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Zucchini is a popular and favorite vegetable, from which you can prepare a lot of tasty and healthy dishes. In addition, it has a high yield. However, the timing of its ripening falls on the middle of summer. If you know how store zucchini in the apartment, you can treat loved ones with fresh vegetables at any time.
Zucchini are distinguished by their unpretentiousness to the conditions of detention, but to long-term storage Not all vegetables are suitable. You need to know about the requirements that apply to them.
Selection of seeds for planting
Not all varieties of zucchini have good keeping quality, therefore, when planting, it is necessary to select the necessary seeds in advance:
- do not withstand long-term storage of varieties of zucchini with a thin peel;
- the late species are best suited, in which a thick skin grows; · different types of zucchini differ in good keeping quality, they do not lose their taste even after long storage;
- many gardeners believe that zucchini grown directly from seeds are better suited for storage than seedlings.
Picking vegetables
When harvesting zucchini, you should select the fruits intended for storage. In this case, you can be guided by the following rules:
- More mature and large vegetables with a dense, smooth peel are better keeping quality, however, you should not overexpose them in the garden, as they lose their taste. Preference should be given to medium-sized vegetables, approximately 20 to 40 centimeters long.
- Zucchini with a darker skin than light skins are stored longer.
- By cutting one fruit from a bush, you can determine the keeping quality. If the zucchini has dense flesh and small seeds, the fruits from this bush will be well stored.
- The fruits should not have any, even the smallest, damage or dents.
- Zucchini should be picked in dry, sunny weather. Watering should be stopped a few days before harvest. If the harvesting took place on rainy days, you need to put the vegetables in a dry, ventilated room and dry for two to three days.
- When removing the zucchini from the bush, you cannot tear off the stalk, otherwise the vegetable will be easily susceptible to infection. Usually the fruit is cut with a knife, leaving a tail several centimeters long.
It is recommended to keep the harvested vegetables in the sun. As a result, their skin will dry out and harden well, providing reliable protection for the fruit pulp.
Harvesting must be completed before the first frost begins, the shelf life of it depends on this - the frozen vegetables will not lie.
Storage preparation
Zucchini is not very picky about storage conditions, which allows you to keep it fresh even in the absence of a cellar or basement.
But in order to keep zucchini at home, certain conditions must be met:
- carefully clean them from the ground with a dry cloth - you cannot wash;
- provide a suitable temperature and humidity - room temperature and humidity are optimal for zucchini;
- the fruits begin to rot, starting from the tail, so before storing it should be immersed in molten paraffin;
- put vegetables in boxes or cardboard boxes on sawdust or straw previously poured into them;
- the storage place should not be near heating devices;
- the sun's rays activate the growth of seeds inside the vegetable marrow and cause its germination, so darkness is one of the conditions for the preservation of vegetables.
If there are not very many vegetables, you can wrap each one individually with paper. For a large harvest, this method will be problematic. Then it is better to stack the zucchini in rows, and lay cardboard between them.
To prevent fungal diseases, it is good to sprinkle the zucchini with chalk powder.
Storage rules in the apartment
It is important to choose the right place to store the zucchini:
- a box of zucchini for the winter should be placed in a dark and dry place in the apartment - in the closet or under the bed;
- you can put it near the door leading to the balcony or place it in a closet;
- if the balcony is heated, you can put the box there;
- Another option is to store the zucchini under a sofa or bed in a single layer on straw or pine sawdust.
Periodically, you need to look at the vegetables put in storage, and select specimens with signs of decay in time. You should pay attention to the tail from the stalk - if it darkens, this means that the fruit begins to deteriorate. If the optimal storage conditions for zucchini are selected, and the vegetables are selected correctly, then they can be stored for a long time. Depending on the variety, storage times can stretch even until the next season.
However, in most vegetables, by the spring, the peel begins to become thicker, seeds germinate, the fruit becomes bitter. Such fruits should not be eaten, it is better to replace them with frozen products. You should not put a box of apples next to zucchini. The ethylene that fruits release during storage will harm vegetables.
Methods for storing zucchini in the refrigerator
For two to three months, zucchini will withstand storage in the refrigerator. In this case, they must be wiped, packed in paper bags with holes for ventilation and placed in the refrigerator on a vegetable shelf.
Another way is to freeze the fruit. Various options are possible here. Vegetables can be chopped or left intact, peeled or stored unpeeled. They will be kept in plastic bags in any case. You just need to remember that you can defrost them only once - before use. Therefore, before storing, it is better to divide them into portions.
If the zucchini is frozen for subsequent frying, the following steps must be taken:
- cut young zucchini into rings about one centimeter thick;
- lay out the rings on the board and put in the freezer for freezing;
- after freezing, fold the chopped vegetables into a plastic bag and put back in the freezer.
In winter, you can use them for roasting.
Any vegetables are suitable for freezing - young or overripe, damaged or frozen. Thanks to freezing, they will be preserved in any form. When freezing, you can add other vegetables and herbs to the zucchini. If you divide them into portions and put them in the freezer in plastic bags, you can get ready-made vegetable mixtures for stews in winter.
The best way to store zucchini is, of course, the cellar, as it has the most optimal temperature and humidity conditions. If you often ventilate it, then the vegetables can be perfectly preserved. In the basement of the courgette you can:
- hang in a net, laying each vegetable separately;
- lay out in a row on a shelf, trying not to touch them;
- put in one layer in a box, placing cardboard between the rows.
Young zucchini are, of course, the tastiest. How to properly keep them fresh for a long time? They are more susceptible to diseases and will not be stored for a long time. The longest time they will be in the refrigerator is three weeks in the vegetable drawer. But they must not be washed before storage. You can simply wipe it off with a dry cloth and put it in a paper bag.
The implementation of these simple rules will allow you to enjoy the delicate taste of your favorite vegetables even in winter.
