rinse and boil thoroughly. In boiling water, it is permissible to add a little citric acid. After the boiled inflorescences need to be dried, placed in special containers and placed in freezer. You can put the vegetable in the freezer without preliminary boiling, however, with such storage, the cabbage changes its taste and color. Frozen cauliflower can be stored for as long as needed.

Quite often, cabbage is stored by salting it. Such blanks, closed with lids, are indoors for half a month, and then they are transferred to a cool place where sunlight does not enter.

Video “How to store”

From the video you will learn how to store cauliflower.

What varieties of cauliflower are best for storage? Depending on the ripening period, cauliflower varieties are divided into three groups: early-ripening, mid-ripening and late-ripening. growing season early-ripening varieties - 80-110 days, mid-ripening - 110-140, late-ripening - 150 or more.

Due to the characteristics of maturation, the best resistance to unnatural storage conditions, that is, keeping quality, has late-ripening cabbage varieties, and the worst, respectively, is early-ripening.

Therefore, lovers of eating cauliflower at any time of the year are recommended to plant several varieties different groups . So already in June it will be possible to collect the first fresh harvest, and in the fall, prepare a sufficient amount of maturing cabbage for a long winter storage.

Basic Rules

How to store cauliflower? Cauliflower is a tender, fragile young lady and stored much worse than other species.

In order for most of the crop not to lose a fresh, healthy look, taste and health benefits in winter period, you need to carefully follow each step of preparing for storage, which begins with a competent:

1. Do not use during the growing season nitrogen fertilizers , from which the crop deteriorates much faster.
2. Cabbage is harvested 2-3 times as soon as the heads ripen. It is forbidden let the cabbage outgrow, as it loses both taste and benefit, and is also not stored at all. A sufficiently mature head is considered to be 8-12 cm in diameter and weighing 400-1100 g.
3. The head should be cut off, leaving on it 3-4 leaves that protect it from damage.
4. Don't keep harvested crop in the sun, and immediately remove the cabbage in dark and cool place. Sun rays it dries out very quickly, causing it to wilt and turn yellow.

How to keep cauliflower fresh for the winter? After the crop is harvested, you need to decide where to store it. Since cauliflower contains a lot of moisture, she won't stay warm for long. The only one suitable way storage of cauliflower - "cold", that is, at a temperature of 0 ... 6 ° C. Also, so that the cabbage does not dry out, you need high humidity - 90-95%.

So that suitable places for storage - appropriate the right conditions: basement, cellar or refrigerator. How to store cauliflower in the apartment? You can’t keep cabbage in an apartment at all, only if you put it on balcony where the temperature still does not fall below zero.

You can adapt any drawers and boxes and insulate them. Then the cabbage will lie for some more time after the onset of cold weather.

Another very convenient and most reliable way- . In the freezer, cabbage definitely will not deteriorate and will lie there for more than six months.

Shelf life cauliflower is very different. It depends on the quality of the crop and the chosen method. Thus, cabbage can be stored from 3 weeks to 12 months. The choice of how to store cabbage should be based on the purposes for which you will use it.

Ways

In the basement or cellar

If you have a cellar, and you don’t need to store cabbage very much long term, then priority storage method becomes this one.

When cabbage completely retains both taste and useful qualities.

Shelf life - up to two months.

Instruction:

1. Make sure that the conditions in the cellar are appropriate: humidity should be 90-95%, temperature- about 0 °C.
2. cook wooden or plastic crates and plastic film.
3. Inspect the crop and make sure it's not there injured or sick heads. They are not suitable for storage.
4. Clear each cabbage head from leaves and roots.
5. Carefully pack the crop in boxes, cover them with foil and put them in the cellar.
6. Check cabbage from time to time for rot or disease. Remove spoiled heads in a timely manner so that they do not infect the rest.

You can store cabbage in the cellar a little differently: hang the cabbage by the stalks. The conditions in the cellar do not need to be changed. In a suspended state, cabbage will be stored for about a month.

In the same way as in the cellar, cabbage can be stored on the balcony of course, under the right conditions.

In a refrigerator

Instruction:

1. Rinse the cabbage.
2. Clean it of leaves and roots.
3. Place cabbage in plastic bags and then in the refrigerator. Each head has its own bag-house.

