Content of the article:
Pumpkin, a frequenter of Russian beds, has many advantages. Vegetables are not capricious and easy to grow, even a novice will take care of them, and the fruits collected in the fall are a component of various dishes and a storehouse of useful substances for all family members.
The unique vitamin and mineral complex present in the pulp and pumpkin seeds helps in the winter to recharge your batteries, lose those extra pounds and support your immunity. Pumpkin is considered an excellent product for baby and diet food. For lovers of delicious homemade food, the pumpkin gives you the opportunity to diversify the menu with fragrant porridges and stews, candied fruits and jam, juice and pastries.
However, anticipating acquaintance with gastronomic delights, rejoicing at the end of summer work, the summer resident will have to solve an equally important task. Delicious and healthy pumpkin dishes will be only when the fruits are provided with proper storage conditions.
How to store a pumpkin in the winter? In what conditions will ripe pumpkins not spoil, their flesh will remain as sweet, dense and juicy, as in the fall?
How to collect and store a pumpkin in the winter?
Experienced gardeners, first of all, consider that harvesting and preparation of fruits for laying for the winter is the key to successful storage of pumpkins. Depending on the type of pumpkin can be stored from 3 to 24 months. But so that during this time the fruit does not lose the nutrients accumulated over the summer, the flesh does not become dry, loose and tasteless, or, on the contrary, does not rot, only ripe, healthy fruits without scratches, traces of diseases and other defects should be stored.
The choice of summer residents today offers up to hundreds of different varieties and hybrids that ripen at different times and produce fruits of all shapes and colors. Therefore, the timing of the harvest stretch from mid-August to November.
The gardeners of the middle belt, the Urals, the North-West of the country and Siberia are the hardest to findHere, gardeners are often forced to cut pumpkin off the lash, requiring long ripening.
But even in these conditions, knowing how to store a pumpkin, you can save and use the cultivated with good use. A sign that the pumpkin is ready to take a place in the storehouse and spend more than one month there can be considered:
- hardened, turned into a kind of cork stalk;
- wilting of the lash on which the fruit grows, and the foliage around;
- strong, not broken when exposed to the nail bark of the fetus;
- appearance in the color of pumpkin flowers inherent in the ripe fruit.
While harvesting, experienced gardeners try not to tear and unscrew the fruit, but carefully cut them, so that the pumpkin is kept in the winter with a handle not less than 4-6 cm in lengthIf a pumpkin is left without a stalk for some reason, harmful fungi and bacteria immediately settle on the site of its attachment, and the fruit begins to rot. A similar process occurs when the fruit is stored:
- damaged by rodents or garden tools;
- cracked and bruised;
- foci of disease on the cortex.
The best time to harvest is dry, sunny days when the fruit can be spread out in a ventilated, lighted place to dry. If the weather allows, in the cool autumn sun the harvest is left for a week.
During this time, the crust additionally hardens, the flesh becomes sweeter, and even small scratches on the peel tighten a little. Such pumpkins are stored better in winter, and when they are cut, they are delighted with taste and juiciness.
Dry ventilated basements are rightfully considered to be the ideal place to store pumpkins in the winter. Here, at a temperature of 5 to 10 ° C, the fruit is immersed in a state close to hibernation. All processes in them are slowed down, only very slow evaporation of moisture and the conversion of starch into sugar occur.
- If the air is humid in the place chosen for storage of pumpkin and there is no ventilation, it is likely that mold and rot will appear on the surface of the pilaf, and deterioration will soon affect the pulp.
- Equally negative impact on the collected pumpkin and sub-zero temperatures. The damaged bark softens, and the pumpkin rots.
One wondered how to injure a pumpkin, a summer resident needs to prepare a ventilated dry and clean racks or pallets for the fruit. They are disassembled according to the variety and storage periods of the pumpkin, laid in such a way that there was no contact with the floor or walls on which condensation could occur.
During storage, do not allow crowding of fruits. If necessary, they shift the packing paper or straw. It will be better if the stalk will be on top.
If simple, but effective security measures are observed, as well as regular inspection of the crop, the pumpkin that started to rot will be quickly noticed and removed. The rest of the fruit will remain dry and healthy.
