Subject: Re: Mushy Vegetables

From: [email-masked]
Date: 8 Mar 95 16:57:38 -0600

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Naomi Walker) writes:
> 
> 
> I believe we've talked about this before, but I need a reminder.  I
> have been very successful growing carrots and celery this winter.  
> When I harvest them, I bring them in the house, wash and dry them,
> and put them in the refrigerator in those new "vegetable" bags (plastic
> bags with little air holes).  
> 
> Even though the vegetables are quite crisp coming out of the garden,
> they get rubbery in the house.  Anyone have any suggestions?

They're getting rubbery as they loose water.  Try a regular ziplock
bag or a "tupperware"-type container.  Soak the carrots and celery
sticks in plain water for an hour before you use them if the problem
persists.

One of the most successful "veggie keepers" I ever used was a
sealed plastic box with a raised grid floor.  You put water in
the box so that it covered the floor of the box, but didn't touch
the grid.  Veggies went on top of the grid.  Result: 100% humidity.

Kay Klier  [email-masked]

---

From: [email-masked] (Pat and George Kiewicz)
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 1995 14:36:17 GMT

[email-masked] wrote:
: In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Naomi Walker) writes:
: > 
: > 
: > I believe we've talked about this before, but I need a reminder.  I
: > have been very successful growing carrots and celery this winter.  
: > When I harvest them, I bring them in the house, wash and dry them,
: > and put them in the refrigerator in those new "vegetable" bags (plastic
: > bags with little air holes).  
: > 
: > Even though the vegetables are quite crisp coming out of the garden,
: > they get rubbery in the house.  Anyone have any suggestions?

: They're getting rubbery as they loose water.  Try a regular ziplock
: bag or a "tupperware"-type container.  Soak the carrots and celery
: sticks in plain water for an hour before you use them if the problem
: persists.

I store the bulk of my carrot harvest for months in the 'fridge.  I
harvest in late fall, soak the carrots in cold water, rinse and dry
them (I have several huge, old bath towels that I've saved for such
uses), sort them by size (removing any damaged ones for immediate
use), them pack them in regular 1-gallon plastic bags.  In each bag
I put a couple of sheets of dry paper towels.  I check the bags after
24 hours and occasionally have to add another towel if a bag seems
particularly moist.  The carrots will keep a long, long time.

I do the same thing with half my parsnips (the other half spend
winter in the garden).  The parsnips don't last as long as the 
carrots, but they will hold until I can start digging  out the 
parsnips in the garden in early April. 

Pat in Plymouth MI
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