What are the methods for keeping garlic scapes fresh? Do this to store them longer
1. Harvesting garlic scapes 1. Harvest at the right time. The suitable harvest period is when the scape stalk has grown out of the terminal leaf and bends to one side (that is, hooks) around in a full circle. Harvested too young, the flavor is poor and it does not keep well; harvested too old, the quality is poor and it has no value for long-term storage.
2. Harvesting method. The "lifting the seedling" method is preferable: hold the scape stalk where it emerges from the terminal leaf with your hand and lift upward, so that the scape stalk breaks off from the base. The cross-sectional wound caused by "lifting the seedling" heals easily, whereas the wound from "cutting the seedling" harvest rots easily.
3. Harvesting time. Choose a sunny day, and by no means harvest on a rainy day. To prevent "broken strips," harvest after 10 a.m. 2. Post-harvest pretreatment 1. Grading. Immediately after harvest, sort and grade, discarding those that are too small or too young, old and hardened (the scape bulb swollen and yellowed, the scape stalk aged and deteriorated), broken-headed or damaged, affected by pests or diseases, and deformed garlic scapes. Remove the leaf sheath and cut off the aged part at the base.
2. Bundling. Align the scape bulbs, tie with plastic string at the scape stalk 3-5 cm from the scape bulb, 0.5-1 kg per bundle. You can also twist and tie the scape bulb end into small bundles of 0.5-1 kg. Avoid wind and sun causing heavy water loss, or piling up and heating, which causes rot.
3. Precooling. For controlled-atmosphere storage, the garlic scapes can be placed in a precooling room and cooled to 1°C to delay aging. Without a precooling room, they must still be placed in a cool, ventilated place so the field heat of the garlic scapes dissipates. For precooling for ice-cellar storage, the garlic scapes can be soaked in ice water for 1-2 hours, which cools them quickly and also helps to a certain extent to keep them fresh and green.
3. Storage methods 1. Cold-storage controlled-atmosphere storage. Disinfect the warehouse, vegetable racks, etc. Disinfect the warehouse by fumigation with sulfur, at 5-10 grams per sq m; disinfect the vegetable racks and tools with 0.5% bleaching powder, and use them only after sun-drying. Two methods can be used: small-package controlled-atmosphere storage and large-tent controlled-atmosphere storage.
(1) Small-package controlled-atmosphere storage.
Use polyethylene plastic film bags 0.06-0.08 mm thick, heat-sealed to 100 cm × 75 cm; put the tied small bundles of garlic scapes into them, 15-20 kg per bag, tie the bag mouth tightly, and place on the vegetable racks. Keep the warehouse temperature steady at 0-1°C. Because the bag method involves too many bags, it is not easy to adjust the gas composition in each one individually; the natural oxygen-reduction method can be used. When the oxygen concentration drops to 1-3% and the carbon dioxide concentration rises to 12-14%, loosen the bag mouth to "air out"; when the oxygen concentration rises to 18% and the carbon dioxide concentration drops to 2%, tie the mouth tightly and seal. In the early storage period, "air out" once every 10 days; in the later period, "air out" once every 7 days.
(2) Large-tent controlled-atmosphere storage.
Place the tied garlic scapes on the vegetable rack shelves, 30 cm thick, and seal with a 0.23 mm thick polyethylene film tent. Fill the tent with nitrogen to quickly reduce the oxygen concentration to 3-5%. Once the temperature and humidity are adjusted well (warehouse temperature 0-1°C, relative humidity 85-90%), storage can begin. Check and ventilate in good time: when the oxygen concentration drops to 2% and the carbon dioxide concentration reaches 5%, open the tent to ventilate; when the oxygen concentration rises to 5% and the carbon dioxide concentration drops to 0, stop ventilating. It can be stored safely for 8-9 months without aging and without the bulbs scattering. It is suitable for large-volume storage. With this method, to absorb the carbon dioxide produced by the garlic scapes, slaked lime must be added inside the tent.
(3) Ice-cellar storage.
Using straw bag pieces soaked in ice water, pack the small bundles of garlic scapes into large packs of 10-20 kg. Or put the small bundles of garlic scapes into wet cattail bags soaked in ice water and tie tightly. Lay ice at the bottom of the cellar, build ice walls around, then layer one layer of garlic scape packs and one layer of ice, leaving gaps between packs, fill and cover with crushed ice, level it, and 3-5 layers of packs can be placed. Do not stack too high, to avoid crushing and damaging the garlic scapes. If it is a permanent ice cellar with an insulated roof, thin ice can be spread over the garlic scapes and then covered with several layers of straw bags. If it is a simple ice cellar with poorer insulation, after filling level with crushed ice over the garlic scapes, press on two layers of ice blocks, then cover with rice husks 0.7-1 m thick. Keep the cellar temperature at 0-1°C and the relative humidity close to 100%; the ice blocks should be in a state of slow melting, and the cellar bottom must be kept draining freely.