But not always, even when all the storage conditions for pumpkins are fulfilled, they can please the gardener who raised them. The fact is that each variety has its own deadline when the pumpkin is stored without loss of quality. Early varieties, for example, the Gymnosperm or pumpternat fruits that are popular today, are best consumed within 3–5 months after harvest. Otherwise, you may encounter a situation where seeds begin to germinate inside the fruit, and the pulp completely loses all its consumer qualities.
beans How to store a pumpkin in an apartment
A cellar or other suitable room suitable for storing crops always rescues a summer resident. But what if the gardener only has a city apartment? Besides the fact that the harvest of pumpkins takes a lot of space, it is necessary to create comfortable conditions for vegetables. Is it possible to keep a pumpkin in the apartment, and how to protect the fruit from drying out inevitable in heat?
The storage rules for pumpkins in the basement and in the heated room have a lot in common. Fruits feel better in a dry dark place where there is ventilation.
All this can be achieved by laying out pumpkins in the pantry. The main thing is that there are no heating devices nearby, pumpkins are not exposed to negative temperatures, and, if possible, do not touch.
Even a glazed balcony or loggia can be a temporary refuge for vegetables harvested from garden beds. Here they are placed on racks or in drawers, covered with a thick cloth to protect from the sun and possible frost. When cold, the fruits are transferred to the apartment and store pumpkins until it gets warmer on the street.
If there is no suitable place for storing whole fruits, it remains to dry the pulp and pumpkin seeds, process the crop into homemade canned goods, juice and mashed potatoes. Are there any other ways to store pumpkins in the winter? And what to do if it is impossible to eat the fruit grown on the site at one time?
How to store cut pumpkin?
Large-fruited pumpkin varieties are stored longer than the others, but after cutting such a fruit, even a close-knit family can sometimes be difficult to eat immediately. Do not throw away most of the pumpkin, if only a small slice is spent on mashed potatoes or juice for a child? The question of how to keep the cut pumpkin, are interested and those summer residents who, when revising the crop, find slightly tainted specimens.
Since there are a lot of sugars in the pulp of the pumpkin, a tasty food for bacteria, it’s impossible to save a cut pumpkin for a long time. The maximum shelf life, well washed, free from seeds and cut into chunks of pumpkin is two weeks. Moreover, such a fruit should be tightly wrapped in cling film and stored in the refrigerator. At a temperature of 2–6 ° C, the development of pathogenic flora is inhibited, but does not stop, so the sweetest varieties should be eaten as early as possible.
Instead of a film, you can use a foil, but since this material does not protect against dehydration, slices of sliced pumpkin intended for storing are pre-treated with refined vegetable oil.
Freezing the pulp will extend the shelf life of the cut fruit. Moreover, this method is not time consuming and simple.
Can I freeze the pumpkin in the freezer?
Fast freezing of vegetables has recently become one of the most popular ways to preserve the crop. This is explained by the fact that the fruits do not lose the lion’s share of their beneficial properties; they have a characteristic aroma and taste characteristic of the culture. This also fully applies to the pumpkin intended for winter storage.
If juicy melon cannot be frozen without loss of consistency, then the dense pulp of the pumpkin easily tolerates freezing temperatures. But it is better not to send large pieces in the freezer as a whole. They will have to be defrosted for a long time, which will inevitably lead to a deterioration in the quality of the product.
It is much easier and more convenient to freeze the pumpkin in the freezer in the form of small cubes. This method saves storage space, but in the winter it seriously reduces the time for cooking your favorite pumpkin dishes, because the cubes are completely ready to be sent to the pan or pan.
To prevent the vegetable from losing its consistency during defrosting, it is important to transfer the pulp from the freezer to the vegetable compartment. Here, at a temperature close to zero, the pumpkin will defrost, but will not lose moisture.
There is another way you can freeze the pumpkin in the freezer. In this case, the chamber is not sent cubes, and mashed potatoes made from baked pulp. Before the pumpkin gets into the refrigerator, it is washed, cut into large pieces and the seeds are removed along with a loose fibrous core.
Pieces of pumpkin pulp down spread on baking sheets, which put in the oven for 30-40 minutes, during which the pulp softens.
With the cooled pumpkin gently peel off, and the resulting pulp is crushed in a meat grinder or blender until a smooth, even mass.
Pumpkin puree, storing all the properties and taste of the vegetable, is packaged in tightly-sealed small bags that hold a portion for one use of the product, or in ice molds. 
In the freezer, frozen pumpkins can be stored for up to one year. It is only important to remember that re-freezing of vegetable pulp is unacceptable.
Use the same tasty and healthy product for cooking soups, children's laviar caviar, jam, baking and desserts.
