With the onset of winter , the human immune system weakens due to a lack of vitamins, and we begin with nostalgia to remember the summertime, when, resting in the country at our own dacha, we could pick a few tomatoes from the garden and make a delicious dish rich in useful substances and trace elements. But do not despair: in the terrible cold you can pamper yourself with a spicy salad of fresh tomatoes. It may be hard to believe, but it is.
It is only important to know and learn how to keep tomatoes fresh for a long time. Before considering this issue in detail, a few words should be said about what kind of vegetable this is - a tomato.
How Tomatoes Appeared in Our Country
“Apples of love” - that is what tomatoes were called to Russia — were brought by our diplomat from the French capital back in 1780.
For a hundred years, the tomato was an exceptionally flowering plant, and only then did they taste the taste of its fruits.
Tomato is a healthy vegetable
It should be emphasized that tomatoes abound with useful acids (phosphoric, citric, etc.) and vitamins of the groups: “A”, “B”, “C” and “D”. The tomato is also useful in that the carotene contained in it, when it enters the human body, is converted into vitamin “A”.
The vegetable contains a huge amount of the necessary mineral salts. That is why for many, the question of how to keep tomatoes fresh for a long time is of paramount importance.
General recommendations
For ripening tomatoes in artificial conditions with a maximum shelf life, vegetables with late precocity are used. These are such varieties as: Krasnodar, Gruntovy Gribovsky, Kuban, Market Miracle.
When setting yourself the task of keeping tomatoes fresh for a long time, you should know that the main thing is to properly organize the harvest of the "apples of love" and to properly sort them. At the same time, tomatoes need to be collected for the tab under such weather conditions when there is no rain and there is no moisture on the ground. When harvesting, for long-term storage, select only whole fruits, without any damage. It is recommended to do this in a container that is lined with soft material inside. Fruits should be removed without separating the stem.
The next stage is sorting the red “vegetable”. As already emphasized, long-term storage of fresh tomatoes is possible only if the fruits are without mechanical damage, respectively, rotten and damaged by insects tomatoes should also be excluded.
In order to keep vegetables of green and milky maturity as long as possible, certain conditions must be observed: humidity - 80-85%, and air temperature - from 8 to 12 degrees above zero.
So, let's move on to a practical consideration of how to keep tomatoes fresh for a long time.
Option number 1. In the box
Tomatoes should be sorted according to their color, quality and shape, and then placed in disinfected Bulgarian-type boxes, on the bottom of which you first need to lay a litter of cardboard. Then the rows must be shifted, and each fruit is wrapped in paper. At the final stage of the procedure, the tomatoes are sprinkled with a thin layer of peat or dry sawdust.
Remember to ventilate the room every day to eliminate the carbon dioxide that comes from tomatoes. Also check every five days for consistency. In order for the “apples of love” to finally ripen, the boxes are placed in an environment where daylight penetrates well and is well ventilated, while the air temperature varies from +20 to +25 degrees.
The maximum shelf life of milk and green tomatoes is usually three months.
Option number 2. On paper
Want to know how to save tomatoes for the winter? Unripe tomatoes are harvested in late autumn, which are then sorted and wrapped in black tissue paper. Then the fruits are placed in a disinfected trellis box of the Bulgarian type. Tomatoes are then transferred to dry, clean straw and carried in a dark, well-ventilated area, with an air temperature of +10 degrees. This storage method will allow you to eat fresh tomatoes for the New Year. In order for the tomatoes to finally ripen, as in the first embodiment, they should be placed in a bright, well-ventilated room, the air temperature in which is +20 degrees above zero. After about 5-7 days, the fruits will be ripe.
Option number 3. At the bank
Is there any other solution to the question of how to save tomatoes for the winter. Of course, yes. Separate the brown fruits from the peduncle, rinse them under running water, sort them by maturity and size.
Overripe and shapeless "apples of love" shred into pieces.
Next, you need a clean container in which we place one layer of crushed tomatoes 10 cm thick, then sprinkle the tomatoes with salt. After that, put another layer of whole tomatoes and again sprinkle it with salt. So, alternating layers, we must fill the top of the jar or pot. The last layer should consist of chopped and salted vegetables.
Now you know how to store tomatoes in order to enjoy their aroma and piquant taste in winter.