CHAPTER XVIII

HOME STORAGE OF VEGETABLES

Towards the end of the canning season most housewives have used every available glass jar and tin can and hesitate about purchasing a new supply. They have dried and brined many products and yet they feel, and rightly so, that they would like still more vegetables for winter use. There still remains another method that they may employ to provide themselves with a plentiful supply of vegetables and these vegetables can be in the fresh state too. Neither canned, dried, pickled or salted but fresh.

Canning, drying, pickling and salting are essential and necessary but they can not take the place of storage. To keep vegetables in their natural state is the easiest and simplest form of food preservation. Of course, you must take proper precautions against freezing and decay. If you do this you can have an abundant supply of many kinds of fresh vegetables all winter, where climatic and living conditions will permit. Storage costs but little money and little effort and yet it is very satisfactory.

There are many vegetables that can be stored to good advantage. They are: Beets, Brussels Sprouts, Beans, Celery, Carrots, Chicory or Endive, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Kohl-rabi, Lima Beans, Onions, Sweet Potatoes, Squash (Winter), Salsify or Vegetable Oyster, Tomatoes, Turnips.

To get good results in any kind of storage, you must observe four things:

1. Proper ventilation.
2. Proper regulation of temperature.
3. Sufficient moisture.
4. Good condition of vegetables when stored.

There are six different ways to store vegetables. They are: cellar storage, pit storage, outdoor cellar or cave storage, attic storage, sand boxes and pantry storage.

CELLAR STORAGE

We will first of all consider cellar or basement storage. One of the most convenient places for the storage of vegetables is a cool, well-ventilated and reasonably dry cellar underneath the house. This cellar must have windows or some method of ventilation, must not be too warm and not so cold that food will freeze. If there is proper ventilation there can be some dampness without injury to the vegetables. If your cellar or basement floods easily or has water standing in it anywhere it should not be used for vegetable storage.

If there is a furnace in the cellar or basement a small room as far as possible from the heating plant should be partitioned off. Do not build a room in the middle of the cellar, for two sides of the room should consist of outside walls.

If possible have two outside windows for proper regulation of the temperature and for good ventilation. If you cannot have two windows have one.

A very good arrangement for constant circulation of air consists in having a stove-pipe inserted through one of the lower panes of the window to admit cold air. One of the upper panes of the window can be removed to allow for the escape of warm air. That is, of course, if the window is made of nine or twelve small panes of squares of glass. In severely cold weather this upper pane can be replaced or the opening stuffed up in some way.

If you do not have an old stove-pipe you can make a wooden flue of old boards or old discarded boxes.

Most cellars and basements are now made with concrete floors. The ideal floor for storage purposes is an earth floor. However, we can put two or three inches of sand on our concrete floors and get good results. Sprinkle the sand with water from time to time.

Put the vegetables that are to be stored in boxes, baskets, barrels or crates. Use containers that hold only two or three bushels apiece. If larger boxes or barrels are used there is always danger of heating and decay. Of course, proper precautions should be taken against mice.

An excellent way to prevent wilting of crops and shrinkage is to put moist leaves, oak or maple, in the containers with the vegetables. Moist sand is sometimes used but it is much heavier to handle than the leaves. It is no difficult matter to rake the lawn when you are ready to store the vegetables.

The vegetables that are adapted for cellar storage are beets, cabbage, carrots, celery, parsnips, potatoes, salsify and turnips.

PIT STORAGE

There are two kinds of pits that may be used for storage. Those that are not frost-proof and those which are frost-proof.

Some vegetables are not injured by being held in a frozen condition during the winter months. Cabbage is not injured by moderate frost. Cabbage and parsnips will stand freezing and a little thawing, so they can be put in pits or better still, boxes or barrels set into the ground may be used. Make the pit mound shaped. If the earth is mounded around the box, barrel or pit, surface water cannot run in.

If using this kind of storage do not store the products until both the ground and the products are frozen solid. The idea is to keep the vegetables frozen or to have very few freezings and thawings, and those few should be gradual.

After the pit has been made or the box or barrel has been set into the ground and filled with vegetables, it should be covered first with a piece of burlap or carpet, then with a mouse-proof board cover and finally with straw or similar material. When taken from the pit, the vegetables can be thawed out over night in cold water, after which they can be kept in the cellar for a short length of time.

The pits for keeping vegetables free from frost must be carefully and thoughtfully made, but they are cheap and are very useful and practical when caves or cellars are not convenient.

The frost-proof pit for storing vegetables should always be placed in as well-drained a place as possible. A shallow excavation should be made from one to two feet deep, four feet wide and as long as desired. Line the pit with straw, hay or leaves, then place the vegetables in a conical pile on the straw. Cover the vegetables with six inches of the material used in making the lining. This is covered with three or four inches of earth. The straw is allowed to extend up through the earth at the top of the pile, thus assuring ventilation.

