Posted: 9/12/2010 5:58:07 AM EDT
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Good friends of mine always sey up a large garden on the ten acres they own near their home. This year they had a great crop but are running out jars for canning plus it's just the two of them since their kids are all grown.
I thoght a great idea would be to build a root celler out of scrap materials on the 10 acres and this way they could store a lot of what they harvest with out taking up space at home...any one build one? what are the draw backs to doing so?...besides bugs /animals getting into your stores? |
I have been thinking about it a lot here in the past year or so !
Roo Cellar<––––––-opps Root ! |
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I only wish I could build a root cellar on my property. As it is, I'm using THIS BOOK to help me store foods without a traditional root cellar. I would think they'd be crazy not to invest in one. |
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Yes, root cellars are wonderful.
That said, all the ones from my past were either just a dirt hole dug under the house, or an old storm shelter dug into the bank outside the house. I would not have the dirt hole because I would not be able to go down there. The creepy crawlies would make it an unusable space for me. And the old storm cellar is pretty much the same. HOWEVER, if I were going to build one, I would do it as a storm cellar in the bank beside my driveway, and I would make it bug/critter tight. With concrete and such, that is now possible––tight doors, doorsweeps and everything. And if I had one of these, I would definitely grow a larger garden. Potatoes, root crops, all that. I don't grow potatoes (beyond a few for new potatoes in spring) now because I have no way to store them so there's no point If you're going to garden seriously, a good cellar is a wonderful thing. Oh...and there's the possibility of holding wine. Can't overlook that. 
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I've amassed several plans for them...books and web downloads.
I already purchased the surplus cinder blocks for it from the guy who built my garage, so I got a deal on them. I'm having a pre-fab steel barn put up for my tractor & such, and am thinking of putting one in there. Really no need for a floor. Weather protected + OPSEC. The only confusing thing I have not figured out yet is that some of the publications refer to having two humidity zones: dry and not-so-dry. Not certain how or why, I need to do more reading. |
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I spent much of my early childhood on self sustaining farms that had root cellars that doubled as storm shelters.
They were dug into hills to reduce the labor aspect as well as make them so you can walk into them. Since most farm houses back then were built on hills to limit flooding, location was typically yards from the house. The back wall was dirt with a wire mesh covering. This did two things. It allowed the natural dirt to control humidity and temperature as well as left an area for expansion if needed. Bigger the family, the bigger a root cellar got. The wire mesh kept unwanted rodents, insects, and reptiles out of the root cellar. The only food items stored in the root cellar were canned goods and tubers (potatoes and such). Dry goods, such as flour, were kept elsewhere. Canned goods often lasted and were used two years later and though with quite a bit of spoilage, tubers would typically last until the next growing season. Picking potatoes to be seed potatoes was like an everyday thing. As one got potatoes for a meal, they looked for one that would be seed. During harvest time, things like sweet corn and fruits were stored there until they could be either eaten or canned, moist food. Typically by December, there wasn't much fresh left and the diet changed to canned or dry goods, however our diet then was supplemented by game meat. That takes us into the subject of livestock, smokehouses, and another topic. Tj |
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When I build my cabin my plan is to have a seperate room built off the basement for this purpose. I have not done all the research but I note that root cellers should have ventilation and they do best with a dirt floor to keep the humidity up. So, my plan when I build my cabin, is to have part of the basement foundation come out away from the cabin but without a poured floor and add the means to vent it and add electricity.
