Harvesting celery for the winter. How to store petiole celery for the winter

Celery means quite healthy vegetable, which is recommended to be included in basic nutrition for all categories of people. As practice shows, the plant is not common among our compatriots. But residents of Europe and the United States of America enjoy using it at every opportunity. There are several variations of the method, including fresh form and homemade preparations for the cold season. It is the last type that interests us; we will consider it in detail.

Harvesting celery

Plays an important role correct collection harvest. In order for the rhizomes to turn out to be really large, and their chemical list of substances to be fully formed, it is necessary to give them the opportunity to lie in the ground for as long as possible.
A positive feature of such manipulations is considered to be that the fruit is covered with a compacted shell. It prevents damage to the internal part, thereby the roots are stored for a long period of time and do not deteriorate during aging.
Harvesting takes place shortly before frost. For this reason, experts advise monitoring weather conditions in the region where the vegetable grows. If we are talking about middle lane Russia, it is necessary to harvest the crop at the end of the first month of autumn.
In the process of implementing the plan, it is necessary to comply important features. Around the end of summer, the leaves and shoots located in the lower section should be removed. They fulfilled their main function - they allowed the rhizomes to gain usefulness. Then the roots ripen on their own.
Although the peel is dense, it should be handled with great care. Do not pull out the roots; arm yourself with a pitchfork or shovel, and then dig up the crop. Do not hit it on the ground; excess soil is removed manually.
Now you need to obtain information regarding the quality of the obtained rhizomes. If the upper section is soft, then the fruit rots. Strike with your finger. If you hear ringing sounds, then there are empty areas in the inner part.
After assessing the quality, you should remove the soil, arm yourself with pruners or scissors and cut off small roots. Also no tops are required. If you have time, sort by size characteristics. Some summer residents do not advise digging up the entire crop in order to enjoy the freshly sprouted leaves in the spring.

Storage Features

An interesting fact is that even in apartment conditions this plant can be grown. This is done in pots. Activities like these allow you year-round, including winter time, enjoy celery. However, to make this possible, it is necessary to provide care and perform the planting correctly.
To enjoy vegetables more often, root vegetables should be kept in the cold for some time. Before this, they are rinsed, dried, wrapped in polyethylene and sent to the vegetable compartment. During this time, the fruits will remain for about ten days.
There is another variation of aging, which is to use a freezer. But it should be understood that after such storage the plant should not be eaten in its raw form. However, it makes a great addition to soups and stews.

Storing roots

The basis of this part of the plant includes the most valuable minerals. They will fill the deficit in the winter, so it makes sense to stock up on products for future use. If you follow all the details of storage, you can achieve aging for up to six months or even a year.
If there is a basement or other room of this kind, then the rhizomes are laid out in boxes and sprinkled with sand.
You can also wrap the root vegetables in plastic and keep them in the freezer. It was mentioned earlier that this is not recommended. But if there is no other way out, then further intake is carried out only after heat treatment.

Leaf storage

In order for stalked celery to be preserved literally in its original form, you should first wash it. Do not forget to dry it from liquid and reassemble it in the future. All damaged copies are thrown away.
When the preparatory activities come to an end, take the container or sort it into bags. Keep refrigerated in the vegetable drawer. Holes must be made for air circulation. If you provide a temperature regime that does not exceed 1 degree, the leaves will last until spring.

Drying

As an alternative, the leaves of the plant can be prepared in dried form. Moreover, this procedure is considered one of the simplest. Therefore, during the manipulation you should not have any difficulties.
It is best to dry whole bunches of greens at once. At the same time, hitting direct sun rays is strictly contraindicated. It is best to carry out the procedure in a cool, shady room. It is enough to spread the raw materials on a flat surface and cover with parchment.
This process will take about 1 month. After which finished product It is recommended to turn into powder any in an accessible way and use as a seasoning. No one is stopping you from chopping the greens into larger fractions. In any case, the finished raw materials will have to be stored in sealed glass containers.
Celery root is dried using exactly the same technology. It is enough to chop it into pieces convenient for you. Then dry the product thoroughly. Store it in a glass container with an airtight lid. Do not allow moisture to enter under any circumstances. The preparation will perfectly complement various sauces, first and second courses.