When it becomes colder add more covering to the pit by another layer of straw and a layer of earth. In very cold climates a layer of manure or corn stalks will afford protection against frost.

It is well to make several small pits rather than one larger one for the reason that when a pit has once been opened it is difficult to protect the remaining vegetables from frost.

It is advisable to store several varieties of vegetables in one pit so that when each pit is opened you have a variety of vegetables. If you follow this plan separate the various crops by using straw or leaves.

Pits are entered by chopping a hole through the frozen earth at one end, large enough to reach into or crawl into. After the vegetables have been obtained keep the hole stuffed and covered most carefully and deeply with old sacks and straw.

If the smaller pits are used, a decidedly better arrangement, take out all the vegetables in the pit and those that are not needed for immediate consumption can be placed in the cellar storage room, or other cool place, until needed. Do not use those pits if you live where winter rains are abundant as the pits will become water soaked and the vegetables will suffer more or less decay.

OUTDOOR CELLAR STORAGE

Outdoor cellars or caves may be cheaply built for more or less temporary use or they may be very expensively built of concrete, brick, or clay blocks. Of course, the latter are permanent storing places and offer perfect storage for potatoes, carrots, cabbages, parsnips, beets, turnips and salsify.

The objectionable features of indoor cellar storage is that such storage does not furnish ideal conditions for keeping the vegetables fresh for any great length of time.

The objectionable feature to the pit storage is the inaccessibility to these pits during severe weather.

The outdoor cellar or cave overcomes both these objections. The outdoor cellar or cave is an underground structure, preferably built in a hillside and fully covered with earth except at one end only where the entrance is located. If there are doors at both ends it is almost impossible to prevent freezing in very cold weather. The cave door should fit perfectly and there should be a hatchway or door over the steps leading down to the cave door.

A very satisfactory inexpensive cellar can be made by digging an excavation about 5 ft. deep and in this erecting a frame by setting posts in rows near the dirt walls. Saw these posts off at uniform height and place plates on their tops. On these plates place rafters. Board up completely with the exception of the entrance. Cover the whole with dirt or sod and in cold climates add a layer of straw or fodder.

A ventilation must be provided in the roof at the back end. A sewer tile with the bell end up makes a very good flue. A dirt floor is satisfactory as it contains moisture. If there is any seepage use a drain tile to carry it off.

The more pretentious permanent cellars are provided with air spaces to furnish insulation; are provided with large ventilation shafts through the roof and cold air intakes under the floor. Thorough drainage is obtained by placing a line of tile around the outside wall and also by having the air intake serve as a drain for surplus water that might get into the cave. The floor is cement or concrete. Such a cave is expensive but is a permanent structure and a good addition to any farm or estate. If properly made it is possible to maintain a temperature of 34 to 38 degrees without much fluctuation during the winter months. This kind of storage is not only adapted for vegetables but apples as well. It is better adapted to the Northern, Eastern and Western States than to the Southern States, where it is likely to be warm at the time the vegetables are ready for storage. When making the cave, have it as near as possible to the kitchen door. Sometimes caves are made so that they can be entered from the house, cellar or porch.

ATTIC STORAGE

Some vegetables such as onions, squashes, sweet potatoes and pumpkins can be stored in the attic in crates which allow free circulation of air. They must be absolutely free from bruises and must be well ripened and cured. To cure the vegetables expose them to the air for a few days in the shade. Remove the tops of onions before storing. The attic is much better for storing onions than the basement. Squashes are susceptible to cold and moisture, so are suitable for the attic.

Be very careful in handling the squashes to prevent breaking the stems off. Watch pumpkins and squash carefully and at the first sign of decay, use immediately or can.

SAND BOX STORAGE

Sand boxes in cellars, pits or caves are desirable for beets, turnips, kohl-rabi, carrots, winter radishes and rutabagas. The sand keeps them cold and prevents evaporation. Kohl-rabi should be tender when stored.

PANTRY STORAGE

Where there is no attic or where it is inconveniently reached, the products that are adapted to a very dry place can be stored on the pantry shelves or in a dry cellar near the furnace. They are onions, squashes, pumpkins and sweet potatoes.

The keeping qualities of all these vegetables, no matter what storage is used, depends chiefly upon their condition when placed in storage. All products to be stored must be mature, but not overgrown. Root crops should be dry while the ground is in good working condition. All vegetables should be allowed to become surface dry before placing them in storage.

White or Irish potatoes, especially, should not be exposed to bright sunlight any length of time. Only vegetables free from disease or injury should be stored. Any that are damaged can be used immediately, or can be canned or dried.

Further particulars for the storing of fresh vegetables are given in the following tables.