This method is the least successful, since cabbage is stored only about a week and it also loses its taste.

A week - absolutely short term. To prolong it, you can cabbage pre-salt: wash well, disassemble into inflorescences, put in jars and pour brine (for 10 kg of cabbage, 5 liters of water, 400 g of salt and the same amount of 8% vinegar). enough for cooking rinse cabbage from brine.

In the freezer

How to store cauliflower for the winter in the freezer at home? How to save cauliflower for the whole year- Freeze it.

Of course, after freezing, it will no longer be fresh, but when using cabbage as an additional ingredient to the main dish, this is almost imperceptible.

The main thing is that you can eat cauliflower for 6-12 months after harvest.

Instruction:

1. cool water rinse thoroughly each head of cabbage. Make sure you've completely removed any dirt and insects that might get lost among the flowers.
2. cut off green leaves and sort out the cabbage into small inflorescences. You just need to freeze them.
3. need cabbage blanch so that after defrosting it does not become soft, sluggish and discolored.
4. Boil water in a saucepan and lower the inflorescences there for three minutes.
5. After that, lower the cabbage in ice water to stop the cooking process immediately.
6. Arrange the cabbage in bags or any suitable container and put it in freezer.

To use cabbage, only a little of it will be enough to warm.

An experienced gardener and housewife will share their ways of storing cauliflower in the freezer in winter in this video:

About ways to freeze at home, and learn from our articles.

Growing

There is another way to eat cauliflower almost all winter. The method is called growing.

Undoubted advantage - it will fresh. It is also used if the cold came earlier than desired, and the crop did not have time to ripen.

Instruction:

1. It is recommended to grow cabbage in the cellar at humidity 90-95% and temperature 0…4 °C.
2. Prepare in advance several boxes of plain garden soil.
3. Choose the heads that look the most healthy and have many leaves. They should be in diameter 4-5 cm.
4. In a couple of days, as you will “replant” the cabbage, water it abundantly.
5. Dig up the cabbage so that it remains big clod of earth.
6. Place the heads deep into the box and close together.
7. Sprinkle them with earth up to the very leaves.
8. more often ventilate the basement so that the cabbage "breathes" fresh air.

Depending on the variety of cabbage, it will grow 2 to 4 months, and you can choose varieties so that cabbage is probably enough for the whole winter.

The main thing is to support right conditions, or it will ripen much earlier than expected and quickly deteriorate.

Storing and growing cauliflower is a lot of work, but don't count it as a reason not to plant it.

How to store cauliflower at home? One way to save cauliflower for the winter is to leaven in banks. The video will show you how to do it:

In addition to the benefits, cauliflower has a very mild and delicate taste, which you will not find in any other species. This important property makes it most preferred"cabbage" ingredient for many, many dishes.

Cauliflower is a healthy and tasty product, moreover, it grows without much difficulty in any climate. However, after harvesting, the question arises of storing the vegetable: cabbage has a rather delicate structure and high sensitivity to the external environment.

In the article we will learn how to store cauliflower at home, find out which methods are the most effective.

Harvest in a timely manner as soon as the heads begin to ripen. It is impossible to allow a vegetable to overripe, since this greatly reduces the shelf life, as well as taste, beneficial features. A head that has reached a diameter of 8-12 cm and gained weight from 400 to 1100 grams is considered to be sufficiently mature.

If the cabbage is still overripe, do not even try to save it: you need to either use it right away or throw it away. If you plan to make canned food from overripe cabbage, first try the vegetable: often when overripe, the inflorescences become bitter.

A head suitable for further use is cut off, leaving a few leaves. You should not keep the harvested crop in the sun and light, immediately remove it to a dark and cool place.

In order for cauliflower to be stored for a long time and without problems, a careful selection of suitable specimens should be made. Whole, healthy heads, without rot and damage, are suitable for winter storage. Make sure that cracks, dents, dark spots absent on cabbage.

Fresh vegetables are best stored as a whole, without disassembling into inflorescences. If storage is done in the cellar, leave the leaves in place: they will protect the heads from light and drying out.

Clean the vegetables from dirt, rinse with water and dry. Drying is done in a natural way: the heads are simply laid out on cloth, towels.

