Cauliflower should be treated, rather, not as a cabbage, but as a fragile and fastidious flower. She is complicated not only in growing and care, but also in storage.
And to save the cauliflower for the winter, you need to carefully monitor it not only during the ripening period, but also during storage, as well as know useful secretswhich will help to "live" this tender vegetable as long as possible.
Variety selection
Which cauliflower varieties are best suited for storage? Depending on the ripening period, cauliflower varieties are divided into three groups: early ripening, mid-ripening and late ripening. Vegetation period early ripening varieties - 80-110 days, mid-ripening - 110-140, late ripening - 150 and more.
Therefore, lovers to eat cauliflower at any time of the year is recommended to plant several varieties of different groups. Already in June, it will be possible to harvest the first fresh crop, and in the autumn to procure a sufficient amount of cabbage for long winter storage.
Fundamental rules
How to store cauliflower? Cauliflower is a delicate, fragile young lady and stored much worse than other species.
To ensure that most of the crop does not lose a fresh, healthy look, taste and healthy qualities during the winter period, it is necessary to carry out each step of preparation for storage, which begins with competent cleaning of cauliflower:
- During the period of cultivation do not abuse nitrogen fertilizer, from which the crop spoils much faster.
- Cabbage is harvested 2-3 times as soon as the heads ripen. It is impossible let the cabbage outgrow, as it loses both taste, and advantage, and also is not stored at all. A sufficiently mature head is considered to be 8-12 cm in diameter and weighing 400-1100 g.
- The head should be trimmed, leaving it 3-4 leavesthat protect it from damage.
- Do not keep the harvest in the sun, and immediately remove the cabbage in dark and cool place. The sun's rays very quickly dry it, causing it to wither and turn yellow.
How to keep cauliflower fresh for winter? After the crop is harvested, you need to decide where to store it. Since cauliflower contains a lot of moisture, it will not stay warm for long. The only suitable way to store cauliflower is "cold", that is, at a temperature of 0 ... 6 ° C. Also, so that the cabbage does not dry, you need high humidity - 90-95%.
So suitable storage locations are appropriate for the conditions you need: basement, cellar or refrigerator. How to store cauliflower in the apartment? In an apartment, cabbage cannot be kept at all, only if you fold it on balconywhere the temperature still doesn't fall below zero.
Another very convenient and most reliable way is freezing. In the freezer, cabbage 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. Choosing a way to store cabbage should be based on the goals for which you will use it.
Ways
How to save cauliflower for winter at home? One of the ways you will find out by watching the video:
In the basement or cellar
If you have a cellar, and you need to store cabbage for a very short time, then priority storage it becomes this one.
When stored in a cellar, cabbage fully preserves both taste and healthy qualities.
Shelf life - up to two months.
Instruction:
- Make sure that the conditions in the cellar are appropriate: humidity should be 90-95% temperature - about 0 ° C.
- Prepare wooden or plastic crates and plastic wrap.
- Inspect the harvest and make sure that there is no injured or sick heads. They are not suitable for storage.
- Clear every cabbage head from leaves and roots.
- Carefully package the crop in boxes, cover them with film and make up the cellar.
- From time to time check the cabbage for the presence of 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 cabbage by stalk. Conditions in the cellar do not need to change. In limbo cabbage will be stored for about a month.
In a refrigerator
How to keep cauliflower in the fridge? In the absence of the cellar, you can not bother and just put the cabbage in the refrigerator.
Instruction:
- Wash the cabbage.
- Peel it from leaves and roots.
- Fold the cabbage into plastic bagsand then in the fridge. Each head has its own bag-house.
This method is the least successful, since cabbage is stored only about a weekYes, and even loses the taste.
A week is a very short time. To extend it, you can cabbage pre-pickle: thoroughly wash, disassemble into inflorescences, put in jars and pour in brine (for 10 kg of cabbage 5 liters of water, 400 g of salt and the same 8% vinegar). Enough for cooking wash the cabbage from brine.
In freezer
How to keep cauliflower for the winter in the freezer at home? A way 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:
- Cool water rinse thoroughly every cabbage head. Make sure you completely remove any dirt and insects that can get lost among the inflorescences.
- Cut the green leaves and disassemble the cabbage on small inflorescences. Only need to freeze them.
- Cabbage need fling aroundso that after defrosting it does not become soft, lethargic and discolored.
- Boil water in a saucepan and put the inflorescences there. for three minutes.
- After that, lower the cabbage in ice waterto immediately stop the cooking process.
- Spread the cabbage into sachets or any suitable container and store in freezer.
To use cabbage, it will be enough just a little of it. to warm.
An experienced gardener and a housewife will share with you their ways of storing cauliflower in the freezer in the winter in this video:
Learn how to freeze at home white cabbage, Brussels sprouts and broccoli in our articles.
Rearing
There is another way to eat cauliflower almost all winter. The method is called rearing.
Instruction:
- Growing cabbage is recommended in the cellar at a humidity of 90-95% and a temperature of 0 ... 4 ° C.
- Prepare a few boxes in advance with the usual garden soil.
- Choose the heads that look the most healthy and have a lot of leaves. In diameter, they should be 4-5 cm.
- For a couple of days, how will you "transplant" cabbage, water it abundantly.
- Dig out the cabbage so that it stays lump of earth.
- Place the heads deep in the drawer and tight to each other.
- Sprinkle them with earth down to the leaves.
- More often air the basementso that cabbage "breathed" fresh air.
Depending on the cabbage variety, it will grow from 2 to 4 months, and you can pick up varieties so that the cabbage is probably enough for the whole winter.
The main thing is to maintain the right conditions, or it will ripen much earlier than expected and will deteriorate quickly.
Storage and cultivation of cauliflower requires a lot of effort, but do not think that this is the reason not to plant it.
How to store cauliflower at home? One way to preserve cauliflower for the winter is her leaven in banks. How to do this, tell the video:
In addition to the benefits of cauliflower has a very soft and delicate taste, which you will not find in any other species. This important property makes her most preferred A "cabbage" ingredient for many, many dishes.
