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Noche de Rábanos is celebrated the day before Christmas in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, which translates as Radish Night. A lot of participants from all over the region gather on the square and present to the audience scenes from the country's history, Mexican legends, Christmas stories and sketches from rural life, made of huge fresh root vegetables.
The history of an unusual celebration, designed, as they say, to popularize the garden culture among the local population, has been going on for two centuries. It is quite possible that this was true, but the radish brought to the Americas in the 16th century on fertile Mexican soil grows to gigantic proportions. Therefore, we can not exclude the version that, collecting abundant harvests of this early vegetable, the peasants of Mexico simply did not know how to store radishes, so they invented making sculptures from root vegetables and demonstrating their creativity to the neighbors.
On the Russian beds radish grows much more modest in size than in Mexico, but the domestic gardeners are familiar with the problem of saving the harvested crop, complicated by the fact that with all the usefulness and productivity of the vegetable does not tolerate heat treatment, and keep it fresh is not always possible.
How to keep the radish fresh for the winter and not lose the grown crop?
Harvested radishes at room temperature lose their juiciness after a few hours.
First foliage fades, and then root vegetables. In a cellar or a refrigerator, something like this happens - moisture leaves the roots, but somewhat slower. Interestingly, early root vegetables, more juicy and small are almost half the size of radish of later varieties.
For harvesting, it is better to take large, dense root vegetables that wilt more slowly.
In order to keep the radish intended for long-term storage as rich as possible, the beds are plentifully watered in the evening, and early in the morning, before the sun has warmed the air and the soil, they are cleaned, immediately cutting the tops and leaving 3-4 cm long stalks.which keep fresh for the winter, do not remove.
How to store radishes in the refrigerator?
If the roots are to be stored in a domestic refrigerator, they are washed, dried thoroughly and laid out in bags or containers. Do not close containers tightly, as condensation that forms can cause mold. To absorb moisture inside the package, you can lay napkins, which will have to be changed regularly.
How to store radish, if losing moisture, it loses its main advantage - juiciness? Water itself can help to slow the loss of radish moisture. To do this, washed, without tails and tops, root vegetables are placed in clean glass jars and poured with boiled water, so that the radish was completely covered with a layer of liquid. Then the container is closed and put in the refrigerator. Salt or a little vinegar can be added to the water as a preservative. From time to time, radishes are better to inspect, wash, and change the water.
However, if you intend to keep the radish fresh in the refrigerator, you should not expect that it will remain unchanged throughout the winter.
The maximum shelf life of early varieties is 1.5–2 weeks, and mid-ripening and late ones, from 1 to 1.5 months.
How to keep fresh radishes in the basement for the winter?
But in cellars and cellars, where the temperature is maintained at 2–3 ° C and the air humidity is 85–90%, the radish of the autumn harvest goes through the winter, remaining almost fresh and juicy, as in a garden bed. Radishes, like other root vegetables, can only be stored if there is good ventilation and there are no rodents and fungus in the store.
rye-wheat bread at home Before storing fresh radishes, root crops extracted from the ground:
- is a little dried, after cutting the tops and roots;
- gently free of excess soil;
- inspect and select strong vegetables without damage and signs of disease;
- is placed in decontaminated dry clean boxes, sprinkling layers of barely wet sand.
In compliance with the rules of storage, periodic inspections of root crops and a sample of dried up or rotted radishes are stored until January or even until mid-February.
Practically unchanged remains not only the appearance of radish, but also its vitamin and mineral composition.
Is it possible to freeze the radish for the winter?
What can not be said when some gardeners are trying to freeze the radish for the winter. Moisture contained in root crops, when exposed to a temperature of –18 to –24 ° C, turns into ice crystals, tearing the tissue cells. As a result, the thawed radish loses its elasticity, moisture drains, and a shapeless lump remains in the plate, devoid of taste and other properties.
The only way to freeze the radish for the winter and not to lose its benefits, is a low-temperature freeze in industrial environments.
For 8–10 minutes, peeled and chopped root vegetables are blown with air at a temperature of about –40 ° C.In this case, the moisture does not have time to harm the tissues of the root, and part of it from the surface just evaporates. Unfortunately, this freezing of radish for the winter at home is impossible. But there are other ways to eat juicy root vegetables with a sweet-spicy taste in the cold season.
Marinade, as a way to keep radishes fresh for the winter
In eastern countries, pickled radish is a traditional and highly respected snack. Radishes canned in Mexico, and in many European countries. The simplest marinade consists of 1 cup of water, 1 cup of table vinegar, 1/2 cup of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of salt. Washed root crops:
- cut into slices, circles, or cut out on one side to create a semblance of a bud;
- stack in jars;
- pour marinade;
- sterilized and covered with lids.
Recipes The marinade may vary. If part of the salt is replaced with soy vinegar, add ginger and spices, you can get a snack in the Japanese style. With the pepper and the addition of tomatoes, the marinade will make the dish South American, and the rosemary, black pepper and pearl onion slices will turn it into an exquisite French aperitif.
If you can’t keep your radish fresh for the winter, you can store such home canned food in the refrigerator or basement for much longer than 2 to 3 months. And since the radish pieces are small, then you can try harvesting in a day.
How to store radishes: chips and Japanese delicacy
In Japan, radish-related culture, daikon, is shredded and dried, getting long white-yellow strips of sweet-hot taste, called Kiribosi. If on the beds the harvest of white large root crops is ripening, then the question of how to preserve radishes for the winter disappears.
Thoroughly washed radish:
- cut into long strips, about 0.5 cm thick;
- no longer blanch in minutes in boiling salted water;
- laid out on a lattice and dried;
- is placed in an oven and dried at 55–60 ° C.
Similarly, chips are made from brightly colored radish, which, before drying, when the root slices are still wet, can be slightly salted or sprinkled with spices. Dried radish should be stored in hermetically sealed glass jars or double paper bags. The result is an original appetizer, the question of how to store radishes will cease to be a problem, and the grown crop will not disappear.
