Harvesting and Storage
As September continues, gardeners are still eating and processing the harvest from their gardens. It is extremely important when harvesting fruits and vegetables from the garden to ensure that the field heat is removed from the harvested produce as soon as possible.
By Patricia Hanbidge
September 22, 2024
If it suits your timetable, pick prior to the heat of the day so that the produce is as cool as possible.
Hopefully, you have been processing and picking the excess throughout the summer as it is important to put food away while it is at the peak of quality. Carefully pick to ensure that the harvest is free of nicks, bruises and other damage, so that you are putting away the best quality of food. If there is damage to the fruit and vegetables you are picking, then those should be consumed at the dinner table as soon as possible rather than stored for winter.
Much of what we harvest, we do not have to process so it is important to understand the proper storage conditions for what you are harvesting. The temperature and the relative humidity (RH) are the main considerations when considering storage of non-processed fruit and vegetables. There are three basic types of storage: cold and dry (0 to 5C and 65% RH), cool and moist (0 to 10C with 95% RH), and warm and dry (10C and 60% RH).
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