Our ancestors have used vegetable cooling storages to preserve the vegetable after each harvest season. In modern life, fresh agricultural products have been available for around a year in the supermarket, thus not many people use cooling storage at home. However, cooling storage still has benefits for households.
Home gardeners normally cannot consume their vegetables at once, but it is good for preservation. Even though households with no garden, may buy fresh seasonal vegetables at a reasonable price, and preserve them at home for later days. Both choices are cheaper than buying food in winter at expensive prices. Besides, the stored vegetables which are harvested at the highest ripe level from the garden have good flavor and content highly nutrients.
After harvesting your own vegetables or buying them from the mart, there are certain rules must follow to ensure the best quality and reduce the most damage when storing your vegetables.
1. Harvest fruits and vegetables at the highest ripe or nearly.
2. Only store the products with no signs of disease.
3. Choose fruits that not be severely damaged by the insects
4. Handle the food carefully after harvesting to avoid scratches and bruises.
5. Leave an inch or more at the top of almost vegetables to avoid dehydration and prevent bacterial infection.
6. Delayed ripening plants should be used to suit the preservation
In general, only use the best quality food for preserving. The damaged food easily gets fungus and is rotten by the bacteria while preserving. Thus, they must be eaten when fresh or removed. The fruit and vegetable must be preserved in a suitable condition after harvest.
They can be devided inton four groups:
- Vegetables require moist, cold conditions
- Vegetables require moist, cool conditions
- Vegetables require moist, dry conditions
- Vegetables require warm, dry conditions
Please take a look at the table listing temperature and humidity (enclosed photos) for almost vegetables after harvested.
Besides suitable temperature and humidity, all of fruits and vegetables must be kept in lightless and well ventilated conditions. However, they must avoid condensing water which caused rapid rot. Do not freeze the products and keep them away from harmful animal as mice, cockroaches,… The preserved vegetables are living plants, they can breathe and are affected by the environment. The goal of preserving vegetables is to keep them in an inactive state.
In additional, fruits and vegetables are always preserve seperately. Fruits release ethylene gas which motivates the rip rate of vegetables. Fruits will affect the flavor of the nearby vegetables.
About the preservation room, first of all, should check the natural conditions based on temperature and humidity in one year (including rain season and dry season). From that database, we can adjust the room climate suitable for each type of vegetable.