How should water chestnuts (Chinese water chestnuts) be stored and kept fresh after harvest?

Water chestnuts are grown all over China and can be eaten raw or cooked. Moreover, the cultivation technique for water chestnuts is relatively simple, they have strong growth capacity and high yield, and sometimes after harvest they cannot all be sold on the market, so they need to be stored, otherwise they rot very easily and affect the planting returns. So how should water chestnuts (Chinese water chestnuts) be stored after harvest?

1. Storage in ceramic vats

After harvest, spread the water chestnuts flat on dry ground for about half a month. Then, once they have dried appropriately, place the water chestnuts in ceramic vats. Be careful to place the ceramic vats in a dry, well-ventilated place. The storage amount in each ceramic vat should not exceed 90kg. After storing, cover the mouth of the vat, but in the early stage it should not be covered tightly, to promote ventilation and air flow. If the temperature is relatively low, then add a layer of straw as insulation. In rainy weather, the cover needs to be removed to release moisture. About once a month, turn and inspect them once, and detect any abnormal conditions in time.

2. Storage in cellars

Before putting the water chestnuts into the cellar, first spray the inside of the cellar with a disinfectant solution such as carbendazim to disinfect it, then spread a layer of fine soil on the ground, and place the water chestnuts flat on the fine soil, keeping their height at about 22cm. After putting in the water chestnuts, cover them with another layer of fine soil, and repeat this cycle until all the water chestnuts are placed. However, note that the height should be kept at about 20cm from the cellar opening. Cover the top with dry soil to fill the opening, then seal tightly around it with mud to form a bun-like shape, then pat it firm and press it tight.

3. Storage in fine sand

After harvesting the water chestnuts, in a cool, dry environment, build a burial pit, then place about 6cm of fine sand at the bottom of the pit, place the water chestnuts flat and in order on the fine sand, cover with a layer of fine sand, then place another layer of water chestnut corms, and repeat this cycle. Because fine sand is not firm enough, the stacking height should not exceed 1m. The storage effect is also very good.

4. Storage in solution

After harvesting, the water chestnuts should be cleaned, the impurities on the corms removed, and then placed in hypochlorous acid solution for storage. The storage performance of hypochlorous acid solution is very high. Professional data surveys have shown that when using hypochlorous acid solution for storage, when the temperature is around 1 degree and the humidity is around 95%, the fresh-keeping time of water chestnuts can be as long as 10 months, and when the temperature is 5 degrees, the storage time is also about half a year.

5. Storage in piles

Pile storage is a traditional storage method in China. First, choose a cool, dry indoor floor; its area depends on the storage quantity. Then spread a layer of dry soil on the floor, and enclose the surroundings, using something with strong permeability as a fence if possible. Then put down a layer of water chestnuts and a layer of fine soil, and repeat this cycle. Although it is relatively simple to operate, its storage performance is relatively low, and problems easily arise.

The above is Tuliu.com's introduction to the storage methods for water chestnuts after harvest. There are many storage methods for water chestnuts. When storing them, the storage method should be reasonably chosen according to the actual situation, region, technology and various other aspects.