At the end of the summer and the beginning of autumn, the time of winter preparations begins. Many try to prepare and zucchini, because they are a valuable source of vitamins and minerals. What you need to do if in the country matured a rich harvest of melons? Do not give out vegetables to friends or relatives, because zucchini is dietary and useful.
From it you can cook a lot of delicious and varied dishes, including pickles and even sweets. So, how to keep zucchini for the winter at home fresh?
Naturally, this is not a root vegetable, so it will not be able to lie at home for more than a month or three. And nevertheless, the zucchini will be perfectly kept until the winter holidays and even a little longer.
Fundamental rules
The owners of their own personal plot each year face the question of storing the harvest, especially if they do not have an equipped cellar at their disposal and plan to keep all stocks in the apartment. After all the vegetables are sorted into those that will be eaten in the first place, and those that will lie for several months - you need to decide on the method of storage. Let's figure out how to keep zucchini fresh for the winter at home and where they are best kept.
Preparation process
First you need to correctly identify the grade, because not all of them can be successfully stored in an apartment. For such wintering experienced gardeners recommend the following varieties:
- Winter: "Gribovsky", "Festival", "Golden Cup". They are characterized by a large size of the fruit, a tight crust and a minimum of seeds in the middle;
- Perfectly tolerates a long maturation "Aeronaut", a zucchini of cylindrical shape, dark green. At the right temperature, it can be maintained for up to four months;
- 3 -3.5 months may lie varieties "Arlika", "Zheltoplodny" and "Asset". Squashes are rather large, slightly ribbed and with a small number of seeds;
- "Negretenok" - zucchini, which is called so because of its black and green hue. Store it no more than 60 days;
- "Anchor": possesses early ripe characteristics and light yellow pulp. Without loss of nutritional properties can lie one month;
- The best varieties of zucchini, suitable for winter storage: "Zolotinka", "Gypsy", "Zebra", "Bumblebee", "Aeronaut", "Skvorushka".
As soon as the most acceptable varieties have been identified, it is necessary to prepare the fruit for storage and select the right place for it. In order for the vegetable to lie for a long time and not start to rot, it must have a dense crust on which there are no scratches or scuffs.
Zucchini, intended for winter stock, need to collect from the beds before the first frost hit. Frozen specimens will begin to rot, even when the fruit froze only slightly. You cannot stop this process.
Cutting the fruit from the bush, always leave the leg, about 5-8 cm long. During storage, it will act as a barrier from ingestion of fungi and infections inside the fruit, as well as protect the flesh from drying out.
By controlling the status of the stem, one can determine how long one and other zucchini can lie. As soon as it becomes soft, the vegetable should be eaten, because soon it will start to deteriorate.
Gourds defined for storage cannot be washed. They simply wipe off dust and earth with a dry rag. No need to put them in plastic bags or wrap with a cloth. Courgettes may lie only in a room with good ventilation.
Choosing a place
Going to store zucchini at home in an apartment, choose a place that is dry and inaccessible to sunlight. This may be the space between the furniture and the floor, a storage room, a common corridor, a box by the balcony door. It must be dark, because constant doshochivanie start the process of growth of seeds inside the zucchini.
What to store?
Vegetables can be put in a wooden unpainted box. Required in one layer, and Carefully ensure that they do not touch each other. If the box is small, and the space of the apartment is limited, the squash needs to be packed very tightly, but between them there should be partitions made of cardboard.
Temperature conditions
The temperature at the place of storage zucchini should not exceed 10C. If there is no such place in a house or apartment, then the ability of a vegetable to keeping quality drops significantly. Under conditions of room temperature and with central heating turned on, melons and gourds are not stored for more than one month.
Timing
If the variety was selected correctly and all storage features were observed, then the zucchini can lie in the conditions of the apartment almost until the next planting season. Zucchini are distinguished by their particular keeping quality. If you want to eat fresh vegetables until spring, then you need to seriously approach the choice of the variety. And be sure to pay attention to the hardness of the peel. But on average it is recommended to store fruits for a period of one to four months.
Storage methods
Other ways to store zucchini at home include making canned food. This vegetable makes excellent caviar, pickles, and even jam or jam. But such an idea is useful only if you need to save a large crop, measured not in pieces, but in tens of kilograms.
If the fruits were kept intact until the beginning of March, then it no longer makes sense to protect them. As soon as the light day becomes fully big, the seeds will begin to germinate right inside the vegetable, because of this the flesh will become very bitter and sticky. It is best to grind and freeze them. After washing and cleaning the seeds must be removed. So zucchini lie down for several months.
How to store zucchini in the apartment:
- Do not worry, zucchini are not capricious and one or two months can lie in almost any conditions;
- Proper collection is half the battle. You need to choose only fully maturedbut not old fruit. They should have a glossy, dense skin;
- Cut the vegetables from the bush with the help of secateurs and be sure to leave petiole;
- Each zucchini is wiped from dust and earth and Exactly one day dried in the sun and the air;
- During storage you need regularly check the harvest. Fruits with the first signs of rotting are visible on the black or soft petiole. Discovered dents and darkening indicate damage. You must immediately remove this vegetable from the general box;
- Zucchini sprinkle with finely chopped natural chalk, it protects them from all sorts of fungal diseases. Stocks must be checked at least once every 14 days;
Do not make stocks on the cold winter balcony. Zucchini has a lot of water and fiber, so even with minimal frost, they just freeze over. When you make these vegetables in a warm room, the fruits turn into poorly edible gruel;- If storage is not planned for a long time, and vegetables are supposed to be eaten within one to two weeks, then a temperature of about 5 ° C will do. Usually, it is installed for the lower compartments of the refrigerator;
- Cut fruit is not stored for more than two days and can only lie in the refrigerator, in a plastic bag.
Do not make stocks on the cold winter balcony. Zucchini has a lot of water and fiber, so even with minimal frost, they just freeze over. When you make these vegetables in a warm room, the fruits turn into poorly edible gruel;Cold storage
If you are tormented by the question: “Is it possible to store zucchini in the refrigerator?”, Then we hasten to assure you that it is possible, but the following nuances should be taken into account. Standard temperature settings of the refrigerator are quite suitable for the zucchinibut it can be damaged by high humidity, which provokes the processes of decay and the formation of mold lesions. To prevent such an outcome, zucchini in the refrigerator can only be stored in a paper bag.
It is necessary to make several holes in the paper layer so that there is good ventilation. In the special compartment of the refrigerator intended for vegetables, zucchini can be no more than three weeks.
Fruits can be frozen, they are beautiful and long stored in this form. Technologically it is very easy to do. Vegetables are washed in hot water, then dried and cut into small slices or cubes. The whole mass is divided into small portions. and decomposed into individual airtight bags, which are placed in the freezer.
The way that these wonderful vegetables will be stored will ultimately affect their nutritional quality. Inappropriate humidity and temperature, as well as the neighborhood with some fruits and vegetables, will necessarily lead to an early deterioration of the entire stock, and the surviving fruits will lose most of the trace elements and vitamins. And now you know how to prepare zucchini for the winter at home, and that in order to better preserve the vegetable, you must carefully observe all storage conditions.