Cold storage

A very common and fairly simple option. It is important, however, before you put the cabbage in the refrigerator, carefully free it from the roots and leaves. If such preparation is neglected, cabbage may deteriorate during storage.

The head of the vegetable is washed under strong pressure of cool water: this measure will help get rid of pieces of earth, insects, cobwebs, and other unnecessary artifacts stuck between the inflorescences. After washing, the cabbage must be thoroughly dried.

Place each vegetable in its own plastic bag. Thus, it will be possible to avoid rotting of the crop in the refrigerator, infection of the heads with each other's rot. Instead of bags, it is permissible to use cling film.

Note that for long-term storage this method does not work: in a bag or film, cabbage will be able not to lose its taste and commercial qualities only for a maximum of a couple of weeks. This is due to the fact that cauliflower, in principle, is not stored fresh for long.

Tip: If you want the vegetable to last longer in the refrigerator, change its wrapper every three days. Watch, however, that the cabbage does not begin to rot and immediately remove the parts affected by rot.

Salt use

If you place a vegetable in a container with brine, you can significantly extend its shelf life in the refrigerator. To do this, the cabbage is disassembled into inflorescences and placed in a jar.

From above, the inflorescences are poured with brine, prepared at the rate of 1 tbsp. teaspoon of salt per liter of water. When it becomes necessary to use cabbage for cooking, the brine should simply be washed off with water.

Instead of brine, you can simply fill in the inflorescences and coarse salt. The effect will be the same. Salt, however, should not be iodized.

in the freezer

If you store cauliflower in the freezer, you can provide your family with a healthy and tasty vegetable for the winter. Six months - it is during this time that cabbage in the freezer retains its value as a food product.

However, a vegetable can be suitable for consumption for a whole year, only after the first six months of storage, most useful qualities he will lose.

Before placing the cabbage in the freezer, it must be washed, divided into inflorescences. This is followed by drying. The crop is divided into approximately equal portions, each of which fits into a separate bag. Sometimes cauliflower is frozen whole, however, in this case, the vegetable takes up too much space.

If you blanched the inflorescences for 5 minutes, you can additionally protect the vegetable from rot and mold, fungus. Note that blanching does not reduce the shelf life. It is recommended to defrost blanched cauliflower in the refrigerator - in the vegetable compartment.

From time to time, shake the container with frozen inflorescences: this measure will allow the cabbage not to stick together into a single lump. If a vegetable has been thawed once, it is no longer possible to re-freeze it, since the taste and useful properties will be lost.

Of course, after storage in the freezer, there will be no more fresh cabbage, however, it can be used as a healthy and tasty ingredient for various dishes.

How to store in the cellar?

If it is possible to store cabbage in the basement or cellar, then, of course, you should choose this option. Cellar - the most comfortable spot for keeping vegetables fresh, and cauliflower is no exception.

In these utility rooms air temperature and humidity are optimal for long-term storage fresh vegetables: 0…+2 degrees and 95% respectively.

We recommend placing the cauliflower in wooden boxes: in the absence of such containers, modern polymer containers will do. You can even use carton boxes, but at the bottom of them it is necessary to put a waterproof film.

In addition, you can store the heads, and hanging them in the air: they should not touch each other. Some summer residents simply wrap the cabbage in a newspaper and lay out the heads on the shelves.

If the cabbage is stored on the shelves, check it often and pick off rotten leaves in a timely manner. In addition, you need to periodically turn the heads of cabbage so that they do not lie on one side. Hanging heads of cabbage are stored for a particularly long time if they are first dipped in a clay mash.

In the cellar, cauliflower can be stored for about two months without losing its taste and commercial properties. From time to time, it is necessary to inspect the crop and remove rotten, spoiled specimens.

Terms

It is important that the temperature in the basement does not fall below 0 degrees. If this happens, the cabbage inflorescences will begin to freeze slightly. Thus, after defrosting and before rotting near or sprouting. The room must be provided with ventilation, and there should be no dampness in it.

Note that it is storage in the cellar that makes it possible for cauliflower to preserve its taste, useful properties and appearance for the longest period.

