No matter carrots, turnips or potatoes, the scope of my experience with preserving garden vegetables was fairly limited growing up. We usually put up and froze a few bushels of corn, but that was usually about it. Aside from a few frozen items, my family subsisted on a lot of canned food, both store-bought and self-canned.
You can absolutely can or freeze your produce, but what to do when you have a large bounty of root vegetables and, say, not a lot of freezer space? Or shelf space in your kitchen?
This article courtesy of MSU Cooperative Extension provides some great pointers. The main priority is making sure that everything is clean and that everything is dry. You want to make sure that all of your produce is free of any dirt or other substances that might have picked up via transfer (and that there aren’t any insects or other pests hitching a ride!). Cold tap water is sufficient.
You can dry your produce by hand – however, time in the sun is incredibly effective. Some larger root vegetables such as pumpkin and squash even require it – they need to “cure” before they can be put away.
This was a much simpler process in the homes of yesteryear; prior to refrigeration, many if not most working-class homes had some type of a “root cellar.” Root vegetables and other food goods can keep for a very long time in a cool, dry place. However, those spaces began to go away by early to mid-century as homes modernized. Now, many may lack that additional storage area – especially a space that meets the necessary conditions.
Beth Waitrovich, author of the aforementioned article, notes, “Finding a good place to store your root vegetables can be the most difficult part of the process. The temperature is a vital part of successful storage and should be between 32º and 38º Fahrenheit. It should also be moderately dry. It is possible to make a storage room in your basement. The National Center for Home Food Preservation has plans for building a vegetable storage room. A vegetable storage room can also be used to store canned foods.”
The more obvious steps need to be taken first: Ensure that the space is free of rodent and insect life. You want to be sure that your produce will be as free as possible from encroaching pests. Make sure that there is no risk of water damage – some basement spaces especially invite the risk of flooding.
Another article from the University of Minnesota talks more specifically about what happens next: “In general, store root crops in layers of moist sand, peat or sphagnum moss or in a plastic perforated bag. You can make your own by using a paper punch or a sharp object like a pen or knife and punching or slicing a hole every six inches. This helps provide essential air movement to prevent condensation and helps prevent shriveling and prolongs shelf-life. Of course, it is then important to ensure there is good ventilation and the produce is stored in an area where it will not sustain rodent damage.
“To obtain ideal temperatures, you may want to consider using straw, hay or wood shavings to insulate the bags of produce in areas where the temperatures would dip too low and cause loss. In general, expect the shelf-life to be shortened by 25% for every 10º F increase in temperature. Finally, be sure to check on your produce to ensure they haven’t started to mold or go bad. Discard any that show signs before it impacts others.”
Storage recommendations vary depending on the vegetable and its specific needs. Author Katie Drewitz provides some great suggestions a little earlier in the same article.
Everyone’s storage operation will look different, but it’s important to not let a lack of more traditional storage scare you away from preserving and putting away your harvest of plenty.
Check out the articles below for some additional reading:
https://www.almanac.com/storing-your-harvest-without-root-cellar
https://www.rhs.org.uk/vegetables/root-vegetables-storing