Freezing

If you do not have a cellar or basement, then the easiest way is to deep freeze the raw materials in question. Sort out the leaves of the plant and rinse thoroughly. Then they should be dried thoroughly with a paper towel. Finely chop with a sharp knife.
Fill ice cube trays with chopped herbs. Don't pour in large number purified water. Place the preparations in the freezer. Once the workpiece is completely frozen, transfer the cubes to a plastic bag. Repeat the procedure.
As for petiole celery, it can be frozen in exactly the same way as we previously did with leaf celery. Prepare the raw materials in advance, removing all excess. The product can even be left whole. Place in a bag and freeze.

Pickling

Advantage salty product The fact is that it can be used in almost any dish. To carry out this procedure, it is enough to take 1 kg. prepared plant leaves and 0.25 kg. salt. Combine the components and place in a glass container.
Leave some space, the juice will soon release. After this happens, roll up the containers with lids. Store in the pantry.

Pickling

The advantage of the pickled product is that it can be consumed as a stand-alone snack. In addition, this preparation is often added to hot dishes. The recipe will require 1 liter. purified water, 1 kg. plant root, 30 gr. salt and 3 gr. lemons.
Also take the ingredients for making the marinade. This will require 0.8 liters. filtered water, 4 black peppercorns and the same number of clove buds, 200 ml. vinegar. Chop the raw materials into small pieces. Blanch in salted water for a few minutes.
Then remove from the broth and transfer to a glass container. While the workpiece is cooling, begin preparing the marinade. Mix water, vinegar and spices. Boil and pour liquid over celery. Send to sterilize for a third of an hour.
Roll up the lids. In addition, leaf celery can also be pickled if necessary. To do this, let's look at a slightly different recipe. To do liter jar preparations, take 2 bay leaves and 4 garlic cloves.
To prepare the marinade, take 150 ml. vinegar, 0.7 l. water, 70 gr. salt and 100 gr. Sahara. Place in the bottom of the jar bay leaves and garlic. Fill the container tightly with plant leaves. Pour in the hot marinade. Sterilize the jars and seal them.

Among other things, do not forget that the product is very useful, but there are also negative aspects. So if you want to extract maximum benefit from the product, do not overuse it. You should not eat celery in unlimited quantities. This is especially true for pregnant girls.

Video: how to preserve petiole celery

When the celery harvest pleases with an abundance of root vegetables and aromatic, juicy and healthy greens, it is worth taking care of how to preserve root celery, as well as celery leaves for the winter. After all, it is quite difficult to find celery on the shelves of vegetable stores in winter, and in order to consume healthy root vegetables and celery greens during the period when it is not growing in the garden beds, you need to know how to prepare celery for the winter.

Root celery should be harvested in a timely manner, and there is no need to rush into harvesting; the longer the roots are in the ground, the larger and more mature they will be. In conditions of long-term cultivation, the skin of the rhizome thickens and can serve as protection against damage and preservation. useful substances vegetables during harvesting, transportation and storage. But you shouldn’t wait until the first frost either; in this case, celery may not tolerate storage well.

On average, the optimal time for cleaning is the end of September, but it is worth considering the weather forecast. As a rule, a month before harvesting, the lower shoots and branches are cut off so that the root crop ripens and acquires a more rounded shape. When digging the root out of the soil, you need to do it very carefully so as not to damage the peel. It is advisable not to use any tools, but simply pull the tops with force. To make it easier to get the root out of the ground, first fill it with plenty of water a few days before.

To check the quality of the tubers, before harvesting you need to carefully examine them; if they are soft, it means they have begun to rot, and if you hear them when tapped, ringing sound This means that the tuber has grown somewhat dry and is empty inside. Such parts are not suitable for harvesting.

To harvest the roots, cut off the tops, leaving stumps several centimeters high, remove the thin roots and clean off any stuck pieces of soil.

After harvesting the celery tubers, they should be sorted, and if their number has grown a lot, then a few roots can be left in the garden bed, so they will produce juicy and young greens for the spring.

And if you want greens to grow in your home, plant small roots in a flower pot and enjoy your own grown fragrant and healthy greens all winter. Young shoots will look like indoor flower and will serve as a beautiful interior decoration. Thus, you can grow healthy greens at home even in winter.

Video “Storing leaf celery”

From the video you will learn how to properly store leaf celery.