TABLE FOR VEGETABLE STORAGE

VEGETABLES	HOW BEST STORED	PREPARATION FOR STORAGE	AMOUNT FOR FAMILY OF TWO	REMARKS
Irish Potatoes	Must be kept cool with a slight degrees of moisture. Use either cellar or cave methods. No potato should be more than four ft. from air if stored in barrels, boxes, crates or bins.	Potatoes must be dug before the ground is crusted with frost. Frosted potatoes will spoil, one after another. Impossible to sort out frosted potatoes.	10 to 15 bus.	Remember Irish potatoes are ruined by freezing. Potatoes should be kept absolutely dark to prevent greening by light. Never buy potatoes in sacks that show wet places due to a frosted potato.
Sweet Potatoes	Require warmth and dryness. In crates or on shelves in warm dry room. Can be spread on the floor in the room above the kitchen where they will have plenty of heat, especially for the first 2 or 3 weeks after they are dug.	When the sweet potatoes are dug they should be allowed to lie in the sun and wind for 3 or 4 hours so as to become perfectly dry. They must be well ripened and free from bruises. Can be kept on shelves in a very dry place and they need not be kept specially cold. Sweet potatoes keep best when they are showing just a little inclination to sprout. However, if they start growing the quality is greatly injured.	2 to 3 bus.	If you are in doubt as to whether the sweet potatoes are matured enough for storage, cut or break one end and expose it to the air for a few minutes. If the surface of the cut or break dries, the potato is mature. But if moisture remains on the surface, it is not fully ripened. In places where there are early frosts, sweet potatoes should be dug about the time the first frost is expected, without considering maturity.
Carrots	Are best stored in sand in cellars, caves or pits; or in tightly covered boxes or crocks. Must be kept cold and evaporation must be prevented, for otherwise they become wilted.	Can remain in the ground until the weather is quite cool; then be pulled, the tops cut off and then stored.	1 to 3 bus.	If you store carrots in the cellar and it is extremely dry cover them with a little moistened sand.
Celery	May be rooted in earth in a cellar or cave and if watered occasionally will keep fresh until Christmas. The soil, earth or sand, in which the celery is set should be 2 or 3 inches deep. This soil must not be allowed to become dry.	Can remain in the ground until the weather is quite cool.	5 dozen good plants or bunches.	Another way to store celery is to bank it to the top with earth; cover the tops with boards, straw, or leaves and allow it to remain where it has grown until wanted for use. Another way is to dig a trench 12 inches wide and deep enough to correspond with the height of the celery, then lift the celery and pack it in this trench with some soil about the roots. When the weather becomes colder, cover the trench with boards nailed together in the form of a V shaped trough and over this inverted trough put a layer of soil. The ends of this trough should be left open for ventilation until freezing sets in, then close these openings with straw, old bags or soil. If the freeze ceases and there is a spell of warmer weather open the ends slightly for ventilation. When the celery is first stored in the trenches the soil about the roots of the celery should be watered and and if the weather is dry after the celery is put in the trenches, pour some water around the roots to keep the celery crisp and fresh.
Cabbage	Can be wrapped in paper with the outer leaves left on for immediate use and stored in ventilated barrels or large crates in the cellar. But as few cellars are cool enough to keep cabbage in good condition it is more advisable to store it in a long shallow pit in the garden.	Is not injured by moderate frost while in the pit but should not be disturbed while frozen. The pit should be long and narrow. Pull the cabbage, stem, root and all, and then laid with heads down about 3 heads in width can be placed in the pit. Cover lightly with soil and as the weather becomes colder add a little more soil until there is a layer 6 or 7 inches thick over the cabbage. Keep the ends of the pit partially open for ventilation until the weather becomes very cold.	25 heads.	Late varieties of cabbage are the only ones fit for storage. It is advisable to dig a shallow ditch around the pit so that all surplus water can be carried off.
Chickory or Endive	Store in a box or bed of moist sand in the cellar. Put roots in an upright position with the sand coming just to their tops. Water the sand occasionally. Sometimes a covering of straw is added to blanch the tender growth of shoots, which is the part used as food.	Late in the fall lift the roots out and carefully trim off the leaves without injury to the heart.	5 doz. roots.	Chickory or endive is grown the same as carrots or salsify. It is useful in the winter for it furnishes the needed green that is so scarce in winter.
Beets	Must not be placed in too large piles in the cellar as they are inclined to mold. Can also be buried in pits in open ground.	Can remain in the ground until very cool weather; then should be pulled, the tops cut off and then stored in the cellar.	1 bushel.	Beets are not so much inclined to shrivel as carrots.
