Practical advices 1

How to store meat

The spoiled meat has a sticky surface and is often covered with mold. If you press on this flesh, there are traces. The tendons are covered with mucus. The color of the altered meat is gray or greenish. It has a heavy smell of rot. The bone marrow is gray.

How to store eggs

Altered eggs can be recognized in two ways: either with the ovoscope (available at health and consumer protection institutions) by the abnormal appearance of the content, which is opaque or colored in red, green, or black, or by breaking, when an unpleasant smell of rotting or “hatched eggs” is released. 

 

How to store milk and dairy products

The cheese kept in the refrigerator will be put in a plastic bag and well squeezed into the mouth, to maintain its tenderness. 

In a household, fresh vegetables are also used in the winter, such as onions, garlic, leeks, carrots, parsley, celery, winter radish, beetroot, potatoes and cabbage. All these vegetables must be stored well to be protected from frost and not spoil.

Root vegetables

Root crops such as safflower, parsley, parsnip, beet and winter radish can be kept in very good conditions during the winter in cellars or pits in the ground, in boxes in the block, etc. Beetroot, parsnips and turnips are more resident roots and can be stored in pantries and cellars, in piles, or in boxes. Carrots, celery and parsley, which are more sensitive, are kept in pantries on racks and shelves or in dry cellars, layered in sand. In the sand, parsley and celery can be placed either standing up or lying down, provided that they are very well-chosen beforehand and checked from time to time to see how they keep. In households where there are no cellars, especially in cities, carrots, parsley, parsnips, turnips and celery can be kept in sand boxes, in well-ventilated pantries. You can also use a method that gives results and keeps the vegetables in good condition: wrap each vegetable in white paper and then put it in newspaper or plastic material. After that, they are placed in the pantry or in dry and cool places (on the balcony). This method can also be used for other vegetables.

Potatoes

Preparations for storing potatoes must begin immediately after harvesting, when they are kept in the sun for a day or two to dry a little. Potatoes that are hit or damaged are thrown away. In general, potatoes are kept in the same conditions and rooms as root crops, that is, in piles, in crates, or in specially arranged places in the cellar. Between the pile of potatoes and the walls of the cellar, it is good to put a layer of straw to protect them from moisture. If there is a larger quantity of potatoes that needs to be stored for the winter, it can be stored in pits specially made for storage. The potatoes must be protected from water, put straw in the pits and cover them with a layer of soil. The best potato storage temperature is between +1 and +3 degrees C.

 

Onions and chives

Onions that want to be kept fresh must be well picked, wrapped in leaves and dried. This is kept in special rooms, in pantries or in the attic of houses, in layers of 25 to 40 cm thick, which during the winter are covered with beds, mats, straw, etc. Onions can also be stored in crates or slatted crates, in dry places protected from frost. If they are stored in this way during the winter, the onions will not freeze, with the only condition that they are not moved from their place during the cold. It can also be kept in the pantry tied to a rope (placed on special supports or hung on a nail). Chives are stored in the same way as onions for consumption, in layers of 15 to 20 cm. The storage temperature is between -3 and 0 degrees C or +18 up to 20 degrees C, and the air humidity is between 60 – 65%.

 

The garlic

Garlic is more sensitive to frost, so it must be kept in places where the temperature does not drop below 0 degrees C. If it is frozen, it can no longer be used, therefore it will not recover. The storage methods are the same as for onions.

 

Leeks

Leeks can be stored in warehouses, under cellars or in the yard. He sits upright in the trenches until he gets close to the place where the leaves fall, after which he covers himself in the ground. During severe frosts, leeks stored in this way are covered with straw, chaff or cobs. It can also be kept stratified in crates, or cellars, placed in sand.

 

Cabbage

Cabbage is harvested for storage in autumn, as late as possible. It can be harvested without roots and this is the most common method. However, it can also be harvested with the root and kept in special containers, buried in sand or hung from a ceiling beam. After harvesting, only the large, dense and healthy heads are chosen, and the outer leaves are removed. They are placed in cellars or pantries, on specially arranged shelves or on racks in thick layers of 4 to 5 heads placed in a chess shape. Cabbage can still be kept fresh in cellars or cellars placed next to each other, with the root buried in the ground, in soft sand or hanging from perches or beams.

The best storage temperature is between 0 degrees and 1 degree C, and air humidity of 95 – 98%.