How to store tomatoes at home

How to store tomatoes at home? Everyone, without exception, knows that conservation is our everything! And few people realize that tomatoes can be stored without much effort until February. You just need to know a few secrets.

What tomatoes to choose

Ultra-ripe and early varieties of tomatoes are not suitable for long-term storage. You need to choose late-ripening or those on the packaging of which it is written in black and white that they are prone. In turn, whole tomatoes must be put off without signs of illness or wilting, with intact skin. The soft ones are not good; they have already been ripened or repulsed.

Tomatoes should be brown or milk ripened. It is impossible to store fully ripened "golden apples" for a long time without special processing.

Before storing vegetables, it is better not to wash the vegetables. You can wipe each fruit with a cloth soaked in alcohol or good vodka. This will remove pathogens from the surface. There were tips to give each tomato an injection of alcohol, at the place of attachment of the stem. But there was no answer how to remove a wound from a needle puncture so that bacteria would not enter there.

Tip. If there is no alcohol at hand, then you can wipe the tomatoes with a weak solution of potassium permanganate.

What are the storage methods for tomatoes?

Depending on the degree of maturity, you can save tomatoes in several ways:

• withering
• drying
• basement method
• non-heat preservation
• in fridge

All options are good, you can choose the most suitable for yourself.

Tip. It may happen that every way is needed. For example, in the basement, barrels of many tomatoes began to deteriorate. It is impossible to eat all the fruits, it is a pity to throw out. Having cut off the sore spots, tasty “remains” can be dried or canned.

Sun-dried tomatoes

Whole fruits are dried in the oven at a temperature of 40-60 ° C. Ripe tomatoes are selected, washed thoroughly, spread in one layer on a baking sheet, oiled. Turn on the fire and leave the vegetables for 4-6 hours. Occasionally check that the fruits do not dry out.

Then, after cooling, the withered tomatoes are placed in a glass jar in layers with vegetable oil. You can throw your favorite spices to the bottom. Such tomatoes are stored for up to 8 months.

Tip. For a good result, cut the tomatoes in half and be sure to slightly add.

Dried tomatoes

The preparation of tomatoes is the same as for drying. Only drying takes about 10-15 hours, depending on the thickness of the fruit. You can dry the tomatoes in the sun, but it is not less than 6-8 days. Or in an electric dryer, 8 hours.

Such fruits are stored in glass jars with a tight lid. Shelf life up to one year. Dried vegetables are said to taste like fresh.

Tip. Tomatoes are not salted before drying. Better add a pinch of sugar.

Basement storage method

Basically, this is just a name. In this way, tomatoes can be stored in the basement, on the balcony, in the pantry, shed, under the bed. Main conditions: good ventilation, darkness, temperature 9-12 ° C, humidity not higher than 65-70%.

Good ventilation is needed to remove excess carbon dioxide and ethylene. Because of them, tomatoes quickly ripen, then begin to deteriorate.

Darkness is required to slow down the metabolic processes in tomatoes. So they lie longer, and begin to ripen when they reach the light. For the same purpose, a lower temperature is needed.

Humidity should be observed as accurately as possible. Decrease - tomatoes wilted, begin to dry.Increase - malicious and putrefactive bacteria are activated, you can lose the entire crop.

Brown tomatoes are selected or of the first stage of ripeness - milk. Do not wash, wipe with alcohol or potassium permanganate solution. Dried, wrapped each tomato separately in parchment paper. If there is black, generally excellent. Then they put the vegetables in cardboard or wooden boxes in two layers, no more. Instead of boxes, you can use wicker baskets. Sprinkle the "golden apples" with dry straw, sawdust, peat, and onion husks. Cleaned for storage.

Air regularly, inspect once a week for damage. At the first sign of illness, the tomato is harvested so as not to infect the remaining vegetables.

In Soviet times, for industrial safety, “golden apples” were coated with a thin layer of diluted gelatin in industrial enterprises. Now for these purposes use food wax. It is not always possible to get it, but gelatin is sold almost everywhere. Why not do an experiment on several fruits?

Subject to all conditions, tomatoes can be stored safely until February, remaining fresh.

Before direct use, the fruits are pulled into the light and the temperature is raised to 18-20 ° C. In 5-7 days, the tomatoes will fully ripen.

Tip. Special sheets have recently appeared for the long-term storage of vegetables. They are two layers of fabric, between them a special powder. It absorbs ethylene, carbon dioxide and pathogenic bacteria. Two such sheets are enough, top and bottom. No other shelters are needed.

Conservation

You can store tomatoes in glass jars, without water, vinegar and spices. You need ripe tomatoes, mustard powder or alcohol. Fruits sorted, but do not wash. At the bottom of the can pour alcohol, 2-3 tablespoons. Gently stack tomatoes without crushing. They press the lid and turn the jar so that the alcohol is evenly distributed. Then they carefully set it on fire and instantly roll it up.

If dry mustard is chosen, then tomatoes are simply sprinkled with a thin layer in the jar. Then roll up the lids.

Tomatoes are stored up to 5 months at a temperature of 2-4 ° C.

Tip. No need to turn such banks upside down. Otherwise, all mustard is poured into one place. And it should be evenly distributed over the fruits.

Tomatoes in the fridge

Keeping tomatoes in the refrigerator is not a good idea. There is too low temperature and high humidity. About 3 weeks, the fruits on the shelf can lie, but the taste will change irreversibly, and the aroma will disappear completely. In order not to lose the whole value of tomatoes, it is recommended to keep them in the refrigerator for no longer than a week.

Tip. It is not advisable to store tomatoes in plastic bags. Condensation and foul odors are provided.

Useful subtleties

1. Collect tomatoes for bookmarking before frost. There may be no external signs of damage to the fruit by cold. And at the cellular level, irreversible processes will already begin. Such vegetables will deteriorate almost immediately.
2. Store tomatoes preferably with the stalks. So they lie longer.
3. Large tomatoes ripen much faster than small ones. To speed up this process, a simple fresh apple is added to the fruits. It releases ethylene, which contributes to the proper fast-track ripening.
4. Before laying for storage, carefully process the boxes and boxes from the spray gun. Alcohol, a solution of potassium permanganate or chlorine disinfect containers well. Then you need to thoroughly dry it. And only then use for long-term storage of tomatoes.
5. It is not advisable to take drawers with a trellised bottom. Vegetables may crumple on rods or break through the skin.
6. Stack the fruits strictly with the stalk up. This is their natural position.
7. Green tomatoes are suitable only for timely ripening. They are not put for long-term storage.The taste is very special, few people like it.
8. Storing tomatoes longer than the beginning of March is not recommended. The seeds begin to germinate in them, the taste changes, the flesh becomes loose, an unpleasant amber appears, reminiscent of soap. Everything has its time. Even on New Year's eve to taste fresh tomatoes of our own production is already a remarkable achievement.
9. Tomatoes in boxes or crates are not covered with lids so that they do not “suffocate” in their own carbon dioxide. Can't wait to cover the containers? Take loose fabric, thin paper, or non-woven fabric.
10. Before harvesting vegetables are sorted by degree of ripeness, size and variety. Stacked in boxes, guided by the same principle.
11. Tomatoes harvested from the open ground are preserved much better than greenhouse fruits and grown under cover.

Of course, over time, the taste of tomatoes changes slightly, the aroma becomes weaker. But still, it is much better than those tomatoes that are sold in the winter in supermarkets and shops.

Video: how to keep tomatoes fresh for the winter