Salsify or Vegetable Oyster	Pack roots in box with moist sand in cellar or as they are not injured by remaining in the ground all winter they can be left there. Enough for immediate use may be dug in the autumn and the others dug as desired.	When stored in the cellar after the salsify is pulled, trim off the tops and then stand them in an upright position with the sand even with the tops.	75 to 100 roots.	Is injured by too much freezing and thawing, so should remain frozen.
Parsnips	Can be stored just as salsify or be allowed to remain in the ground until wanted.	Those that are to be stored in the cellar can remain in in the garden until the weather is quite cool, then prepare and store like salsify.	1 bushel in the cellar and one in the garden.	Parsnips are best kept frozen or fresh in the cellar as too much freezing and thawing destroys them.
Turnips	Must be stored where temperature is low or sprouting will result. Moderate freezing does no harm while in the storage pit but they must not be disturbed while frozen.	Pull; cut tops off and store in sand in cellars or caves, or in pits, or in tightly covered boxes or crocks.	1 to 3 bus.	The object is to keep them cold and prevent evaporation. It is a good plan to store a portion in the cellar so as to be available during the time that those buried in the pit are "frozen in" and not so easily accessible.
Onions	Require a cool dry place. Attic excellent.	Before storing, cure them by exposing to the air for a few days in the shade. Dryness is absolutely essential. A well cured onion should be firm and not readily dented at the base of the tops by the tip of the thumb when held in the hand.	3 bushels.	Onions are best for storage if topped about 1½ inches long.
Cauliflower	Planted in shallow boxes of soil in light place in the cellar.	Must not be too mature.	Store as many as possible.	If kept well watered they will mature for winter use.
Brussels Sprouts	Planted in soil in cellar.	Must not be too mature.	According to family tastes.	Keep watered and will mature.
Ground Cherries or Husk Tomatoes Kohl-rabi, Winter Radishes, Rutabagas	May be stored for some weeks in the husk in their layers in a dry place free from frost. Best stored in sand in cellars, cares or pits.	Must be kept cold to prevent evaporation.	According to the family tastes.	Kohl-rabi must be tender when stored.
Horse-radish Pumpkins	May be kept in the ground where grown all winter. Must be kept frozen as thawing injures it. Best kept on shelves in a very dry place. Can be kept on shelves in furnace room.	Must be ripened and cured and free from bruises.	5 ordinary sized pumpkins.	Need not be kept especially cold.
Squashes	Susceptible to cold and moisture, so store in a dry place where temperature will be between 50 and 60 degrees.	Care must be taken that stem is not broken.	10 ordinary sized hubbard squashes.	Whenever squashes or pumpkins in storage show signs of decay, the sound portion should be immediately canned.
Tomatoes	Cool cellar or cave; can be wrapped in any absorbent paper preferably without printing upon it, and laid upon shelves to ripen. The paper absorbs the moisture given off by the tomatoes and causes them to ripen uniformly. If cellar is dry or well ventilated, tomatoes can be kept a month or six weeks in this manner.	May be kept until Christmas if vines with the green tomatoes hanging on them are pulled and hung in the cellar. Pull the vines before they are frosted.	All that you can put away.	Most of the tomatoes that are put into storage will ripen and be most acceptable as soon as they color up. If these tomatoes, when cooked, are found to be very acid, the acidity may be overcome by using baking soda.
Parsley	Transplant into flower pots late in the fall.	Keep in windows where they will receive plenty of sunshine.
Garlic	Should be thoroughly cured as are onions.	Or it may be braided by the tops into strings which are hung up in dry places for curing and storing.
Head Lettuce	Rooted in earth in a cellar or cave.	Water occasionally.	All you have in the garden.
Dry beans and peas	Stored where protected from weevils.	Should be fully ripened before shelling. Pick pods by hand as they ripen and spread pods to become thoroughly dry. May be shelled by spreading pods on a sheet and beating them with a stick. Can be cleaned by pouring them from a height of 4 or 5 ft. upon a sheet and allowing the wind to blow the particles of pod out of them as they fall.	As many as you can gather.
Apples	Must be kept in a dry, cool place and so stored as to be in no danger of absorbing odors from vegetables stored nearby. Apples absorb odors from potatoes, onions, turnips and other strong vegetables.	Sort apples carefully removing and using at once all fruit that is bruised and shows signs of decay. The best results are obtained by wrapping each apple in half a sheet of newspaper and storing in barrels, boxes, crates or bins. The wrapping prevents apples from touching and thus prevents decay. It also protects apples from odors of vegetables stored nearby.	As many barrels of apples as possible. Remember that "An apple a day will keep the doctor away."	The cellar or other storage place must be kept cool. 32° F. is ideal. Never allow temperature to go above 40° F. They can be stored unwrapped in barrels, boxes, crates, bins, etc., if proper attention is paid to sorting, to providing a cool place for storage, to occasional sorting during the winter and for the immediate removal of all decayed fruit. Even if you do not raise apples, but have a good storage place, meeting the requirements as regards temperature, you will find it advantageous to buy a winter's supply in the autumn, when prices are low.