How to store zucchini?

Zucchini - growing vegetable in summer, from which you can cook a lot of delicious, and most importantly - healthy dishes. Mistresses who know how to store zucchini, can easily pamper their family meals at any time of the year. In this article we will share with you the secrets how to keep this vegetable for a long time fresh and suitable for cooking different dishes.

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Choose the product suitable for long-term storage

Before you start the preparatory steps, harvesting and choosing how to store zucchini for the winter, you should familiarize yourself with what sorts are suitable for this purpose. Far from any kind of such vegetable is subject to long-term storage.

Only the following types are suitable for this.

Specially designed winter varieties:

• Festival.
• Gold Cup.
• Gribovsky.

Important! A distinctive feature of such varieties are large sizes of vegetable fruits, dense crust and a small number of seeds.

Other varieties of

In addition to specially produced varieties, long-term storage is suitable:

• Anchor is one of the early varieties of zucchini, the distinctive feature of which is the flesh of light yellow color. Such fruits can be stored without loss of quality for a period of up to 1 month.
• Negro - this kind of zucchini got its name due to its inherently unusual black-green color. Such vegetables are stored for about 2 months.
• Yellow-fruited - this variety of zucchini is characterized by a slightly ribbed cylindrical shape of the fruit, which can lie up to 3 months.
• Asset - these vegetables are large in size and have little or no seeds. Such fruits can be used for 3.5 months.
• Arlika - a cylindrical form of courgettes, which have a dark color and have especially long shelf life.
• Aeronaut - this species has a cylindrical shape of fruits, which differ in a dark green hue. Full ripeness zucchini reaches only 46-48 days and can be stored for 4 months without loss of taste.

Zucchini

Among the zucchini excellent qualities for storage are the following grades:

• Gypsy;
• Nero de Milano;
• Zolotinka;
• Bumblebee;
• Aeronaut;
• Zebra;
• Black handsome;
• Skvorushka;
• High-rise.

Important! Very carefully approach the selection of a suitable variety. So you can not only properly store zucchini, but also cook from them exactly the dishes that you like most.

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Rules for preparation for storage

1. Preparation for prolonged storage begins during collection: It is necessary to collect vegetable fruits before frost, otherwise - rotting of fruits may occur.
2. If your zucchini at least a little frozen, long store zucchini will not work.
3. When collecting zucchini for storage, try to leave a foot of at least 5-6 cm in length. Such an approach to harvesting fruits will prevent them from drying out, and also prevent infections from penetrating into the vegetables.
4. It is the leg in the winter that is the main indicator of the state of courgettes. Noticing the slightest changes in the state of vegetables should stop their storage.

Important! Proceeding from the recommendations listed above, it is obvious that only self-grown vegetables are suitable for storage, which you personally collect from the beds.

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What can not be done while storing zucchini?

When preparing vegetable fruits for long-term storage, you can not do the following:

• The vegetable marrows selected for storage in the cellar do not need to be washed - just shake the ground off their surface a little.
• Do not put vegetable fruits in a plastic bag - zucchini should be stored exclusively in the open.
• Do not cut the stem very short.

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Rules for storing zucchini in the cellar

The cellars or basements of a residential building are the most suitable for long-term storage of vegetables. When preparing for the cold season, special attention should be given to the observance of the sanitary standards of the cellar, which must be dry and cool.

In order to be able to store zucchini for a long time, the room should have the following characteristics:

1. Rid the cellar of pests. If you have been found bugs, cockroaches or rats, then be sure to pay attention to their destruction before laying the zucchini. After disinfection, perform general cleaning and try to keep the premises clean.
2. There must be no mold in the cellar. To prevent its occurrence, take care of the organization of high-quality ventilation and protection of the room from the penetration of groundwater.
3. Long-term storage of zucchini is possible in a temperature range of +4 to +10 ° C.

Squash can be placed in the cellar only after its preparation. Store zucchini is better according to the following rules:

1. It is most practical to arrange vegetable fruits on racks that are previously sprinkled with hay or covered with wax paper.
2. After placing your zucchini should not touch each other.

Important! Most often zucchini are stored until the beginning of the spring season, which is associated with the beginning of germination of seeds, even under conditions of compliance with all storage rules. Because of this natural factor, not only the appearance of fruits quickly deteriorates, but the loss of their taste qualities also occurs.

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Rules for storing zucchini at home

If you do not have a specially equipped cellar, then considering the possibility of storing vegetables under temperature conditions of +10 ° C, you can place them in the apartment:

1. Store zucchini in a dry and inaccessible placesunlight spot.
2. Excellent for this purpose is suitable pantry or wooden boxes near the balcony door.
3. It is very important to observe the darkness in the place of storage of vegetables, as light will promote the germination of seeds.

Important! If you do not have the opportunity to create suitable conditions for storing zucchini, then you can keep their quality for a short period. In conditions of room temperature, most varieties lie unspoiled for a maximum of a month.

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Can I store zucchini in the refrigerator?

The refrigerator is highly humid, therefore it is not very suitable for the purpose of storing vegetables, because they can start to rot and become covered with unpleasant mold.

Important! To minimize the impact of moisture on zucchini, fold them into a paper bag with small holes for air circulation. In the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator, courgettes can lie for 2-3 weeks.

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Useful advices:

• Marrows are great for freezing, so the best thing for their long-term storage is a freezer.
• Thoroughly rinse and dry the vegetables before freezing.
• It's best to freeze zucchini cubes cut into small cubes, because in this form they will be fully prepared for cooking.
• If you want to store fresh vegetables in the fridge, each zucchini should be placed in a paper perforated bag.

We hope, now you will not have problems with keeping your harvest from zucchini and in winter you can enjoy useful and tasty vegetable dishes without spending a lot of money on them.