Storing root vegetables in a city apartment

How to store celery root in an apartment? This vegetable is not very capricious in storage; it can be stored for a long time until summer, but still under certain conditions. Tubers can be kept in the refrigerator, in the vegetable compartment. Before placing root vegetables in the refrigerator, they are thoroughly washed, dried and packaged in plastic.

Root vegetables prepared in this way can be consumed at any time, preparing salads from them, adding them to soups and vegetable stews.

This type of storage is certainly very convenient, but if there are much more root vegetables than the vegetable compartment in the refrigerator can accommodate, then you need to resort to other storage methods. Then you need to bring root vegetables from the cellar in portions. But the rule remains the same before immersion in the refrigerator; in order to avoid various unsanitary measures, each root is thoroughly washed and wrapped in plastic.

Even if your apartment has a large freezer, it is not suitable for storing celery roots. Root vegetables that will be placed in the freezer will only be suitable for heat treatment, that is, they cannot be used in fresh. Thus, in the freezer you can make a preparation of celery tubers, which will be added exclusively for cooking, and subjected to heat treatment.

Wintering in a cellar, garage, or country house

In fact, preserving celery root crops during the winter is not so difficult, and known methods there is a great variety. And there are many answers to the question of how to store celery. Each of them is effective, choose any of them, but remember, the temperature in the room where the vegetable will be stored should be in the range from 0° to +1°, and the humidity – 90% or more.

How to store celery for the winter? Since ancient times, there have been known ways to prepare celery for wintering in cellars, basements, garages, and at the dacha.

One of them is storage in a box with sand. To use this method of harvesting root crops in the winter, you will need a box and wet sand. The root crop is buried in the sand as if in a garden bed, and remains in this form for the winter. This method will perfectly keep the tubers in excellent shape.

Another long-standing method of preparing root crops for wintering is the use of clay. To do this, the root vegetables are poured with a mixture of clay and water, after which they are dried and left to overwinter in this form.

In the southern regions, with not much harsh winter and where the ground freezes shallowly, lay the tubers in prepared trenches, covering each layer with sand. The vegetables, folded and sprinkled with sand, are covered with straw and then with a layer of earth of at least 20 cm.

Since celery is an integral part of many vegetable seasonings, if you wish, you can prepare such a spicy additive yourself. To do this, you should prepare its leaves and petioles: wash, dry and chop. Then spread them between two layers of natural fabric or paper towel and leave to dry in a dry place. On average, leafy greens will take about a month to dry. After a month, the dried herbs are ground in a blender, coffee grinder, or by hand (the dry parts will easily grind into dust). It is advisable to store the resulting aromatic mixture in a glass container with a lid.

Celery leaves and stalks are also used to make a roll with salt. For such a preparation you will need 100 g of salt per 0.5 kg of celery stalks and leaves. The stems with leaves are crushed, tightly placed in jars, each layer is sprinkled with salt, which will act as a preservative, and the lids are rolled up. Such preparations should be stored in a dark and cool place.

Using various ways storage, you can prepare delicious and healthy dishes with the addition of various parts of celery (tubers, leaves, petioles). And if the plant is grown independently, then you can be completely sure that the prepared dishes will contain many vitamins and microelements.

Waste-free technologies

When large and beautiful tubers are ready for storage for winter period, and there are parts of the plant that are unsuitable (small, rotten, smallish, half-empty) for this type of storage, you still shouldn’t rush to throw them away. From them you can prepare very useful vitamin supplements for main dishes in winter.

To do this, peel the roots, cut off the spoiled parts, cut them into small cubes or bars and send them to dry. How to dry celery?

Place in a well-ventilated room with a temperature of at least 25 degrees, on natural fabric or on paper towels, and leave for several weeks. After the vegetables have dried, they should be placed in a glass container with an airtight lid; vegetables prepared according to this rule will be stored for a long time. They can be added to a variety of soups, broths and vegetable side dishes, the main thing is that they undergo heat treatment.

And if you make a seasoning from dried celery by grinding it almost into dust using a blender, then it can be used raw, sprinkling it on ready-made dishes.

By devoting a little time to celery root vegetables, you will have the opportunity to eat them fresh until the new harvest. And thus, all year round There will be aromatic and healthy dishes on your table.

Video “Root storage”

From the video you will learn how to store the root of the plant.