Growing

If the climate is cool and there is no way to ensure the full ripening of cabbage in the garden, you can transplant unripe heads of cabbage into containers with soil and grow them in the storage place.

Often, gardeners do the following: a layer of soil is poured onto the basement floor, this “bed” is fenced off and the plant is transplanted. It is important that the soil in an impromptu garden bed or in boxes is from the garden - that is, familiar to cabbage.

Before transplanting, water the vegetable growing in the garden properly. This measure will provide a less traumatic removal of it from the ground. Plant cabbage in a new place, deepening it to the leaves surrounding the head directly.

The room where the cauliflower is grown must be well ventilated or provided with sufficient ventilation. The conditions in which the vegetable should be are as follows: air temperature from 0 to +6 degrees with a humidity of 95%. Thus, cabbage can be stored for 2-4 months, growing, ripening at the same time.

Important: light should not enter the room. The secret to the success of this enterprise lies in isolating the cabbage from any light sources. Experienced summer residents hide the head of the vegetable, covering it with leaves from above.

Canning as a storage method

If there is no opportunity or desire to store fresh, you can make tasty and healthy canned food from the vegetable. Preservation is usually done by pickling, pickling or pickling.

1. Before you pickle cabbage or pickle, pickle, you must thoroughly wash the vegetables and remove all damaged, rotten parts.
2. Canned cauliflower is stored in the refrigerator or cellar, it can also be stored on an insulated balcony.
3. Containers for blanks must be sterilized so that the cabbage inside does not deteriorate.

In addition to canning, drying can also provide long-term storage. To do this, the vegetable is washed, dried, divided into separate inflorescences, dried in the oven for a couple of hours at a temperature of +60 degrees.

After drying, they are placed in glass jars, covered with parchment on top. It is better to store dried vegetables in a cool and dry place.

Shelf life

So, how long can cauliflower be stored when using various ways storage:

1. In a cellar or basement with suitable conditions, the vegetable will be stored for 2-3 months.
2. If the cabbage is placed in the refrigerator, its shelf life will be at most one month. But optimal time- up to two weeks, since after this period the taste and commercial qualities are significantly reduced.
3. It keeps in the freezer for six months, sometimes a year. However, the longer the shelf life, the less tasty the vegetable becomes.
4. On an insulated balcony, the shelf life is a month.
5. If the vegetable is grown in the basement / cellar, its shelf life can stretch up to 4 months.
6. If the cabbage is placed in boxes with sand, its safety can be ensured for up to six months. The vegetable is stored for the same period if you dip it in a mash and hang it up.

Terms

Optimal storage conditions are high humidity (95%) and cool temperature (0…+6 degrees). Sharp temperature fluctuations during storage of this vegetable are unacceptable, since such conditions lead to darkening of the heads and their acquisition of a bitter taste.

In order for cauliflower to be stored longer at home, it is important to pay attention to top dressing when growing it. The most important thing is not to overdo it with nitrogen, as this mineral significantly reduces the shelf life of vegetables.

To make storage longer, before harvesting, it is recommended to do the following: lower the heads (already washed with water and dried) into a liquid clay mash, then dry naturally, put in boxes and cover with dry clean sand.

Note that the vegetable is stored well in this way, however, it will be quite difficult to control the process.

A balcony or loggia can act as a cellar if they are well insulated. The temperature inside such an impromptu cellar should not fall below 0 degrees.

If a vegetable can be preserved, its shelf life can be extended significantly. This method is the only true one when fresh storage is not possible.

What varieties are best stored at home?

An important aspect when choosing suitable variety cauliflower is a shelf life. If you intend to eat a vegetable fresh without storing it, you can purchase any variety that you like more in terms of taste and other qualities.

However, if there is a need to preserve the crop, the range of suitable varieties narrows significantly. In this case, we recommend planting varieties with late maturation: Amerigo F1, Cortes F1, etc. Stored late varieties better and longer than others.

The fact is that late-ripening varieties can boast of denser, more elastic heads of cabbage, contain less moisture. In addition, these varieties can be perfectly grown in the basement. As for varieties of early and medium ripening, it is better to freeze them, but it is undesirable to store them in a cellar or basement.

