There are many varieties of plums, and not all of them are equally juicy and fragrant. Only high-quality fruits are grown at home. You can also buy them in the store or on the market.
Plums should be handled with care so that they are kept longer after harvest or purchase. If the fruit is cherished incorrectly, the fruit will quickly lose its sweetness, become loose and tasteless.
How to store plums to ripen
Plums can be stored longer if you collect or purchase them in unripe form. But unripe plums should be perfect - without stains and damage. Then do this:
- Fruit washing is not necessary. Plums must be placed in a vase or other container. Put it in a place where there is no direct sunlight. Immediately in the fridge plums can not be placed. They do not ripen, and instead of juicy and ripe fruits get faded and loose fruit.
If you want the plums to ripen faster, they can be loaded into a paper bag. Fruit ripening produce ethylene. When the plums are in the package, the gas will not be able to evaporate quickly. Ethylene envelops the fruit. It is because of this that the plums will ripen a day or two faster. If there is a need to keep them longer, let them lie in a vase or on a bowl.
- When the plums have ripened, they need to be put in a container and sent to the refrigerator. At temperatures slightly above zero degrees, they can last up to one month.
Fully sealed plastic bags are also used for packaging. It is necessary to remove air from them and close tightly. In such a package, the plums will not lose their taste and nutritional value for two months. Storage temperature is zero degrees.
Attention should be paid to such nuances:
- In order to keep the plums longer, they cannot be kept in places where the air heats up to 25 degrees or more. Fruits can deteriorate in one day;
- If a bloom like dust appeared on the fruit, it means that they are ripe.
It is impossible to allow the plums to become too soft or to begin to emit juice from under the skin. Such fruits can no longer be stored. They need to quickly eat or cook compote, jam or jam.
Features of storage storage plums
For long-term preservation of plums should be removed from the branches together with the stem. It gradually gives moisture to fruit, and the fruit does not wither for a long time.
Plums on the tree ripen gradually. Therefore, they need to be removed in several stages, selectively, in order to prevent the fruits from falling down and damage.
Before harvesting, boxes and trays must be prepared in advance and lined with paper. Plums should be immediately placed in this container. It is necessary to try to touch the fruit less. This will help preserve the wax coating that protects the plums from the influence of the external environment.
The number of layers in the container should not be more than three or four. Thus, the lower fruits will not be deformed during storage.
It is important that the fruits are dry - they last longer. Therefore, a rainy day for harvesting is not suitable. It is unreasonable to pick fruit after watering or in the early morning when there is still dew on the fruit.
Boxes with plums are placed in a dry room (cellar). The most desirable air humidity for storing fruits is 80-90%. When it is overpriced, the fruit will quickly begin to rot. If the humidity is too low, the plums fade and lose their juiciness. In a dry cellar, the fruits are stored for up to four weeks. But some varieties can only be kept in the fridge for about two weeks.
To perfectly prepare the plums for long-term storage, you can do this:
- Collect unripe fruits and bring them to maturity at room temperature.
- Send plums in the refrigerator with a temperature of zero degrees. They should stay there for 15 hours.
- Provide a temperature of 3-5 degrees.
In this way, plums can be stored for no more than three weeks. During this time, they remain tasty and healthy. This method of storage is suitable for plums of solid varieties or immature fruits.
Drain processing for long-term storage for winter
To save the plums for several months, possibly a year, you need to freeze them. For such a procedure fit fruit completely ripe. Immature plums will remain the same after defrosting. Therefore, they are better to first bring to the desired condition or stored in another way.
To freeze the drain you need:
- Wash each fruit and send it for drying.
- Cut the plums in half, remove the bones. You can cut the flesh into slices smaller.
- Spread the plums on a prepared dry tray.
- Put it in the freezer for 10-12 hours.
- Put frozen fruit in container or package.
- Mark the freezing date on the container (stick a sticker) and send it back to the freezer.
The number of fruits in one container or bag should be small in order to be used at one time. Repeated freezing can not be carried out - plums will become absolutely inedible and useless.
Drying plums as a long-term storage method
Another way to store plums for several months - drying. Ripe fruits of varieties such as Hungarian are suitable for it. The sequence of drying plums is as follows:
- To separate the fruits ripe, even slightly dried. Damaged reject.
- Wash the plums and lower for one minute in one percent hot soda solution.
- Rinse the fruit and air dry.
- Spread the plums on a baking sheet, send it to the oven for two or three hours. The temperature for drying is low - up to 45 degrees.
- The plums are cooled for four or five hours and sent back to the oven, but warmed up to 80 degrees. It will take 10-12 hours for the fruit to reach the desired state.
Drying in several steps allows to obtain fruits that are not burnt or cracked.
Dried plums can be stored in wooden boxes with holes. It is reasonable to use another container that is tightly closed - glass, plastic or metal cans.
If you do not be lazy and follow all the tips that relate to the storage of plums, the taste of the fruit will delight until the new harvest, and the losses will be minimal.
