Is it possible to store fresh zucchini?
Zucchini is of great interest as a dietary and baby food product. They are perfectly absorbed by the body, do not overload the stomach, and are indicated for people with digestive problems.
Plus, fresh zucchini is very easy to prepare. They are baked, fried, stuffed, and added to soups and salads. Canned vegetables serve as a side dish for dishes in the winter.
To date, breeders have developed 174 varieties of zucchini. The fruits differ in shape, color and taste.
Another characteristic is the fruiting period. Zucchini can be:
- Early ripening. These include the bulk of varieties and hybrids.
- Mid-early. These are Arlica, Aliya, Adrielle, Betsy, Pinocchio, Goodwin, Golda, Donya perfecta, European, Marigold, Excellent Student of Nevira, Sabina.
- Mid-season. These are Caruso, Nice, Spaghetti Raviolo, Spaghetti Femeli, Miracle Orange.
In 2021, a variety recommended by breeders for freezing, Pogrebok, was added to the register.
There are no hybrids or varieties of zucchini for long-term storage on this list. You can store zucchini at home for fresh consumption, but not for long and in small volumes. For the winter, it is better to freeze, dry or preserve them.
- Unripe, juicy fruits with thin skin and small seeds are collected throughout the summer season. They are ideal for preparing rolls and semi-finished products.
- Ripe vegetables are often collected and stored for livestock feed. For culinary use, they have too hard skin, fibrous tasteless pulp and an unpleasant aftertaste.
We answer the question: why does the skin of zucchini turn yellow during storage?
Yellowing of the skin is normal. It indicates the ripening of the vegetable. What’s worse is that the peel becomes thick and tough, and the flesh becomes loose. The taste of the product does not change for the better. Therefore, try not to store fresh vegetables with a reserve; it is better to use other methods.
Preparation
The skin of zucchini suitable for long-term storage must be thick and dense to protect the fruit from rotting. There should be no damage to the surface of the peel. Scratched zucchini is best eaten immediately after harvest.
You need to collect vegetables from the garden along with the stalk, cut it to 6-9 cm. It protects against putrefactive processes and drying out of the pulp. The quality of the fruit is determined by the condition of the stem. If it is dense, the zucchini can still be stored. Fruits with soft stems will not last long and should be eaten immediately.
Fruits selected for stock are prohibited from washing. They are wiped with a dry cloth to remove the soil and dry from moisture. The fruits are placed vertically in a regular wooden box, legs up, in one or several layers. Clean sheets of cardboard are placed in the spaces between the rows.
Rules for harvesting vegetables
To prepare zucchini for the winter, you first need to properly harvest them. This will determine how long they will stay in storage.
Collection time for each region is individual. The main thing is to collect the fruits before they fall under the first autumn frosts. But there’s no need to rush into planting – haste will reduce the time you can use zucchini in winter.
To obtain young fruits, zucchini is cut every 2-3 days so as not to interfere with the ripening of the rest. To store them for winter storage, on the contrary, they wait until they are completely ripe, and the new ovaries are torn off.
Harvest in dry weather when nighttime temperatures approach freezing. To keep zucchini fresh in winter, separate them from the vine, leaving a stalk 5 cm long. Use a sharp knife to make a clean and even cut.
Tip of the day
Do not twist the zucchini. An uneven, torn surface of the stalk causes the formation of rot and premature spoilage of the product.
Damaged, diseased and deformed fruits are not suitable for storage. Set them aside immediately and recycle them.
Dry the zucchini selected for storage thoroughly. To do this, leave the fruits under a canopy for 1-2 days. During this time, the cut on the stalk will dry out and become hard, and the juice will no longer be released.
Tip of the day
Do not wash vegetables before storing. Just carefully remove any dried soil from the fruit, being careful not to damage the skin.
Fruit selection
Before storing, you need to select the right fruits. If you have your own summer cottage, you should choose the right type of zucchini for planting .
Experienced summer residents advise storing zucchini with white skin (for example, fruits of the following varieties: “Belogor”, “Beloplodnye”, “Gribovsky 37” - the oldest and still one of the best, “Anchor”, “Sosnovsky”, “Rolik” ). By winter, their skin becomes thick and impenetrable (this happens with all pumpkins), they store well, no worse than zucchini.
At the same time, it is recommended to store not classic zucchini, but zucchini - it is widely believed that they retain their original qualities much better due to the structure of the fruit.
For long-term storage, it is better to choose zucchini or white-fruited squash.
If possible, it is better to store the fruits immediately after picking them from the bush. First of all, put overripe specimens aside - they will not last long. You should choose medium-sized, ripe vegetables . If you buy zucchini at the market and cannot determine how ripe they are, do a little test: try piercing the skin with your fingernail. If this is very difficult or impossible to do, then the fruit is suitable for storage.