We learned how to store cauliflower. There are several options, and any gardener will be able to find a suitable one among them. If there is absolutely nowhere to store, the best option- preserve or dry the crop.

By paying attention to reading the article, you will master several working ways to store a healthy vegetable, and provide yourself with vitamins for the whole winter.

Cauliflower is popular vegetable crop, which is quite easy to grow. Its inflorescences are used not only for the preparation of traditional dishes, but also in baby food, as well as in the preparation of medical and dietary menus. It is important to know how to choose and store cauliflower in order to stock up on a healthy vegetable for the winter.

How to save cauliflower

You can organize the storage of cauliflower at home different ways. It is best to place it in the basement or cellar, where the most favorable conditions. You can also use a glazed loggia or balcony, in which case you will have to monitor the weather and not miss the moment of frost. A tender vegetable is stored well in the refrigerator, if there is enough space. All these methods allow you to save the maximum of useful substances contained in a fresh product.

If it is not possible to store fresh inflorescences, it is best to freeze them. This handy method will help extend their shelf life until the next harvest. In addition, there are different recipes for pickling, salting and preserving cauliflower. Such processing methods allow you to diversify the menu, but are not always appropriate, for example, when harvesting vegetables for baby or dietary food.

Shelf life

Depending on the harvesting method, cauliflower is stored for different term. The combination of factors such as temperature and humidity, variety and condition of the vegetable is important. How long can cauliflower be stored in different conditions:

• basement or cellar - from 1 to 4 months;
• refrigerator - about 30 days;
• cool pantry - up to 10 days;
• frozen - up to 1 year.

The necessary conditions

In order for cauliflower stored for future use to remain fresh for as long as possible, you need to try to create suitable conditions. Best results can be achieved by combining:

• air temperature from 3 to 10°C;
• humidity about 95%;
• moderate ventilation;
• complete darkness.

If everything is properly arranged, the result will be an excellent condition and long term suitability of vegetables. In winter, such conditions are easier to maintain in the basement of a private house or a separate cellar on garden plot.

Harvest and preparation

Ripe cauliflower heads have a dense structure, White color and covered on top large leaves. Young inflorescences can be collected for harvesting for the winter, even in an unripe form, if it is possible to arrange their growing in a dark room. But nothing can be done with overripe cauliflower - it cannot be stored.

Such a product can only be immediately prepared and eaten if it is not yet completely spoiled. Usually overripe inflorescences acquire a bitter aftertaste.

In order not to be mistaken, it is important to carefully choose vegetables of a suitable variety, as well as properly prepare each head of cabbage for storage. When cutting the cabbage from the stem, it is advisable to leave it with the head small plot petiole with a pair of integumentary leaves. This will allow in the future to conveniently arrange the heads of cabbage in the storage, hanging them by the stalk.

Variety selection

For long-term storage, late-ripening varieties of cabbage (Cortez F1, Amerigo F1) are best suited. They differ from the early ones in a greater density of the head, less moisture. The cauliflower heads feel quite hard and heavy to the touch. They can keep them fresh for a long time, and they are also great for growing in the basement. cabbage early and mid-season varieties you can successfully freeze, but it will be more difficult to keep the whole heads for the winter.

Preparing for storage

Only healthy and whole specimens are suitable for bookmarking for winter storage. To begin with, each cabbage head must be carefully examined. It should not have obvious damage: cracks, dents or stains. At the slightest sign of disease, various rot or mold, heads of cabbage must be discarded so that the infection does not spread to the entire crop. Fresh cabbage is best stored whole. It is desirable that the cover leaves remain with the heads - they will protect the delicate inflorescences from drying out and exposure to light.

Before storage, vegetables must be cleaned of contaminants. If necessary, rinse gently with cool water, and then dry thoroughly, spreading out on cloth or paper towels.

How to keep cauliflower in the apartment

At room temperature cauliflower does not keep very long, it will be most reliable to place it in the refrigerator. It can be handy to freeze a healthy vegetable if you plan to keep stock for a long time. The amount of vitamins and other nutrients in cabbage heads is almost not reduced.