The root variety of celery is a very valuable crop for humans. It contains many microelements and vitamins. Root vegetables are used to make main courses and are used as an ingredient in salads and stews. This kind of celery is not always easy to find on vegetable shelves. Therefore, people who care about their health try to prepare it for the winter. There are many recipes for storing root vegetables. Videos and recommendations from experts will help you understand them.

Features of harvesting celery root

Storing vegetables begins with proper harvesting. This process usually lasts from mid-summer to early autumn. The plant should not have time to bloom. Otherwise, it will use its juice to form seeds and will lose because of this taste qualities. Trim off the leaves, leaving short petioles.
Whether you harvest yourself or buy it at the market, keep an eye on the quality of the root crops.

A good celery root has the following characteristics:

surface without nodules and protruding bumps;
when pressed, the root crop is dense and hard, softness indicates rot;
when tapped, the sound should be dull; a ringing sound indicates cavities inside the fetus.

For long-term storage, choose high-quality root vegetables

For short-term storage, you can place celery on the vegetable shelf of the refrigerator:

be sure to wash the surface of the root crop;
remove dirt and damaged parts;
wipe dry;
place in a plastic bag.

Attention! In such conditions, celery can be safely stored for up to 2 weeks, retaining its taste and aroma.

Methods for winter storage of root celery

For longer-term storage of root crops, a cellar is usually used. There are several options. All of them will help preserve celery until spring:

Place the fruits in a plastic bag. Sprinkle with dry sand and store at a temperature of no more than +1°C. Optimal humidity is about 90%.
Fill a cardboard box or wooden box with dry sand. Stick the root vegetables into it in a vertical position, leaving the leaf stalks above the surface. Store the container in a cool, dark place.
Mix the clay with water until creamy. Coat the celery with a thin layer of the mixture. Dry and place in a cool, dry place.
Place the root vegetables in several layers directly in the cellar on a dry bedding. Each layer should be sprinkled with sand mixed with chalk, which will protect against fungal infections.

Celery can be stored in the cellar until spring

You can freeze celery root in freezer. To do this, cut the roots and then grate them on a coarse grater. It is convenient to package the resulting semi-finished product in sealed bags in portions and use the vegetable crop as needed.

You can dry root vegetables:

peel them;
cut into strips;
dry in the sun or in the oven;
Place in a glass container with a tight-fitting lid.

Recipe for preparing celery root for the winter

For winter storage You can cook or pickle celery roots. One of the recipes:

Peel the root vegetable and cut into small cubes.
Prepare the marinade. Fill a saucepan with water and dissolve in it citric acid(3 g per 1 l) and salt (30 g per 1 l). Bring the mixture to a boil.
Place the pan with the marinade on low heat and add the prepared celery. Cook for a couple of minutes and then remove the roots using a slotted spoon. Let them cool.
Prepare sterile jars and lids. Place celery in them, add 3-4 black peppercorns to each.
Fill the jars with marinade. Sometimes housewives prepare a separate solution by mixing 9% vinegar and water in proportions 1:4.
Without rolling, place the jars in a large container with water at about 85-95 °C for pasteurization. Carry out the procedure for 20 minutes.
Roll up the lids.

Attention! The pasteurization period is indicated for half-liter jars. 1 liter containers should be kept on fire for 5 minutes. longer.

Winter dishes made from celery root

During the cold season, this root vegetable can become a real storehouse of deficient substances for your body. The roots turn out delicious in a salad:

Celery is very beneficial for humans

Wash 0.5 kg of celery and cook for 30-45 minutes. until softened. Leave to cool.
Prepare salad dressing. Mix 3 tbsp. l. sunflower oil, 2 tbsp. l. lemon juice and 1 tbsp. l. wine vinegar. Add salt, pepper, seasonings to taste.
Cut the roots into thin slices and pour the dressing over them.

Advice. This salad keeps well in the refrigerator under cling film for several days.

You don't have to boil the celery. It goes well in this form with beets, carrots and apples. Grate all the ingredients onto a fine grater and arrange in layers on a plate. Season with sauce: 4 tbsp. l. apple cider vinegar and 2 tsp. soft mustard. You can add a little honey to taste.

Another salad option is a combination of grated celery with carrots, nuts and flax seeds. This dish can be dressed with any vegetable oil, preferably odorless.

