Store these at cool room temperature: dry beans, winter squash, summer squash, seeds, onions, garlic, dry corn and all grains, fully-dried fruit, and herbs. Grains and dry beans are usually threshed and winnowed (the pods or seedheads crushed to release the seeds, and the unwanted parts, or chaff, blown or screened out.) However, if the seedheads or pods are very dry and free of mold, this can be done as needed. Grains, seeds, dry peas, and beans are not dry enough to store until they shatter when hit by a hammer. If they squish, they are not dry enough. Unripe squash can be eaten but won't keep as long (and will mold in humid conditions, including the fridge.) Use squash in this order: summer squash, delicatas, pumpkins, buttercups, maximas, and finally the moschatas--butternut and crookneck. Lower Salmon River squash are maximas but keep as long as moschatas. Store these in moist cold conditions (in the ground, cold shed or garage, root cellar, closed container in the fridge): beets, carrots, celery, cabbage, turnips, rutabagas, chicory. Store cold and dry (crisper drawer or cold shed): apples, quinces, pears, other hard fruit. Use blemished, bruised, or wormy fruit for sauce, chutney, preserves, or fruit leather. Know your variety, or watch the fruit carefully. Some apples, like Gravenstein and Yellow Transparent, last only a couple of weeks before getting soft and mealy. They excel in applesauce, apple butter, or juice. Others, like Cox's Orange or Jonathan, will keep for months in cold storage. Fruit for storage should be picked on the underripe side, and handled carefully to avoid bruising. I have Gravenstein applesauce in jars and Braeburns in the fridge. Newtown Pippins are just ready to pick. Quinces ripen anywhere from late October to December, depending on variety, climate, and exposure. We just finished turning our ripest 30 lbs of quinces into Membrillo (sweet Spanish fruit paste) for storage. Others are in openwork crates in a dry cold place. They will be cooked or processed into sauce as they ripen. Peppers: Peppers ripen well indoors. They ripen even better if you cut the whole plant and hang it on a coat hanger. Both green and dry fruit can be used for hot sauce or pickles, but they don't make a great dried product. Ripe peppers keep a couple of weeks in the fridge. For drying cut them open to prevent mold unless humidity is very low. the thicker the pepper walls, the smaller you should cut them for drying. All peppers can be frozen after cooking. To remove skins from fresh peppers, hold over a flame, roast in a hot oven, or set on a barbecue grill until the skin scorches. Cover for a few minutes to steam, then lift off the skins. Be very careful not to burn them. Like green beans, peppers are non-acid, so they need to be dried, frozen, pickled, or else canned in a pressure canner. Learn to make fermented hot sauce HERE. Tomatoes: You can hang whole plants if the tomatoes are small and you have the space, but most people pick them. Sort into three categories--those showing a bit of color, those that are full-sized but green, and those not full-size. The first two will ripen indoors if you spread them in a single layer (I use cardboard flats on the floor under a table) In much of Italy, green tomatoes are prized for salad--red ones are only used for cooking. You might as well process the small ones into pickles, salsa, jam, chutney, etc right away. They may turn color but won't actually ripen. You can use any recipe that calls for ripe tomatoes. The flavor will be less sweet; I add a bit more salt and a touch of sugar. I have been working through my green tomatoes. I've finished canning green tomato salsa, and will be turning the very small unripe tomatoes (including cherries) into chutney. A final tip: Roasting tomatoes and/or peppers in a hot oven makes peeling easy. In fine weather, you can use a barbecue grill, like peppers. Or puree them unpeeled. A food mill removes skins as it purees, but is messy. An immersion blender can be used right in the pot, and makes skins disappear into the sauce. Add onions, and other items you want to stay chunky after pureeing. I have not noticed any difference in flavor when I use the blender to pulverize the skins--they don't seem to affect it at all.
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