For long-term storage, choose fruits that are fully ripe, but not overripe.
Pay attention to the condition of the fruit's surface. You can keep zucchini fresh for a long time only if there are no damages or flaws on them. The slightest scratch on the skin will lead to rot, which will quickly spread to the entire batch of vegetables. zucchini with stalks for storage .
Before storing vegetables, it is recommended to carefully clean them from the soil and dry them a little in the sun (do not wash them). After this manipulation, the peel will become harder, which will significantly extend the shelf life of the vegetable.
Before storing zucchini, you cannot wash it; just wipe it with a dry cloth.
Storage conditions for zucchini
The keeping quality of zucchini depends on many factors. Under optimal conditions, the product can remain fresh for 4-5 months. This is only possible in a well-equipped and adapted place. But even here, by the end of the period, the vegetable will lose most of its nutritional and taste properties.
During storage, zucchini ripen and may even begin to sprout, so it is better to consume or process all supplies within 2-3 weeks after collection
Under normal room conditions, unripe vegetables last 1-2 weeks, ripe ones - up to 1 month. If you keep them in the refrigerator, you can add another 1-2 weeks.
The following conditions are considered ideal for storing fresh zucchini:
- temperature 5-10 ⁰С;
- humidity 90-95%;
- lack of light;
- good ventilation of the room, but without drafts.
If you have a private home, the best place for storage would be a cellar or basement. There is the most suitable microclimate for vegetables, including fresh zucchini.
You can keep zucchini in a garage, shed or on the veranda, but under one condition. With the onset of severe frosts, the product will have to be moved indoors or the room heated. Even slightly frozen fruits quickly deteriorate and disappear.
Fewer options for where to store zucchini remain in the apartment. Close to ideal conditions can be found on a balcony or loggia, if they are well insulated.
You can also keep the fruits in the room in front of the balcony door, where the air temperature is the lowest. In a pinch, any place under a table or bed will do, but at room temperature the product will stay fresh the least.
We answer the question: is it possible to store zucchini along with potatoes?
There are no special contraindications for this. These vegetables need the same temperature and humidity. Potatoes produce almost no ethylene, which could speed up the ripening of zucchini. If you don’t mind that the latter may become saturated with the potato smell, store them.
Cellar disinfection
You should worry about preparing the cellar in the summer. To protect your harvest from mold and pathogens, the room should be thoroughly disinfected . The most affordable way is to whitewash the walls with lime.
To prepare lime, you will need 1 bucket of lime dough and 5-6 buckets of water. You can add copper or iron sulfate to the resulting mixture, taken in the ratio: 1 kg of vitriol per 1 bucket of whitewash.
Another popular method of disinfection is fumigation with sulfur dioxide , which has a detrimental effect on pests. After setting fire to crocks of sulfur or sulfur bombs, you should immediately leave the room. The doors to the cellar are tightly closed, and you cannot enter there for several days. After this time, the cellar or basement is opened for ventilation.
But remember that in the middle of a hot day it is better not to ventilate, since warm air entering the room will lead to the formation of condensation on the walls and ceiling.
It is better to disinfect all existing shelves, racks and drawers separately. To do this, they need to be treated with a solution of copper sulfate or formaldehyde, and then taken outside. It wouldn’t hurt to paint the wooden shelves with drying oil.
Fresh storage methods
There are several simple ways to preserve zucchini before processing. They are more suitable for a private home, but they can also be used in an apartment. Choose which one is right for you.
- On racks or wooden pallets. Vegetables are placed in one row, having previously laid straw, hay or thick paper under them. The fruits are placed so that they do not touch each other.
- In boxes with stems up. In order to protect the fruits from contact, cardboard and fabric are placed between them. You can also wrap each copy in paper, which will further protect the vegetables from an accidental drop in temperature.
- In vegetable nets that are hung on hooks in the cellar. As practice shows, this is a reliable way to preserve fresh zucchini in winter.
Check your bookmark regularly for damage. Dispose of rotten or limp specimens immediately.
You can recognize spoilage in time by a rotten stalk
We answer the question: why do zucchini stored fresh taste bitter?
There are many reasons for bitterness. The main one is that this is a normal spoilage process, since this vegetable is not stored for fresh consumption.
You can get rid of the bitter taste by soaking zucchini cut for cooking in a salty solution (2 tablespoons of salt per 1 liter of water) for 30-40 minutes. However, the taste qualities have already been lost, and you need to try very hard to make a culinary yummy out of such a product.
