I found this great article with tips on harvesting and storing to last by Hannah Zwartz in the dom post. In short;
Pumpkins: leave on vine until the stalk by the fruit is totally withered and brown then snip off, this can take some time after the leaves look dead. prop off damp ground on a tile or brick. When harvested cure by leaving them in the sun on a hard dry surface for a week or two (hardening the skin). Then store on their sides without touching each other in a dry airy place away from rats and mice.Grey skinned types usually store well other types best eaten earlier.
Yams, Parsnips and Carrotts: can be left in the ground to sweeten as the cold weather turns their starches into sugar.
Beetroot: cut off tops and store in cool damp (not wet) sand.
Apples: wrap individually or place in boxes of dry sand (not touching) and keep in a cool dry dark place.
Potatoes: The best place is in the ground as long as it doesnt get soggy over winter.
Kumara: Handle newly dug kumara gently and leave in the sun for a week or so before fully drying on a rack out of the sun. Store somewhere dark and dry.
I would welcome more storage ideas, solutions, to add to this discussion
Replies
My mum (now 84) used to store her annual haul of 40-odd pumpkins in shelves made of chicken wire, they were built out from the garden shed with a wee roof, so plenty of air circulation and would last for months.
For other veg, I love designer Jihyun Ryou’s manual food preservation system, actually an artwork, but incorporating traditional methods of food storage such as storing an apple with your potatoes to stop them sprouting.
She also has a site where people can share their knowledge, although last time I looked many of the methods were better suited to snowier climes than experienced here in the Waikato!
The classic BBC TV series The Victorian Kitchen Garden with Peter Thoday and Harry Dodson includes a few interesting vegetable and fruit storage methods. It was originally produced in 1987 but was released on DVD in 2006. Brace yourself though: it is a 13 part series, so a bit of a marathon. I see it is also available as a book, but I don't know if it has the same level of detail.
Hi Kathryn
Love Jihyun's food system too, I remember my dad stored carrots in sand, but horizontal in a box in a cool dark place. must get around to viewing the victorian kitchen garden.
Glad you liked it. Interesting too how different cultures approach the same or similar fruit and veg.
Hey Kathryn,
thanks for picking up on this thread. I just had a recommendation for the this book: http://www.amazon.com/Preserving-Food-without-Freezing-Canning/dp/1...
Also found this one online and thinking of ordering it:
http://www.amazon.com/Root-Cellaring-Natural-Storage-Vegetables/dp/...
I'm keen to look at no-electricity ways of preserving food in particular - how to tie garlic, dehydrating tomatoes, how best to store potatoes etc.
Smiles
Laine
I have found that 'hanging' my pumpkins works better than 'shelving' them. After curing them I use any large, old scraps of windbreak or bird netting that I have to wrap the pumpkin up and then hang from hooks attached to the rafters in my garage (Think of a stork carrying a baby in a sling from it's mouth - then replace the baby with a pumpkin and you get the idea).
When I used to 'shelve' pumpkins, they would eventually start to rot from the point of contact with the shelf they sat on before I used them. I am trialling this on marrows also, to see how long they will last.
Thanks Mark and Earl
I've had sumemr squash like buttercup as late as mid August, although we usually have to grab the last one in a hurry as the rot starts to set in.
Next year I'll try an idea I picked up a few months ago which is wiping the fruit with diluted bleach to inhibit the mould.