Storage methods

Without any treatment at all, there are two ways in which you can store many vegetables and fruits:

• in the ground, leaving them where they are growing

• harvested and stored in a cool, dark room.

For most people, however, the storage method that is most familiar is freezing. To ensure that the produce keeps in top condition when frozen, it should be prepared properly first. This is discussed in this chapter.

Storage methods that involve processing, namely preserving, bottling and drying, are covered in Chapters 8 to 10.

Outdoor storage

There are a few root vegetables, including carrots and beetroot, that can safely be left in the ground until you want to use them, although digging them up during a hard winter might be difficult. To protect them against frost or to stop them rotting in heavy rain, cover them with materials that will trap air, such as wood chips, straw or horticultural fleece. If possible, leave large winter squash to ripen on the vine for as long as possible, but harvest them before the first frosts.

Podded beans such as broad beans and runner beans can be left on the plant to dry out during a dryish autumn (or just pull up the plants and hang the whole stem inside). You can then harvest and use the dried beans in stews and curries, for example, as well as retaining some to plant next year.

Indoor storage

With the weather as unreliable as it is in the UK, a safer option is to bring your produce indoors. You will find that much of it can be stored without any treatment, and far more conveniently, inside – as long as the conditions are right.

Root vegetables

You can store most root vegetables in a cool, dark place such as a basement or garage as long as they are in a perfect, unblemished condition. The ideal temperature is from 0°C (32°F) to 10°C (50°F).

Carrots and beetroot will store particularly well between layers of damp sand or peat, but for most root vegetables you can also brush off any loose earth and pack them, unwashed, in wire or plastic baskets or between layers of sawdust or crumpled newspaper in crates or boxes. (Take care with wooden containers as they may rot in the damp.)

It is a good idea to check your vegetables regularly for any signs of rot and to move them every few weeks so that one spot doesn't stay in contact with the container all the time. It is usually best to choose the larger specimens for storage. If you can, leave an inch or so of stem on the plant to reduce the risk of infection.

Winter squash

Winter squash need to be cured (i.e. left so that their skins have time to harden) for a few weeks and can then be stored on slatted wooden shelves or in baskets. They like slightly warmer and moister conditions than root vegetables so ideally store them at temperatures of 1013°C (50-55°F).

Tomatoes

Tomatoes can store well if picked when green; they should still ripen – slowly – if placed in paper bags, or in drawers or shallow trays covered in newspaper, or in a black bin bag, loosely tied. Some people say you should add a banana or apple to the mix but I haven't found that necessary, as long as you check the fruit regularly and always include at least one tomato that has nearly ripened, to give off the required ethylene gas.

Fruit

Apples need more airflow than vegetables, and it is usual to wrap them individually in newspaper before storing them in crates and baskets, so that one rotten one does not lead to a spread of infection. Personally I find the eating apples we typically grow very difficult to keep for long, but some varieties such as Winston do keep well. Cooking apples are much easier and normally last right through the winter and well into spring. Pears can be stored between layers of shredded newspaper but they tend to be more delicate and bruise more easily than apples. They can be kept in a cool cupboard or room but should be checked more frequently and may not last that long. For this reason, it may be best not to treat them like apples and wrap them in newspaper as you won't be able to spot problems until it is too late.

Freezing

The most important thing about freezing is not to freeze anything you wouldn't want to eat as it already is. So, for example, if your runner beans are stringy or your carrots are woody and shrivelled, they will not be improved by sitting in the freezer for a few months.

Almost all vegetables and fruits can be frozen in some form or other, but if they contain a great deal of water, such as courgettes and cucumbers, you will unfreeze a mushy pulp if you simply put them in bags and then into the freezer. Depending on what you want to do with your produce, you therefore need to choose an appropriate freezing method. It is also a good idea to freeze in portion sizes, so you don't need to defrost your entire stock when cooking for just one or two helpings.

Labelling everything is important; one bag of frozen purée can look very much like another. As well as knowing what is in the bag or box, you should also make a note on the label of when it was frozen, so that you use up food in good time rather than keeping it so long it starts to deteriorate.

One problem with freezing is that it can result in an unpleasant taste and an appearance known as 'freezer burn'. This happens when the pack loses moisture and then dries out and the food reacts with the air. It can be avoided by removing as much air as possible during packing, sealing the freezer packs very carefully, and not keeping the food stored for too long.

Open freezing

For fruit or vegetables to keep their shape when thawing out, it is best to start the process off by spacing them out on trays that you then freeze for about an hour or so. To make them easier to remove once frozen, the trays can be lightly oiled.

Once the individual pieces are solid, pack them together in bags or boxes and they will retain their shape when you use them later. Obviously, if you know you will only want to use the food in a purée or stew, this extra stage is not necessary and you can pack them in bags straight away.

Open freezing is certainly the perfect method for freezing small berries, such as blackberries and raspberries, where you may want to use the fruit as a garnish for your puddings; otherwise, they will unfreeze in a broken and pippy mess.

Fruits and vegetable fruits such as tomatoes should be washed and picked over before being open frozen whole, quartered or chopped. (Although tomatoes will never be anything but mushy when thawed, so don't expect to serve them in salads.) If the fruits have stones, it is better to stone them before freezing so they can be used in cooking straight from the freezer without further treatment; it is also possible that the stones might taint...