Vermiculture, cellar, pantry - our grandmothers' knowledge is still worth its weight in gold!

How to preserve the flavours of your kitchen garden for the cold months?

As the garden slowly comes to rest, we cannot yet sit back. After the autumn harvest, it's time to tend: to take what the earth has given us, so that we can have fresh flavour, colour and health in the middle of winter. In the old days, this was natural, with no freezer and no fresh fruit or vegetables to buy from supermarkets. However, housewives and farmers knew the laws of nature and found ways to keep fruit and vegetables until spring.

Rarely mined nowadays

I can be grateful that I learned the oldest method from my Dédi, which was the milling - a technique that turns the soil itself into a refrigerator. Root vegetables such as carrots, parsley or beetroot were placed in shallow pits between layers of sand. The natural heat and moisture regulation of the soil prevented the crop from drying out or freezing. This simple yet effective method offered freshness almost for free. The downside is that, depending on the condition of the soil and the weather, it can sometimes be difficult to access.

Have you tried it?

The pit was made by digging a hole in the ground about 30-35 cm deep, in which the carrots and parsley roots were placed in a slightly diamond pattern, separated by layers of sand, and covered on top with a layer of sand, old carpet, bags and then planks. We only ever took out 1-2 weeks' worth: the smell of the soil and the crunch of freshly opened carrots was worth all the effort.

The cool refuge underground

💚 cellar the classic household vegetable store. The cool, humid air is ideal for potatoes, onions, beetroot, pumpkins, apples and even pears, as long as they are not stacked directly on top of each other. In the old days, village cellars had separate shelves: baskets of potatoes on one side, crates of apples on the other, and barrels of pickles in the middle. The temperature was regulated by ventilation slits and care was taken not to place the apples directly next to the vegetables, as the ethylene gas produced accelerated their ripening. A well-ventilated cellar is still unbeatable when it comes to natural, energy-free storage. During the winter, it is a good idea to occasionally roll off the sprouts growing on the potatoes and to sort through the vegetable crates to ensure that only the healthy ones remain.

If you can, you can even keep a shelf of jars of jams, preserves and pickles in a clean corner - lined up in a row, the jars are not only useful, but also a sight to behold.

Storage in modern homes - the pantry

The pantry, or larder, is more the home of processed, preserved food. This is where preserves, syrups, dried fruit, seeds and dried herbs go. The latter are particularly well suited to drier air. Legumes - beans, lentils, chickpeas - and oilseeds also do well in the pantry if they are stored in tightly sealed jars. Dried apple or pear slices, sun-dried tomatoes, bell peppers or garlic cloves can all decorate and enrich the pantry shelves.

Storage in another quality

If you don't have proper storage facilities, or if you don't run out of what you've stored, you can dry or ferment your vegetables so they don't lose their value, they just transform.

Interesting facts

Some producers still use the prism, which built above the ground a heap - also used for cabbage, carrots or potatoes - where the crop was placed in a convex mound and covered with straw and earth (nowadays with foil). Inside the prism, the temperature remained constant and the cabbage did not freeze or wilt. It stayed fresh until spring and was always available for pickling or cooking.