In a refrigerator

To keep cauliflower in the refrigerator for a long time, it must be thoroughly cleaned, washed and dried if necessary. Then divide the large heads into separate inflorescences, and small ones can be left whole. Wrap each part tightly with cling film or paper, place in the freshness zone or in the vegetable compartment. It is important to take care that the heads are not subjected to sudden temperature changes - from this its quality deteriorates noticeably.

in the freezer

Cabbage heads of any size and variety are suitable for storage in the freezer. They need to be cleaned of integumentary leaves, washed, dried and divided into small inflorescences. After distributing the segments on pallets in one layer, put in the freezer for 2-3 hours. Then take it out, quickly pack it into portion containers or plastic bags and store in the freezer for further storage. So the inflorescences do not stick together into a lump, but remain separate pieces. You can store cauliflower in the freezer for 12 months. Re-freezing after thawing is unacceptable, as the structure of the vegetable and its taste will be spoiled.

Storage in cellar or basement

Before laying in the basement, it is necessary to clean the room from possible pathogens of rot or mold. This can be done with a sulfur checker or other disinfection methods. The cellar should be maintained at a constant temperature of about 5-10°C and humidity between 70 and 90%. Periodically, the room must be ventilated.

The traditional way storage of cauliflower - hanging on hooks or ropes by the stalk. At the same time, the heads should not touch each other and any surfaces, which will maximally protect vegetables from damage and the spread of diseases. You can also arrange the heads on open shelves or in ventilated boxes. Heads covered with large dense leaves are well suited for this. They should lie so as not to touch each other.

Effective Method storage - growing cauliflower in the basement or cellar. In this way, you can not only keep the tender vegetable for four months, but also slightly increase the weight of the heads. For this you need:

1. Prepare boxes or buckets with soil, fill them with garden soil or clean sand.
2. Healthy, strong plants with young inflorescences about 5-6 cm in size are dug out of the garden along with a small earthen clod, trying not to damage the roots and leaves.
3. Gently transplant them into prepared containers and put them in a dark basement. You can place plants in boxes quite tightly. The main nutrition of cabbage inflorescences will be received not from the ground, but from large integumentary leaves.
4. Optimum temperature for growing - from 5 to 10 ° C, humidity 90-95%. Periodically, the soil in the containers should be slightly moistened.

Alternative ways to save for the winter

Salting, pickling and preservation are excellent options for preparing ready-made snacks. To pickle cauliflower, the head is cleaned, washed, dried and sorted into inflorescences. Then they are placed in glass jar and fill with brine.

It is prepared at the rate of 1.5 tablespoons of salt per 1 liter of water. Salt should be stored in the refrigerator.

For conservation using heat treatment, ripe vegetables of any variety are suitable. Homemade pickled cauliflower recipe (per 1 liter jar):

1. Wash the head, disassemble into small segments.
2. Wash the jar, sterilize.
3. Blanch the florets in boiling salted water for 3 minutes.
4. Put the segments in a jar, pour boiling brine. Brine recipe: for 1 liter of water - 1 tablespoon of salt without a slide, 1 teaspoon of sugar and 3 tablespoons of 9% vinegar.
5. Cover the jar with a lid, but do not roll it up, but put it in a water bath for 10 minutes for sterilization. Then roll up the cover with a key.

By learning how to store cauliflower in different ways, you can make a good supply of a healthy vegetable for the winter. This will help diversify the menu and please the family with original dishes in the cold season.

Have you thought about how to properly store cauliflower so that it will delight you with its freshness all winter? Many people think that this is impossible, because in the refrigerator it is stored only for a month at best. However, I know for sure that it is quite possible to prepare fresh cauliflower for the winter, and in good conditions it will lie until the summer.

Cauliflower entered our diet quite recently and very quickly took its place of honor not only in everyday life, but also in holiday table. In addition to the mass of vitamins, it contains iron, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium ... Unlike white cabbage, it can be used by people with diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, and in the diet of patients with atherosclerosis and diabetes, this product should generally be constantly present.

You need to harvest cauliflower in late October or early November, until it is overripe, and its head diameter does not exceed 12 cm. It is best to harvest vegetables in dry and clear weather, but immediately after harvesting, you need to protect them from sunlight: for example, by covering only that cut leaves.

