What do we know about cabbage? That it is a very popular and healthy vegetable. Also, many people know that even in the Stone Age people ate it. Pythagoras, known to everyone, was engaged in the cultivation of new varieties of this plant, the Romans, Greeks and ancient Egyptians were very fond of seeing this vegetable on their dining table. All the advantages of cabbage are worth trying to keep it as long as possible. Today we will deal with this issue, including the storage of cabbage in food wrap.
Methods of storing cabbage in the winter
This vegetable has long been known to mankind, so many ways have been developed to preserve its reserves in the winter. But here you need to pay attention to the fact that not all varieties of cabbage are suitable for this. The most suitable are dense, strong and slightly flattened heads of cabbage. Conversely, oblong, soft, which are often used in the preparation of cabbage rolls, rot quickly enough.
Now we list the main known methods by which the cabbage is stored in winter:
- By fermentation , when the fermentation process of lactic acid and salt is itself a conservative.
- In the basement or cellar.
- In sawdust and snow.
- In the clay talker.
- One of the easiest ways is to store cabbage in cling film.
- In sand or earth.
- In bags made of polyethylene.
Everything is not limited to this list, but with us they are quite enough. Some we will consider.
Storing cabbage in a basement or cellar
There is a general rule that is not related to any particular method - cabbage should be put in a cooler place as soon as possible. If you are going to ferment it, then do it in small portions, since after three months it will lose most of its useful properties. When storing in a cellar or basement, several important rules must be observed. Here they are:
- The temperature in the selected room should not be below zero degrees and above plus five, since at low rates the cabbage will freeze and lose its taste, and at high rates it will quickly deteriorate.
- The same applies to humidity. It should not exceed the optimum, which is from 85 to 90%.
- The forks should be separate from each other and should not touch other vegetables.
- Also, each of them should have several (two to three) cover sheets.
- Cabbage is stored for the winter on shelves in the basement or cellar, when heads of cabbage are put in a pyramid at a height of 20-25 cm from the floor or are in a tied state. To do this, a thick wire is pulled, and cabbages of cabbage are already suspended on it at a certain distance from one another.
Sawdust and snow
Such storage of cabbage in winter is known to mankind, unlike some other methods, since ancient times. In those days, this vegetable was first stored in the manner described above, and then it extended its life in a different way.
In February or March, depending on the region and climate, do the following procedure:
- Heads of cabbage are interbedded with as clean snow as possible, then they are laid in wooden crates and again well-packed with snow, a thick layer.
- Straw or sawdust is placed on top of the boxes. Having completed such a slightly laborious process, you will provide yourself with cabbage until a new crop.
Storage of cabbage in cling film
What is this method good for? The fact that each of us has the opportunity to go to the store and buy a very convenient and affordable “conservative” - food wrap. It is freely sold in any supermarket. If you are interested in how cabbage is stored in cling film, photos will help to deal with this issue. And we will tell you how to do it. You need to buy not just any film, but one that has a minimum width of 350-450 mm. So it will be convenient for her to use. Now each head of cabbage must be wrapped in two or three layers of cling film, while trying to smooth it as tightly as possible to the cabbage.
It is highly advisable to send
winter harvests of vegetables to a cool place - a pantry, a cellar, but best of all to a cellar. About once a month it is recommended to check winter stocks. If rotting leaves are found, then remove them and carefully wrap the head out again. This method provides high-quality storage of cabbage in cling film. The reviews of the hostesses are talking about this.
Two more ancient ways of storing cabbage
The first is in a clay chatter. You need to find the most common clay, dilute with water to a thick sour cream and dip each head of cabbage into the resulting clay mixture. Then we hang the cabbage. In this way, our vegetables can be safely stored until February. If such storage of cabbage is not suitable for the winter or do not want to mess with clay, then you can try to do it in sand or land.
First of all, you need to stock up on large boxes. Gently clean the cabbage from the dirt. Then pour earth or sand to the bottom of the boxes. We lay our cabbage so that they do not touch each other, and then we fill it with sand. We leave the cabbage leg open. Keep such boxes with vegetables in a cool place.
Food film storage is a more complicated way
Experienced housewives are well aware that cabbage intended for winter storage should stand for some time at a temperature of 0 degrees or a little lower. So we wait for such a moment, then we tear it out together with all the roots, clean it well from the ground, but you do not need to trim them. We cut off the excess leaves, and let the cabbage dry for several hours in the fresh air. Places of cliff leaves should dry. For further work, you can use several types of materials - plastic bags, garbage bags or the remaining supplies of cling film. The first two are a little simpler, so consider storing cabbage in the cellar in cling film.
Carefully wrap our head in several layers of film, and try to make it so that it appears as if in a package. After a short workout, this will not be difficult at all. Outside, only his leg should remain. We take a vacuum cleaner, disconnect any nozzles from it, leave only the hose and pump out all the air from the inside. The film will very tightly wrap around the head, at this moment we remove the hose and quickly tighten the film around the leg. Now our vegetable will not dry and rot.
Conclusions about winter cabbage storage
The housewives, having tried different methods, came to the conclusion: if you deal with this business on your own, without male help, then storing cabbage in a plastic wrap is the most affordable for them. In the future, they can safely engage in the maintenance of such stocks. Unless there is another not too difficult option, in which vegetables are stored in bags made of polyethylene.
Five to ten heads of cabbage are placed in each of these bags, depending on size. Packages of cabbage are placed directly on the floor of your basement or cellar in one row. What is very important, try to observe the temperature regime and humidity. At the slightest sign of spoilage, break off the bad leaves. We think that every housewife will choose for herself the most suitable way to preserve the crop.