With the arrival of the autumn season, a time comes when the wonderful fragrant sun-filled fragrant sun-filled branches appear on the backyards and on the shops.
Grapes are known to people from ancient times. 7 thousand years ago it was already grown in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Later this culture began to be cultivated in almost all places with a warm climate, and now it is successfully grown in temperate latitudes and even in Siberia.
Such a great attention to this berry is caused not only by its excellent taste, but also by the variety of useful properties. In grapes there are many macro and micronutrients, vitamins, antioxidants, organic acids, fiber. All this in a complex has a significant tonic effect, strengthens the heart and blood vessels, improves blood composition, provides anti-inflammatory effect in diseases of the respiratory tract, increases the secretion of gastric juice.
That is why you want as much as possible to enjoy the taste of this wonderful product, especially in the winter months, so cold and poor in vitamins. To do this, quite a bit - to know how to choose and store grapes, so that all its useful qualities remain safe and sound.
How to choose and prepare grapes for storage
Principles of selection of sunny berries will differ depending on where and by whom it is done.
If for storage you choose clusters in the market or in a store, then it is necessary to pay attention to the following signs.
- Select grapes with berries firmly seated on green sprigs. On dry and brown branches, the grapes, most likely, are already overripe and will not lie for a long time.
- Pay attention to the color of the fruit. Light varieties should have berries of cool green shades, and dark ones should have bright red or purple tones. The presence of yellowness or brown specks indicates the signs of the beginning of putrefactive processes.
- Be sure to smell the bunch before you buy. If you feel the pronounced smell of vinegar, it means that the fermentation process has already begun in the berries.
- Carefully inspect the fruit for gray or whitish spots that are nothing more than mold. It is able to spread very quickly and destroy even healthy clusters. The excessive softness of the berries also testifies to the defeat of fungi.
When selecting for storage grapes from their own vineyard, amateur gardeners should also know and apply certain rules when harvesting.
- If you plan to store berries for quite a long time, initially choose medium and late ripening varieties with a loose cluster with large berries, thick skin and firm flesh for planting.
- The agrotechnology of vine care is also important, namely: watering, nutrition, productivity of the bush, soil growth and some other factors described in detail in the special literature.
- Harvesting should be carried out in dry sunny weather. But the clusters, cut on a cloudy and rainy day, early in the morning or in the evening dawn, do not lie for a long time.
- Only absolutely ripe grapes are suitable for storage. Unripe or overripe berries save for the winter does not work.
- When collecting, each bunch is carefully cut as close to the shoot as possible and carefully laid in a specially prepared dry box or basket.
- Before placing into a container, each brush must be carefully inspected, removing damaged or diseased berries.
- It is necessary to handle clusters extremely carefully, avoiding damage to the wax coating on the surface of the berries. Its integrity is one of the main factors ensuring long-term preservation.
How to save grapes
A whole branch of viticulture, long put on scientific rails, deals with this vital issue. The experience of preserving grapes since ancient times was accumulated by people. The most well-known methods are the processing of the harvest into a wonderful wine or the drying of berries and their transformation into a tasty delicacy called “raisins”. You can make juice, jam or jelly from it. But there is nothing better and tastier and healthier than a juicy grape bunch - this exquisite reminder of hot summer days.
If you brought home grapes from the supermarket and you want to save it for the upcoming family celebration or simply stretch the pleasure of delicacy for a long time, you should take into account a number of conditions necessary for its proper storage.
- After buying a bunch, you need to place it in the refrigerator as quickly as possible. The most correct temperature for storing berries is about 0 ° C. So they will stay fresh for 2-3 weeks, and at room temperature they will last no more than three days.
- It is not recommended to wash grapes before putting it into storage. From this hygienic procedure, the berries will spoil in a week even at a low temperature.
- It is better to place the bunches in the refrigerator by dividing it into smaller fragments and placing them in an airtight plastic container (bag or container) so that they come into contact with each other as little as possible.
- You can save grapes without losing taste and healthy qualities in frozen form. To do this, it must be thoroughly rinsed and dry well. Then place individual berries or whole brushes on a baking sheet or flat plate so that they are loose. You must first cool the product in the refrigerator. Then freeze the berries in the “superfrost” mode, put them in a plastic container and place them in the freezer. So they can be stored up to six months.
If you are a gardener, it will be a shame not to save the harvest from your own vineyard before the warm spring days. For successful and long-term storage is required to create clusters of certain conditions.
- It is advisable to choose the room in the above-ground part of the house, since it is better ventilated and there is cooler in autumn than in the underground storage. It should be absolutely dark, it should close tightly, have thick walls and low enough, about 70%, humidity.
- The temperature at the storage location should be maintained within the range of 1 ° C to 8 ° C. The cooler the conditions are created (of course, within the required temperature range), the lower the storage loss.
- The storage should be whitened with lime, cooled and prevented the occurrence of mold by fumigating with sulfur.
- To maintain the required humidity in the room place containers with dry charcoal or quicklime.
- The storage already filled with grapes needs to be aired regularly, choosing for this a dry and cool night. During the day it is better not to open the vault door, since light destroys sugar in berries, which contribute to long-term storage.
Experienced gardeners know well how to preserve grapes until next season. Here is a description of the main ways.
- A sufficiently rich harvest can be stored in barrels or boxes, sprinkling clusters of cork chips or sawdust of hardwood trees, such as poplar or linden. The container should be dry and clean, pre-fumigated with sulfur vapor. Each container should hold no more than 10 kg. With this method, less traditional, but more preferable material due to its sterility - straw ash will be suitable for storage.
- Grape brushes are hung on specially made rails so that they do not touch each other. To do this, they are bound in pairs with twine, which is then thrown over the pole. You can make for hanging special hooks from thick wire.
- Bunches can be laid out on shelves with a litter about 4 cm thick from clean and dry sawdust or straw. The shelves are made with a depth of no more than 70-80 cm and are placed above each other at a distance of about 25 cm.
- A somewhat unusual and more time-consuming option is the placement in the repository “on green ridges”. For him, clusters are removed along with part of the escape. They are lowered into the water bottles installed under the slope, which are periodically topped up and renewed. At the same time, the bunch of grapes hangs down freely. In the water, so that it does not spoil, it is necessary to put charcoal (about half a tablespoon).
- All of the above storage methods require regular monitoring of the condition of the grapes, time-consuming procedures for periodic sorting and sorting, airing and fumigating the room. However, with the development of modern technology it has become possible to use for storing berries and such a sure way as freezing. The main thing with its application - to properly prepare the crop. This means that immediately after collection (no later than 8 hours), the clusters should be washed, forcedly dried in streams of warm air, evenly distributed on pallets, cooled at low, but not negative, temperatures and quickly frozen. Already frozen berries need to be packaged in containers or bags and sent to the freezer. At a temperature of about -20 ° C in this form, the product can be stored for 7-8 months.
Interesting
If during prolonged storage your grapes are a bit tired, then the loss of liquid before serving can be easily replenished. Bunches need to dip for 10 seconds in almost boiling syrup or water. After that, the berries should be immediately sent to ice-cold water and let them cool completely (5-10 minutes). Grapes are made more sweet, but fresh and juicy.