How you harvest depends on where you plan to store your vegetables. There are the following harvesting methods:

• Cutting inflorescences if you plan to store in the refrigerator.
• Unscrewing the heads if the cabbage will be stored in the cellar.
• Digging up vegetables along with a clod of earth if you want to apply the growing technique.

Cellar storage

I’ll start my story about how to store cauliflower from the cellar. The room temperature must be maintained between 0 and 4 ºС. Also desirable good system ventilation and humidity at the level of 90-95%.

Before laying the crop for the winter, it must be sorted by removing spoiled and loose heads. The next strategy depends on how long you plan to store the vegetables. There are 5 main ways to store cauliflower in the cellar.

1. Head down. Remove from vegetables extra leaves and hang each head by the stump from the beams on the ceiling. This method saves space in the cellar, but it will not work to store the crop all winter like this: it will hang for a maximum of a month.
2. On shelves or in boxes. cut off cabbage upper leaves and roots, place it on shelves or in drawers so that the heads do not touch each other. It is very important to limit the access of light to vegetables. To do this, each copy can be wrapped in newspaper or wrapped in polyethylene. If there is a lot of crop, just cover it with cardboard or dark film. At least once a week, you need to check if the cabbage has begun to deteriorate, and it is advisable to change the polyethylene if too much condensation has formed on it. The shelf life in this way is 2-3 months.
3. In clay. Coat each head with a solution of clay, let the crop dry and place the resulting blanks in the cellar or basement. Clay "fur coat" will allow you to keep vegetables in their original state in winter for 3-5 months.
4. In sand. Cut the leaves off the cabbage (do not remove the roots) and bury it in clean, damp sand. Periodically, it needs to be moistened, and the vegetables should be checked by throwing out rotten specimens. The shelf life of the crop in the sand is up to 6 months.
5. Growing. If the cauliflower heads are still too small at the time of harvest, you can grow them in the cellar in winter. In order to do it right, a couple of days before harvesting, start watering the crop abundantly, then dig up the vegetables along with large clods of earth and transplant them into a prepared bed in the basement. Plants should be planted very densely, and they should be covered with earth to the very leaves. From above, the bed must be covered with a dark film, cardboard or plywood sheet. If you properly organize such storage of cauliflower, you can harvest from improvised beds not only in winter, but also in spring, until summer.

Storage in the apartment

You can save cauliflower in winter at home: on the balcony, in the refrigerator or freezer. If there are a lot of vegetables, it is best to adapt a locker for storing them. glazed loggia. You can pre-insulate it by upholstering it with foam or other insulating material. Vegetables must be cleaned of yellowed leaves and roots, wrap each head with newspaper or polyethylene and put on shelves in the closet. Periodically, you need to change the packaging and make sure that black spots do not appear on the fruits.

In the absence of a balcony, cauliflower can be stored in the refrigerator - however, for a very short time. Wrap the cleaned heads in cling film or plastic bags and place in the vegetable compartment. Every 3-5 days, the packaging must be removed, since moisture will condense on it, and the vegetables must be dried and wrapped in a new wrapper. But no matter how much you change the packaging, you still won’t be able to keep the crop for longer than 3-4 weeks.

Long-term storage of this vegetable at home is possible only in the freezer. Of course, some of the vitamins are lost, but the frozen product is great for culinary purposes. To properly freeze the cabbage, it must be cut into inflorescences, washed thoroughly and boiled in boiling water for 3-4 minutes. You can dissolve a teaspoon of citric acid in boiling water. After that, the inflorescences are dried, packaged in sealed bags or containers and placed in a freezer. You can freeze vegetables without pre-boiling, but then the cabbage will change its color and taste. Frozen, these vegetables can be stored for as long as needed, even until the next harvest.

And finally, another common way to store cauliflower is salting. For 10 kg of vegetables, you will need 5.5 liters of water, 400 g of salt and about 400 ml of 6% vinegar. First you need to boil water, dissolve salt in it and add vinegar. The inflorescences are separated from each other, washed, blanched for a couple of minutes in salted water, placed in sterilized jars and poured with cooled brine. You can also add black pepper and Bay leaf. The blanks are closed with lids, kept for 2 weeks at room temperature, and then sent for storage in a dark and cool place.

Your brownie.