Is it possible and how to keep radishes fresh for the winter
The day before Christmas, the Mexican state of Oaxaca celebrates Noche de Rábanos, which translates as Night of the Radish. A lot of participants from all over the area gather in the square and present to the audience scenes from the history of the country, Mexican legends, Christmas stories and sketches from rural life, made from huge fresh roots.
The history of an unusual celebration, designed, as they say, to popularize the garden culture among the local population, goes back two centuries. It is quite possible that it was so, but the radish brought to the American continent in the 16th century grows to gigantic proportions on the fertile Mexican soil. Therefore, one cannot exclude the version that, collecting bountiful harvests of this early vegetable, the peasants of Mexico simply did not know how to store radishes, so they came up with the idea of making sculptures from root crops and demonstrating their creativity to neighbors.
How to keep radishes fresh for the winter and not lose the grown crop?
The radish harvested from the garden at room temperature loses its juiciness after a few hours.
First, the foliage withers, and then the roots. In a cellar or refrigerator, a similar thing happens - moisture leaves the roots, but somewhat more slowly. It is interesting that early, juicy and smaller roots are stored almost half as much as radishes of late varieties.
For harvesting for future use, it is better to take large dense root crops that wither more slowly.
To make the radish intended for long-term storage as juicy as possible, the beds are watered abundantly in the evening, and in the early morning, before the sun has had time to warm the air and soil, they are removed, immediately cutting off the tops and leaving petioles 3-4 cm long. Radish roots, which is kept fresh for the winter is not removed.
How to store radishes in the refrigerator?
If the roots are to be stored in a household refrigerator, they are washed, dried thoroughly and laid out in bags or containers. Do not close the containers tightly, as the resulting condensation can cause the development of mold. To absorb moisture, napkins can be laid inside the bag, which will have to be changed regularly.
How to store radishes if, losing moisture, it loses its main advantage - juiciness? The water itself can help slow down the loss of moisture in radishes. To do this, the washed root crops without tails and tops are placed in clean glass jars and poured with boiled water, so that the radish is completely covered with a layer of liquid. Then the container is closed and placed in the refrigerator. You can add salt or a little vinegar to the water as a preservative. From time to time, it is better to examine the radish, rinse it, and change the water.
However, if you want to keep your radishes fresh in the refrigerator, don't expect them to stay the same throughout the winter.
The maximum shelf life of early varieties is 1.5–2 weeks, and of mid-season and late varieties - from 1 to 1.5 months.
How to keep fresh radishes in the basement for the winter?
But in basements and cellars, where the temperature is maintained at 2-3 ° C and the air humidity is 85-90%, the fall radish survives the winter, remaining almost fresh and juicy, like in a garden bed. You can store radishes, like other root crops, only if there is good ventilation and there are no rodents and fungus in the store.
Before storing fresh radishes, root crops extracted from the ground:
- dry a little, after cutting off the tops and roots;
- carefully free from excess soil;
- examine and select strong vegetables without damage or signs of disease;
- placed in disinfected dry, clean boxes, sprinkling with barely wet sand in layers.
Subject to the storage rules, periodic inspections of root crops and a sample of dried or rotten radishes, it is stored until January or even until mid-February.
Not only the appearance of the radish remains practically unchanged, but also its vitamin and mineral composition.
Is it possible to freeze radishes for the winter?
This cannot be said when some gardeners are trying to freeze radishes for the winter. The moisture contained in root crops, when exposed to temperatures from –18 to –24 ° C, turns into ice crystals that rupture tissue cells. As a result, the radish thawed for consumption loses its elasticity, the moisture drains away, and a shapeless lump, devoid of taste and other properties, remains in the plate.
The only way to freeze a radish for the winter and not lose its benefits is to freeze it at low temperatures in an industrial environment.
Peeled and chopped root vegetables are blown with air at a temperature of about –40 ° C for 8-10 minutes. At the same time, the moisture does not have time to harm the tissues of the root crop, and some of it simply evaporates from the surface. Unfortunately, such a freezing of radishes for the winter at home is impossible. But there are other ways how to feast on juicy roots with a sweetish-spicy taste in the cold season.
Marinade as a way to keep radishes fresh for the winter
In eastern countries, pickled radish is a traditional and highly respected snack. Radish is canned in Mexico and in many European countries. The simplest marinade consists of 1 cup of water, 1 cup of vinegar, 1/2 cup of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of salt. Washed roots:
- cut into slices, circles or incised on one side to make it look like a bud;
- put in jars;
- pour marinade;
- sterilized and covered with lids.
The composition of the marinade may vary. If you replace some of the salt with soy vinegar, add ginger and spices, you can get a Japanese-style snack. With pepper and tomatoes, the marinade will make the dish South American, while rosemary, black pepper and pearl onion wedges will turn it into a delicious French aperitif.
If you can't keep the radishes fresh for the winter, then you can store such homemade canned food in the refrigerator or basement for much longer than 2 to 3 months. And since the pieces of radish are small, you can try the harvest in a day.
How to store radishes: chips and a Japanese treat
In Japan, a related radish culture, the daikon, is shredded and dried to produce long, white-yellow stripes of a sweet-pungent flavor called kiriboshi. If a harvest of large white root crops is ripening in the beds, then the question of how to preserve radishes for the winter disappears.
Thoroughly washed radish:
- cut into long strips, about 0.5 cm thick;
- blanch in boiling salted water for no longer than a minute;
- laid out on a wire rack and dried;
- placed in an oven and dried at 55-60 ° C.
Similarly, chips are made from brightly colored radishes, which can be slightly salted or sprinkled with spices before drying, when the root vegetable slices are still wet. Store dried radishes in sealed glass jars or double paper bags.As a result, you will get an original snack, the question of how to store radishes will cease to be a problem, and the grown crop will not be lost.