How to store potatoes in the apartment

In the autumn it is time to stock up for the winter. The largest place in the cellars and basements is occupied by potatoes. And if the owners of sheds, garages and dachas have nothing to worry about, then the majority of city dwellers have a problem - how to store potatoes in an apartment.

High temperatures and too dry air do not allow to preserve for a long time a large number of tubers in good condition. But do not throw away the same!

We hasten to reassure, to keep the potatoes in the apartment is quite possible. True, it is necessary to make some efforts for the arrangement. Without difficulty, as they say ...

In total there are several ways:

• on the balcony (loggia)
• in the stairwell (vestibule)
• under window
• in a refrigerator

Each of these methods is good in its own way. We describe everything in detail.

Potatoes on the balcony in winter

Of course you can not just take the tubers, pour them into the bags and hoist on the balcony. The first frosts will ruin all your stocks with pleasure. We'll have to protect the potatoes from the cold. Putting a fur coat on the bag is useless. Thick blankets will not save either. Here are two options.

Option number 1. The balcony is large, a lot of places. We take two boxes. One huge, set in the corner of the loggia. In it we place a smaller box. The distance between the walls of the containers should be at least 12 cm. This is the distance you need to cram in sawdust, wood shavings or foam plastic plates. We also do not forget about the bottom, we warm the lid accordingly.

Inside we attach a pair of dark-painted 15-watt light bulbs. By the way, the boxes should be without slots and openings.

Now you can pour dry potatoes into a small container. Cover with lid and that's it. An improvised box for storing potatoes in the apartment is ready. Such a system fully maintains a temperature of up to + 7 ° С, when it reaches -30 ° С outside.

Naturally, with the included light bulbs. Why dark paint to paint? So that the potatoes are not green. Heat from the light bulbs will still go. Throwing over a thick blanket or old winter clothes, you can not be afraid of the harvest, even at -40 ° C.

CouncilMake a stationary construction of quality wood and good insulation. Then you do not have to create it every year. In the summer you can use the design as a coffee table.

Option number 2. The balcony is small, the place is small. You will not install any box, there is nowhere to turn around. Have to spend money. The industry offers thermal containers for sale. They are available in three variations of volume, aesthetically beautiful and compact.

A big plus of such a design in the equipment thermostat. That is, you can simply plug it into the outlet and set the desired temperature inside. The rest will be done by automatics. Capacity of thermal containers can be selected depending on the free space on the balcony. Even the most voluminous at full load takes up very little space.

Council So that in the summer period the construction does not take place on the balcony, it can be cleaned, washed, dried. Then fold and remove until next use.

Potatoes in the entrance

No, of course you should not just leave the bags next to the entrance door. Next morning you will not find them.But, on some floors there are separate vestibules with a fenced-off closure. That's where you can put a box of potatoes. Naturally, by agreement with other users and neighbors. Not everyone will be pleasant smell of vegetables.

By the way, even in ordinary entrances from Soviet times there were large boxes bolted to the floor or wall. Of the still locked to the castle from lovers of freebies. Just at the entrance is always cooler than in the apartment. And the potatoes are well kept there.

Council Periodically sort the potatoes in a drawer and open it to air. So you will notice in time sick or begin to rot tubers.

The potato under the window is like

Naturally, not in a shopping bag on the street. It is in the apartment. Many people remember that in the houses built since the time of Khrushchev, under the window in the kitchen was a kind of refrigerator. That is, a cabinet with a vent. Of course, it is not very large, but about a bag of potatoes can be placed.

In some houses built in the late 70s, this niche is much larger. You can already push 2 bags into it. Approximately the same size, the refrigerator is made in modern buildings.

Previously, it was impossible to regulate ventilation and cooling, and the weather itself set the temperature in the refrigerator.Some of the heat came from the apartment, and it turned out quite tolerable. But in extreme cold the vegetables froze.

Modern under-window refrigerators can be partially regulated in terms of ventilation and temperature. This is done using a special valve.

Council In winter, cover the vent hole, otherwise the potato will freeze and become sweet. Not critical, but not good at all.

Potatoes in a simple fridge

Absolutely all sources say very categorically: you cannot keep potatoes in the domestic refrigerator! And lead iron arguments. At a temperature of + 4-5 ° C, the starch in the tubers turns into sugar. They become sweetish.

What are you talking about! True? So in a cellar or basement, this temperature suits the potatoes. No sugar is produced. And what’s in the fridge of the won? I wonder what this statement is based on and why everyone, like parrots, repeats this utter nonsense? At least they thought with their heads, before giving recommendations.

We read further. A high level of humidity inside will make the potatoes start to rot very quickly. We arrived. The average cellar has a humidity of about 80%.About the same in the apparatus of the old production. Where is the catch?

Almost all units are equipped with a “but frost” system. Consequently, the humidity inside is very low. There, people even manage to dry the herbs. Potatoes, even if they want to rot, just do not have time. Dries faster.

Your answer, comrades advisers?

Summing up. In the domestic electric refrigerator you can store potatoes until spring. The only drawback is little space. Well, in fact, you will not score with his tubers to the eyeballs.

Although, if there is, where to put the second unit and the means for its acquisition, then this may be quite the way out for you.

Some recommendations

1. For any method of storing potatoes in an apartment, do not use plastic or cellophane bags. In such a material are bad any vegetables and fruits. But the burlap and regular mesh proved very good.
2. In the open spaces of the network there are sources that claim that early potatoes are stored only until November. Say, then it fades and dries. Strange, but how then to deal with planting material? In the spring where to get the early potatoes? What nonsense.All varieties are fairly well preserved at temperatures not higher than + 3 ° C. Tubers remain elastic and dense until next summer. But the temperature increase even by 1 degree dramatically reduces the keeping quality of vegetables.
3. Sometimes there are unheated storerooms in the apartments. There is certainly not a basement temperature, but still cooler than in the rooms. Potatoes in the pantry can be stored until January, but too low humidity there. So that the tubers do not wither a little longer, they simply put the containers with water in the storeroom along with the harvest. Or hang out wet towels that moisturize as they dry.
4. Using any of the methods of storage described, do not forget - total darkness is strictly obligatory. Even the periodic hit of the sun on the tubers causes their gradual greening. To eat such vegetables is already impossible.
5. To keep the potatoes from sprouting longer, it is sometimes sprayed with special preparations. But we recommend processing only planting material in this way. Food potatoes are not subject to such processing. Right, nothing in his mouth to pull all sorts of rubbish. And so the circle is full of chemistry.
6. Most often it is advised not to wash potatoes before storing them.Here are just a justification for this no one leads. Why not to wash? What does it give? Potatoes can be washed, rubbed with all the dope can not. That's the whole explanation. Do not damage the skin so that it is stored better. And wash as much as you please.

How to store potatoes in the apartment? Now you know the most common and accessible methods. Use them to preserve your crop during the cold winter months. It will not be possible to implement something from the proposed, then look for your alternative ways. Maybe your know-how will be adopted by many city dwellers and then they will say thank you.

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