You talk, I listen!  I promise to work my way through all your questions as I get to them (and please, feel free to submit more!), but today, we’re starting with Kathleen. Since I don’t have a picture of Kathleen, I am giving you instead a picture of my favorite eggplant in the whole world, photographed one fine summer day at the Dane County Farmers’ Market in Madison, WI.

I have been calling that gorgeous piece of fruit “Eggplant McPurplehead,” but I am open to other suggestions.  Kathleen, since this is your post, you get first dibs.  Any nominations?

Anywho, let’s get back to Kathleen’s question, shall we?  She writes:

My question relates to storage. What’s the best way to store veggies like onions, garlic, potatoes, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, etc.? Any help would be appreciated.

Why, Kathleen, I’m so glad you asked, and not just because you asked about the relatively uncomplicated ones.  Really.

It’s the perfect time of year to be thinking about storing crops for many of us. Something about the cold temperatures makes me want to settle in and braid garlic. I don’t even know how to braid garlic or if it’s the right time of year to do it, but I still want to do it. Preferably while bread is baking.

If you too are feeling these bread-baking, garlic-braiding urges, a book you may wish to consult about general food storage is Robin Wheeler’s Food Security for the Faint of Heart, which you can order through New Society Publishers if you decide you must have a copy of your very own.  She makes it sound so easy to store, brine, salt, ferment, and dry anything.  It makes me want to go all pioneer woman out here in the big city.  To answer your question, I’m consulting her book as well as the big, wide internet.

If you have roots and tubers (potatoes, sweet potatoes, beets, carrots, parsnips, and sunchokes) that you grew yourself in a garden, the easiest solution is to leave them in the dirt, mulch them with some leaves, and let them snooze through winter.  Really.  You can run out and dig up a couple whenever you get a hankerin’ to make some soup.  (The mulch makes it relatively easy to get to them in the cold months.)  The only downside to this solution is that it gives pests a little more opportunity to get at them, and it will likely make all your veggies sweeter as some starch supposedly converts to sugar when the greens die back.  This is a great quality in sweet potatoes, parsnips, and carrots, but potentially less desirable in potatoes.  On the upside, leaving them in the dirt certainly saves some space in your house.

Here’s another suggestion: Store root veggies in clean sand in a bucket in your basement or attic (read: in a cold, dark place).  You’ll save yourself the trip outside, and they’ll keep pretty well.  With anything you are storing this way, make sure to remove the green tops, as they pull moisture out from the roots if they’re left on.  Nobody likes sad, shrivelly roots.

If you’re buying at farmers’ markets, however, and you want to store these types of foods without a big bucket o’ sand, here’s the run-down on storage for the keeper crops.

Potatoes: Three words: cool, dry, dark.  Keep them out of the sun, or they can turn green, which signifies the presence of solanine, a naturally-occurring glycoalkaloid toxin.  Solanine is the reason we don’t eat the leaves of potato plants…unless we want some neurotoxin with our French fries.  It’s no big deal if they start to sprout in storage; just make sure no green skin is present before you eat them.  Anyway, putting them in a paper (not plastic, as it traps moisture) bag and tucking them in a  cupboard works well, or you can keep them in a root cellar or pantry, probably even a garage if you live in a dry climate. The cooler their storage location, the more likely they are to stay dormant.

Cabbage, Cauliflower, and Brussels Sprouts:  With cabbage, remove a couple outer leaves to check for slugs and bugs, then store in a cool, humid place like an unheated basement.  (You may want to put veggies inside a mesh laundry hamper or something similar if mice are a concern.)  Russ Parsons, author of How to Pick a Peach, says cauliflower is extremely perishable, so I would recommend blanching and then freezing it as opposed to storing it fresh.  You can also freeze Brussels sprouts (directions for freezing cauliflower, Brussles sprouts, and many other veggies can be found at Gardenguides.com), but Gardenguides claims you can also leave the buds on the stalk (if you bought your sprouts on the stalk) and store in a cool, dry place for up to a month.  If you’re not freezing them, always remember to wash them well and peel off any sketchy-looking leaves before you dig into your veggie bounty.

Squash: Leave in a bright, warm place like a windowsill in your pantry. Keep the squash spaced so they don’t touch, and turn them occasionally to check for bad spots forming.  If they start to turn, cut out the bad spot and cook ‘em up right away.

Garlic and Onions: Put them in a cardboard box or a paper bag and store them in an airy, dry place that’s consistently warm enough to avoid humidity or condensation.  Robin Wheeler claims the best place she’s found is under her sofa.

Does that help?  Wheeler’s book really is a good all-purpose intro to lots of types of food saving if you’re looking for a resource, but if you want to focus on something specific (like canning a variety of different items), you will probably want a more specialized tome.  In any case, Kathleen, congratulations on making some shifts after having read The Omnivore’s Dilemma.  May the months ahead be full of tasty vegetables, all well-kept in the various nooks and crannies of your house.

Guten Apetit!