A clever way to keep beets fresh until May
Hello everyone! At night, the first frosts descend, which means that it's time to start harvesting root crops - pulling out carrots and beets. And if carrots are usually stored without any problems and do not disappear, then beets are a more capricious vegetable, albeit tasty.
Let's show you how to enjoy beets from your plot until next summer. This is a working method, tried and tested many times, so use it.
1) We pull out the beets and let them dry for 1-2 days. It is advisable to dry it in the shade, and not in the scorching sun, so the fruit will not become "stale".
2) Cut off the beet tops so that not a single burr remains - only a flat red spot as in the photo below:
3) Then on the site you need to find a small amount of clay. Literally half a shovel. Clay is suitable both white (usually at depth) and superficial yellow. There is no difference.
4) Add a little water to the clay - cleanly close the bottom of the container in which you put the clay.
5) And now we knead the lumps of clay with our fingers until they are even. It literally takes a minute, and you should end up with a viscous clay paste.
6) Now we coat our beets with clay on all sides. Especially carefully we smear the place where the tops are cut - from it the vegetable can start to deteriorate. Put the smeared clay in a metal container - a basin, or better, a saucepan with a lid.
When the basin is full, we lower the container into the cellar or basement.
Thanks to a solid clay crust, the vegetable will be isolated from the damp and cool air in the cellar, and will perceive only low temperatures. Without contact with air, beets do not spoil, and they lie for a long time - until April-May.
When you need to cook borscht or salad with beets, just knock on the clay crust, and the vegetable will cleanse.
Here's a clever way.