How to store zucchini
Zucchini is considered the longest-lived among all zucchini. The fact is that under good conditions they lie literally until a new harvest appears. The most important thing is to choose the appropriate variety. It is recommended to take only dense fruits with a hard crust.
It is necessary to collect the vegetables correctly: only the ripest and fairly dense ones, about 15 centimeters long, are suitable. They are removed from the bush with sharp pruning shears, but the tail is not completely cut off, but left. Then the collected material is cleared of soil and left under the sun for about a day.
You can leave zucchini in the freshness zone of the refrigerator by wrapping it in a paper bag with several holes. They also tolerate freezing well, remaining fresh throughout the year. They are washed, the stalks are removed and cut into a convenient way. Lay out on a cutting board, not allowing them to touch. They put it in the freezer for several hours, and then put it in a container or bag and return it.
Zucchini in the refrigerator
Those who are looking for a reliable way to store zucchini in the apartment should definitely use the refrigerator. But in a private house this option will not be superfluous. Modern refrigerators have enough space to store food items for the winter. You can use both the main chamber and the freezer.
In the vegetable compartment
Whole zucchini can last 2-3 weeks in the vegetable compartment. The temperature inside the chamber is ideal, but the humidity is excessive.
Want to preserve your vegetables longer? Wrap them in thick paper or put them in a paper bag with a few holes. This way the vegetable will be protected from excess moisture and will be able to breathe.
We answer the question: what is the best way to store peeled and cut zucchini?
If you have any unused peeled vegetables, wrap them in a plastic bag or damp paper towel. Place the cut pieces into a container with a lid. Store in the refrigerator for no longer than 3 days.
In the freezer
Zucchini can be frozen for the winter. Here are recipes for preparing preparations that will always be on hand in the winter:
- unripe fruits well and dry. Cut into circles 0.5-1 cm thick. Place in bags in portions of several pieces and put in the freezer. Small fruits can also be cut into strips along the entire length of the fruit.
- the mature vegetables into cubes. They must first be peeled and the seeds removed. The sizes of the cubes may vary. Focus on the dishes you will prepare. Place the finished cuts in plastic bags or containers. Store in the freezer.
- For caviar, soups or pancakes, grate the zucchini. Use young fruits whole, and pre-prepare large ripe ones as in the previous recipe. Divide the mass into portions. Store in the freezer in bags or containers.
To preserve the taste of the vegetable as much as possible, you can blanch it before freezing.
You can store vegetables in the freezer for a very long time. In the case of zucchini, you can safely expect that they will be on your table until the new harvest.
Tip of the day
Remove frozen vegetables only just before use. Use without defrosting so that the fruits do not lose their integrity. But be prepared that during the cooking process they will turn into puree. However, this will not affect the taste in any way.
Do not freeze the product twice. This will spoil its taste.
Which varieties are suitable for long-term storage?
Not all varieties of zucchini will survive the winter. The main requirements are a thick peel and as uniform pulp as possible. The seeds are small, soft, poorly developed. Several varieties fit the description:
- Golden Cup, Festival - the best choice for long-term storage; after harvesting, if properly stored, vegetables will “live” for 5 months;
- Aeronaut, Pear-shaped, Arlika, Zheltoplodny - varieties with a shelf life of 3-4 months;
- Negritenok, Anchor - zucchini is good for 1-2 months.
Do you store overripe zucchini until winter?
Not really
When choosing zucchini or zucchini for long-term storage, you need to consider more than one variety. The varieties listed above differ not only in appearance, but also in taste. Although all of them are well suited for dietary dishes and baby food.
If you follow the instructions on how to properly store zucchini, then after harvesting they will remain fresh and edible for 5 months. Vegetables tolerate overexposure well at +10° with a humidity of no higher than 86%. The place is dry, well ventilated, dark, impenetrable.
Other storage methods
If the zucchini harvest is large, processing will help preserve it. Young juicy fruits are ideal for canning. More mature vegetables can be dried or dried.
Canning
Every housewife has recipes for making rolls that suit the tastes of the family and do not require much time to prepare. If desired, you can make salted or pickled zucchini. Zucchini jam with the addition of citrus fruits has an excellent taste. Such exoticism makes children very happy.
Many people love and prepare zucchini caviar, combining zucchini with cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants and other vegetables. Korean-style zucchini and zucchini lecho with bell pepper are also successful. Such rolls not only add variety to the table in winter, but can also serve as a quick snack when you don’t have time to stand at the stove for a long time.
Try making this winter snack using the recipe from the video:
Preservation is very easy. It does not require special conditions. In a private house, a dry cellar, basement or underground is suitable. The apartment has a storage room or a balcony. The workpieces will stand well at room temperature. Their shelf life is 1-2 years.