Preparing celery roots is easy. By properly organizing their storage, you will be able to receive a complete vitamin diet even in the winter cold.

How to cook celery root: video

Root vegetables and celery greens can not be found in every store, but this vegetable plant contains so many vitamins and nutrients that it would be nice to eat it every day. It is especially important to add celery to your diet during winter time when the body lacks nutrients, so it’s better to prepare your own celery for the winter in advance so that you can eat it whenever you want.

If you grow this most useful vegetable plant in your garden, knowing how to store celery root or its greens throughout the winter will be even more useful to you. No matter how much celery you plant, you can always find a use for it: when you add frozen or dried herbs, soups acquire a special aroma, grated frozen root vegetables add a piquant taste to dishes, celery is also good in a marinade with tomatoes or on its own. Petioles, root vegetables and celery leaves can be stored fresh for a long time, used for salads or decoration ready meals bright greens.

Methods for storing celery root vegetables

When harvesting root vegetables for further storage, cut off the leaves of the celery, leaving small petioles. When buying root vegetables at the market or in a store, make sure that they have smooth skin and a smooth, non-knobby surface, then it will be easier to clean the roots in the future. Tap the root crop - a ringing sound indicates the presence of voids inside the root. Check to see if the celery is rotten by pressing on the top of the root.

If you plan to eat the root vegetable in the near future, it will be enough to wrap it tightly cling film and place in the refrigerator - tart aroma, spicy taste and beneficial properties Root vegetables will be stored in such conditions for a week.

Options for long-term storage of celery root vegetables:

Stick the root vegetables into the sand in a vertical position so that the petioles are on the surface, and put them in the cellar or underground.
Place the roots in plastic bags or wooden boxes with solid walls, sprinkled with 2 cm of sand, and place them in storage where the air humidity is about 90% and the temperature does not exceed +1 degree.
Prepare a mass of creamy consistency from clay, dip each root vegetable in it, dry it and place it in stacks in storage.
Place the root vegetables in piles, leaving the petioles outside and sprinkling each layer with earth or sand with chalk added to protect against fungal diseases.

It is convenient to store the roots in dried form, by peeling them, cutting them into strips and drying them in the sun. Dried straws are stored in a sealed glass container.

Another option is to grate the peeled root vegetable on a coarse grater, put it in bags and put it in the freezer. Celery prepared in this way can be taken out of the freezer at any time of the year and used in cooking without defrosting.

How to store petiole and leaf celery

In the store, you should choose celery with bright green, fairly brittle stems; elastic stems indicate that the celery has already lost its freshness and the content of nutrients in it has decreased. Also make sure that the petiole does not have a seed arrow, otherwise the taste of the stems will be bitter.

Leaf and petiole celery, storage:

Celery greens wilt very quickly, so immediately after purchasing or cutting them from the garden, rinse the greens, let them dry and, wrap them in aluminum foil, put them in the refrigerator. So the stalks and leaves of celery will retain their freshness for about ten days; in plastic wrap they will wither in three days.
To prepare seasoning from leaf and stalk celery, place the greens on large leaf clean paper and cover with another sheet on top. Let the herb dry for a month, after which you can transfer the dried celery to a paper bag and use it in cooking at any time of the year.
If it is important to you that the celery remains green and flavorful, you can freeze it in ice cube trays. Choose the freshest greens without yellowed branches, chop them, put them in molds, fill them with water and put them in the freezer.
To add to main courses, celery greens can be stored in the freezer, packed in a plastic, airtight container.
Greens can be salted by adding 100 g of salt per 0.5 kg of plants. The jars of salted herbs are sealed and allowed to brew for two days. Salt will prevent celery from rotting and spoiling, so you can use salted greens in cooking all year round.

There is a way to keep leaf and petiole celery fresh until spring. To do this, you need to dig up the bushes from the garden bed along with a small lump of earth, move them to the cellar or basement and bury them in the sand there. If you don’t have a cellar, cut off the roots of the celery and wash the plants cold water, dry and in plastic bag put it in the refrigerator. There the greenery may well survive until spring at a temperature no higher than +1 degree.

It is recommended to cut celery greens for storage until the time of flowering, then the aroma and taste will be preserved for a long time even if deep frozen. Petiole celery will be more tender and tasty if you wrap the plants in light-proof material a month before harvesting.