How to store quince at home

Many gardeners grow quince in their plots. A tree that produces fruits that look like an apple is very popular among gardeners - with its help you can perfectly green the area and in the autumn there are many chances to get a good harvest of delicious fruits. But, having collected the quince, each owner of the quince tree thinks what to do to ensure that the crop is preserved until next fall.

For quince to be stored for a long time, certain conditions are needed that allow the fruit to lie all winter and not begin to rot. There are ways to help keep quince at least until the spring of next year - they will be discussed.

Rules for collecting quince

Quince looks very much like an apple - the same round and yellow-lemon color. Although there are varieties and pear-shaped. The fruit ripens late - after autumn frosts. The first and most important condition that allows you to store the harvest for a long time is to properly collect the fruits:

1. Picking fruit from a tree must be done carefully and carefully so that neither the skin nor the flesh is damaged.
2. When collecting quince, it is better to fold it either on the grass, or, if a bucket acts as a container, then it is better to lay out the bottom with paper.
3. It is better to remove fruits from the tree in the late morning - by that time the dew is completely dry.
4. Harvest should be when the weather is dry and sunny. Otherwise, wet fruits will rot and deteriorate.

Fallen and lying under a tree fruits must be processed first of all, otherwise they can quickly deteriorate and the abyss.

Purchase quince

Not everyone has the opportunity to grow quince on the site and wait for the harvest. However, this is not a problem at all, because it is not difficult to buy quince in the market or in any of the many stores.

It is best to buy quince in the second half of October - early November, when the fruit ripens and is removed from the tree. When choosing, carefully observe the following rules:

1. The fruit should have smooth and smooth skin, without bruises, scratches, rotten and moldy areas, otherwise it will be stored very briefly.
2. When choosing fruits, you need to focus on color - it should be rich lemon or yellow. This color indicates maturity.
3. It is best to choose fruits of large or at least medium size - often small quinces are acidic, tasteless and dry.

Conditions under which quince is stored for a long time

Is it possible to store quince at home so that it does not lose its taste, for a long time, acquires freshness and does not lose its juiciness? You can, here's what you need for this:

1. A temperature of three to four degrees of heat should always be maintained at the storage location.
2. Best of all, if the room is humid, it is desirable to maintain a high level of humidity - up to 85 percent.
3. It is desirable that sunlight does not penetrate the storage room, it is better if the room is completely dark.

Cold storage

If you choose a refrigerator to store quince, then the fruit in it retains juiciness for a long time, remains as tasty and does not rot for a long time. The fruits are stored at the very bottom of the refrigerator - in vegetable crates. There are all the necessary conditions that allow you to store the product - the right temperature (3-5 degrees), blackout and fairly high humidity.

For longer storage, do not be lazy, but wrap each fruit in a paper or foil wrapper. Then the fruits lie without harm for themselves for 70 days.If the temperature in the refrigerator is lowered and brought to zero degrees, then the quince will remain much longer - more than four months. Accordingly, when the temperature rises, it will not be stored for so long.

In the cold

If the fruits of quince are frozen, then they lose their hardness, become softer and less astringent. Quince trees can tolerate freezing quite well, so they are often stored in freezers.

Before putting quince there, the fruits must be thoroughly washed, cleaned of fluff. Then they are cut into two halves, the seeds and the core are removed from them, and the halves are cut into slices. For long-term storage, they resort to shock freezing, it is done like this: sliced ​​fruits are put in bags of polyethylene, air is released from there, they are well tied and put in bags in the freezer.

After 20-24 hours, when the fruits are completely frozen, they are removed from the bags and placed in a container, which, having closed the lid, is put back in the cold. In frozen form, quince can stand for a long time - until the next fall, until a new crop appears.

It is advisable to eat it until this time, since in a year the fruits are completely frozen, losing their juiciness and becoming dry. It is advisable to sort the fruit in such a way that you can get it in small portions, because it is undesirable to freeze thawed quince again - it will become completely tasteless and completely lose all the qualities that are considered useful.

How to store seeds

After sending the sliced ​​fruit into the freezer, seeds removed from the fruit remain. Zealous owners leave them and keep them until spring comes, in order to plant them in the ground and grow a new tree.

Seeds are placed in wet sand, all this is poured into a bag, air is removed from it, and then tied. The bag can be placed in the same vegetable-fruit box, where the seeds live well until spring. With the onset of spring heat, they are planted in a nutrient mixture and germinated.

Seeds from time to time it is necessary to inspect and check whether rotting or mold has begun, spoiled ones should be thrown right away. You also need to look at how wet the sand is. Seeing that it has dried up, you can moisturize it using the spray gun.

How to store in the cellar

For owners of a cellar, garage or basement, storage in this room will be a very good solution, because it is impossible to put everything in a refrigerator or in a freezer.

In order for the quince to normally survive the winter in the cellar, it is necessary to create a microclimate, described somewhat above. I.e:

1. Constant temperature regime without fluctuations and drops, so that the temperature varies at the level of plus 3-5 degrees.
2. High stable humidity - 70-85 percent.
3. The ability to ventilate the room so that the air does not stagnate, but is replaced.

Pre-treatment is best done by irradiating a lamp with quartz or spreading slaked lime over the area. Then all microbes and parasites will die, and the fruits will spoil and rot less.

Storage preparation

1. You need to start with the fact that you need to select low-quality fruits - fruits containing damage, cuts or signs of rotting can provoke good quality fruits to inevitable damage.
2. Each of the fruits is wiped with a piece of dry cloth. You do not need to wash fruits at all - this significantly reduces storage time.
3. It will be useful to pack the fruits in boxes of wood or cardboard. It is desirable that the container has cells or compartments.
4. It has already been said that it is possible to wrap each fruit with foil and paper. Other experienced gardeners pour sawdust between the fruits or lay the quince in several layers, alternating each of them with paper.
5. During storage, you sometimes need to sort out the fruits, looking for spoiled fruits - they should immediately be removed and eaten.
6. Another point is the proximity to other fruits.So, it is undesirable to store quince next to the pear, because it releases essential oils that provoke the early ripening of quince. The best neighbors are apples.

Storage for fruits to ripen

If it is planned to store quince in the home, then we must remember - only fruits that have ripened can be stored for a long time. It is for ripe ripe fruits that all the conditions and rules are given above.

If the quince is harvested unripe, then in order for it to reach an edible condition, an important condition is necessary - a constant temperature from 23 to 25 degrees. If the temperature is lower, then quince will not ripen. Either remains in the cellar as green, or starts to deteriorate.

And importantly - there should be no drafts and sun rays falling on the fruit, it is better that the place is dark. Then quince will evenly ripen, and the flesh will be juicy and taste good. To achieve ripeness, 10-12 days are needed, then the fruit must either be eaten right away or put away for storage.

Quince can be stored in several ways - it all depends on the condition in which the fruits and shelf life. Using any of the described methods, you can provide your family with delicious fruits for the long term.

Video: quince preservation process for the winter