Placed under a certain temperature or in the same container as other varieties of citrus fruits, clementines will tend to ripen, even rot quickly. But the trick that you are going to discover in this article will help you to keep them in good conditions, so that they do not rot in advance. Fresh or in jam, they will be just as delicious.
Most abundant in winter, clementines can wilt very quickly when they are not well cared for. Even if they appear juicy when picked, they usually only take a few days to begin to spoil, whereas they could last 10 days and more if the right storage techniques are applied. We show you how to properly store this New Year’s fruit at home.
Why do clementines rot?
Clementines rot in most cases due to the presence of fungi or bacteria growing on their surface, but also due to damage caused during harvesting or transport. High temperature and humidity can also speed up the process of mold. Also note that it is necessary to store clementines in a dry and cool place and not to let them come into contact with damaged or rotten fruits to avoid the spread of microorganisms.
Read also: Here’s How To Get Infinite Tangerines From A Single Fruit
Clementines. Source: spm
Usually, clementines tolerate room temperature quite well for up to about 6 days, when placed away from light, humidity and sun.
However, for longer storage, especially when you have a large quantity that you are not sure to consume for several weeks, certain storage rules must be respected.
If you have too many clementines to store and the refrigerator cannot contain them all, then opt for a cardboard box or a wooden crate, at the bottom of which you will have previously placed paper. However, it will be necessary to make three rows of citrus fruits in each crate or box, separating each of the rows with paper. The temperature of the room where the fruits are stored should be 4 to 6°C. Be careful not to put weight on the crates. This way they will stay fresh and juicy for several weeks.
No orange nearby : we imagine very easily that tangerines and oranges go well together since they both belong to the citrus family. But it is nothing. Tangerines store differently than oranges, lemons and grapefruits. The ideal is therefore to store them separately to benefit from a longer conservation time.
Where to store clementines?
Forget the dining table, the living room and the kitchen. Placed in these places, your citrus fruits will not stay fresh long enough. Small black dots form there to grow gradually until they deteriorate. In the presence of high humidity and when the air is too dry, clementines dry out and wither.
Read also: Don’t Throw Away Lemon Skin, Here’s How To Use It To Grow A Lemon Tree
To protect these citrus fruits from dehydration, the ideal would therefore be to put them in a light open cloth bag or in a net and in the vegetable drawer of the refrigerator. Also avoid putting them in sealed plastic bags. Failing this, you will have to make a lot of holes in the bag and above all take care to remove the citrus fruits which would already be affected by the beginning of denaturation to avoid contaminating the whole lot.
Clementine jam. Source: spm
Other Methods of Preserving Tangerines
When clementines lose their freshness due to advanced ripeness or slight denaturation, it is still possible to recover them before they start to rot. To do this, you need to freeze them. Even better, you can make jam out of it. So you can keep your citrus fruits for a long time.
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Via SPM
