Cold Room Storage For Fruit and Vegetables

I store my excess harvest of fruit and vegetables over the winter in my cold room storage space, an unheated walk-in closet in back of my garage. With proper care, most of my fruit and vegetables (that haven't been happily consumed) will last well into the spring.

My Cold Room Storage

I always keep a thermometer in the room to monitor temperature changes.

There are different methods I use for fruits and vegetables requiring dry vs. moist storage. Also the materials I choose for packing my fruits and vegetables provide many functions and are important to note.

Temperature and humidity

According to Vegetable Storage in Root Cellars, a helpful guide from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service, the best temperature for storing most vegetables is 32 to 40°F, and most need 80 to 95% relative humidity. Warm air rises, so the top of a storage room runs warmer than the floor. Placing thermometers at a few different heights shows you which shelves are coldest.

Good ventilation helps control both temperature and humidity and removes the extra moisture that encourages mold. Screen any vents so mice cannot get in. If the air is too dry, pans of water set on the floor add humidity, and a full room holds humidity better than an empty one.

Storage conditions by crop

Not every crop wants the same conditions. Root crops like it cold and moist, while onions want cold, drier air, and winter squash keeps best somewhere warmer and dry.

Packing for moist and dry storage

Thin-skinned vegetables such as carrots and beets need extra moisture. To hold it in, layer them in damp sawdust, sand or peat moss, or store them in perforated plastic bags. Apples also shrivel when the air is too dry.

Onions and winter squash are the opposite. They mold in moist air, so give them a dry spot with good air flow. Winter squash keeps best in a dry, warm place, such as the corner of a heated room, rather than in a cold room. Leave about 2 inches of stem on each squash.

Before you store

Harvest storage crops as late as you can, but before a hard frost. Only store produce that is in good shape: one bruised or rotting apple can spoil its neighbors.

Some crops need curing first. Potatoes need time to toughen their skins (see Homegrown Potatoes), and onions are cured for several weeks until their skins are dry and papery. Keep apples and other fruit away from potatoes, because fruit gives off ethylene gas, which encourages potatoes to sprout. Apples stored at 50°F spoil two to three times faster than apples kept near freezing, so give them the coldest spot you have.

A quick cold room checklist

• Keep a thermometer in the room, and check it during cold snaps so nothing freezes.
• Store root crops cold and moist, onions cold and dry, squash warm and dry.
• Keep fruit and potatoes apart.
• Look over your stored produce regularly and remove anything soft, moldy or sprouting.

Using up the harvest

When it is time to cook, these recipes put stored crops to good use: Mom's Potato Salad, Hearty Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie, Carrot Apple Ginger Soup, Curried Butternut Squash Soup and Brussels Sprouts Quiche. Find more in the recipe index.

Cold room questions