I thought the following page looked helpful when I was researching this: http://www.mofga.org/Publications/MaineOrganicFarmerGardener/Fall2008/RootCellars/tabid/984/Default.aspx Root Cellars: Safe and Secure from the Corporate Food Train
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Illustration courtesy of University of Alaska Fairbanks. by Cheryl Wixson Root-cellaring is a saving technique for ordinary winter storage of fresh, raw, whole vegetables and fruits that have not been processed to increase their keeping quality. The root cellar is a way to hold these foods for several months after their normal harvest in a cold, rather moist environment that does not allow them to freeze or to complete their natural cycle to decomposition in the fall. Many Advantages Root-cellaring your fruits and vegetables has many advantages. First, having a winter’s supply of food put by provides an immense feeling of security. So what if they blow up the bridge in Kittery, you’ll still have enough to eat! Root cellars help conserve energy, as the food that you enjoy all winter has not traveled thousands of miles to get to your plate. Root cellars can save money: Crops that you grow or obtain locally at the peak of harvest are more economical than those purchased in December in the supermarket. Root-cellaring is also an alternative to investing in additional freezers or canning supplies. Perhaps what my family enjoys most about the root cellar is the whole new system of eating that it fosters: Local, Seasonal, Organic (LSO), an age-old system based on the seasons. Research indicates that foods enjoyed in season have health benefits also. In the fall and winter, the beta-carotene, antioxidants and phytochemicals in squashes, carrots and other roots give our bodies extra defenses to fight colds, and the complex carbohydrates of root vegetables help us maintain high energy levels during the coldest months. As spring becomes summer, we enjoy more leafy greens and salads, giving our bodies additional water and such minerals as iron, potassium and phosphorus. We look forward to our asparagus in May and peas in June, knowing that a full year will pass before we eat them again. The last winter apples are eaten just before the strawberries, raspberries and blueberries start to ripen. We feast on endless summer squash and zucchini baked in muffins and breads, grilled or stir-fried, and in salads. Our eating follows a pattern – what’s fresh, what’s local, what’s in season – a pattern complemented by root-cellaring. The Right Space Unfortunately, of all the time-tested ways of putting food by, root-cellaring is less satisfactory than it was a century or more ago due to technological advances in home construction. Traditionally, root cellars were underground in the cool, damp cellar of the farmhouse, with dirt floors and stone or brick walls. Today’s homes, with finished basements with concrete floors and centralized heating systems, do not provide optimum conditions for long-term storage of produce without some modifications. However, with a little research and understanding of the science of storing produce, almost any space can be adapted for root-cellaring. The two basic requirements for successfully storing produce in root cellars are the proper temperature and humidity. In their excellent book Root Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits and Vegetables, Mike and Nancy Bubel detail construction of several types of cold storage, from trenches, “keeping closets” and bulkhead storage to specific rooms built in finished basements. Particular vegetables and fruits have specific temperature and humidity requirements. Foods that like cold temperatures (32 to 40 degrees F.) and high humidity (90 to 95% relative humidity) include beets, carrots, parsnips, turnips, celery, winter radishes (Daikon), leeks and Jerusalem artichokes. Potatoes, cabbage and apples also do best at 32 to 40 degrees F. but with less humidity (80 to 90% relative humidity). Garlic and onions keep best in cool temperatures, 32 to 50 degrees F., and dry conditions, 50 to 60% relative humidity. Pumpkins, winter squash and sweet potatoes store ideally with a moderately warm temperature (50 to 60 degrees F.) and dry conditions. At first, this may seem complex, but with experience you will be able to locate a storage place for all. First, visit your local hardware store and invest in a good thermometer and hygrometer. Using your thermometer, find the coldest place in your house or basement that is most suitable for your root cellar. As the Bubels write, a good root cellar can both “borrow and store cold.” To borrow cold, you can dig deep into the earth, or during the fall and spring, you can allow colder, outside night air in to cool the cellar by opening a window, using a louvered vent or running a fan. Storing the cold usually requires some type of insulation. In addition to a thermometer and hygrometer, you’ll need tubs with lids, crates, straw, sand or wood shavings. More sophisticated root cellars may have fans or ventilators. Other resources that can help you construct a root cellar include Stocking Up (Rodale Press). Its excellent chapter on Underground Storage recommends constructing an 8- by 10-foot room in your finished basement, probably in the northeast corner, and farthest from the boiler. The book also has construction details for concrete storage rooms, soil pits, mound storage, hay bale storage, pit storage and even a truck body located underground. Putting Food By by Ruth Hertzberg et al. (Stephen Greene Press) also devotes a chapter to root-cellaring, as does Preserving Food without Freezing or Canning by the gardeners and farmers of Terre Vivante in France. The forward, The Poetry of Food, crafted by Eliot Coleman, inspires us to eat “real food.” These books are good additions to the home library, as they also have recipes and ideas on how to enjoy the fruits of your storage. The Cooperative Extension Services of many universities, including Purdue, Colorado State, the University of New Hampshire and University of Alaska, Fairbanks, have Web-based information about root-cellaring. Bulkhead Bounty My first root cellar was in the bulkhead of our 1929 bungalow in Bangor. Our home had an existing space that the former owners had used as a root cellar, complete with wooden storage bins and closets for canned goods, but the temperatures were rarely below 50 degrees. My husband converted that to a wine cellar, and we used the steps going from the cellar to the outside for a root cellar. My husband insulated the top of the bulkhead door with sheets of rigid insulation, and I tracked the temperature with a thermometer. When the forecast called for temperatures below zero, we could maintain the temperature around 32 degrees by cracking open the door from the bulkhead to the heated portion of the cellar. I stored apples in tubs on the top steps. Of all my produce, apples could withstand the coldest temperatures and still be suitable for eating. Use caution when storing apples, however: They give off ethylene gas, which promotes ripening and maturation of other vegetables and, at some concentrations, can promote sprouting in potatoes. A farmer friend ruined his whole crop of carrots by storing them with apples. By using tubs with lids, the gas stays in the tubs, as does the condensation. We hung mesh bags of onions and garlic from hooks in the front, closest to the heated part of the basement. Potatoes were stored in paper bags and leeks in sand in open plastic tubs. I must confess that I don’t harvest my leeks until the January thaw. Last winter the snow cover made finding them a bit more challenging! Beets, carrots, turnips, celeriac and winter radishes like very humid conditions, and store best packed in moist sand or wood shavings. Last winter I was fortunate to find winter pears in early December, and stored them in a wooden crate toward the front, enjoying them into late January. I wrapped my cabbages in newspaper and set them on the steps. They can be quite odiferous, and some folks choose to store them in a separate location. Pumpkins and winter squash prefer warmer and drier conditions. We store butternut and ‘Delicata’ squash in an unheated bedroom. My ‘Delicata’ usually keep until April, and I still (in late July) had one butternut that I was hoarding for a special occasion. This arrangement served us well from November into early April. By then, most of our produce was depleted, and the remainder could be moved into a second refrigerator that we kept in the basement specifically for storing root crops. Check Frequently! Only fresh and sound produce should be root-cellared. The food should be free from cuts, cracks, bruises, insects and mechanical damage. When I prepare produce for winter storage, I inspect it carefully. Items with any damage are either eaten quickly or canned or frozen. Apples and pears can be made into sauce, squash roasted and frozen, and beets pickled. Visit and inspect your root cellar frequently. The old adage that one bad apple rots the barrel is true! I visit my root cellar every few days, enjoying the satisfaction of having plenty to eat without traveling to the supermarket. Basket in hand, I carefully check my apples, selecting any that show the first signs of softening or rot. Some go into the nightly salad, some are eaten out of hand, and if there are enough, some are baked into a crisp or pie. I select potatoes, carrots and other vegetables for the next few meals, taking comfort in the thought that my food supply is safe and secure. I highly recommend keeping a journal. I use my journal to track outside temperatures and compare them with root cellar temperatures. I also record the condition of my produce through the winter, what I prepare with the food, recipe ideas and storage tips. This information is invaluable for planning for the next season. Here are two examples from my journal: January 9, 2008: another warm day, root cellar 45 degrees. Sorted apples and pears. Harvested leeks. Dug snow. Ground not frozen. Some pears had frozen (from minus 5 degrees cold snap earlier in the week). Made pear sauce. Apples fine, especially Belle de Boskeep! One delicata and 1 butternut with small spots of rot. Roasted for supper. February 21, 2008: Red Cabbage Slaw: chopped red cabbage, red delicious apple, grated Daikon, wheat berries, pecans, dressing maple syrup, raspberry vinegar, olive oil, cranberry jelly. Excellent keeper! Quantities and Varieties Perhaps the biggest question regarding root-cellaring is how much food you’ll need. If your family is unaccustomed to the joys of the LSO diet, I recommend starting small – perhaps with a second refrigerator in the garage or basement. If your family is more adventurous and eager to commit to eating the way our great, great grandparents did, you might start with these quantities for a family of four: Apples: 5 bushels Carrots: 40 to 60 pounds Cabbage: green, 20 heads; red, 10 heads Beets: 20 pounds Celeriac: (celery root, use instead of celery) 10 to 20 heads Leeks: 40 plants Potatoes: 100 pounds or more Jerusalem artichoke: 10 pounds Onions: 40 pounds Garlic: 10 to 20 pounds Winter radish: 10 Parsnip: 20 pounds Squash: 40 ‘Delicata’ and 30 pounds butternut Pumpkin: 5 to 10 Turnip and rutabaga: 10 or more Certain varieties of vegetables keep better than others. ‘Bolero,’ ‘Purple Haze’ and ‘Chantenay’ carrots are good storage crops, while ‘Mokum’ and ‘Napoli’ are better harvested and eaten fresh. Seed catalogs such as Fedco and Johnny’s have variety information, and the Bubels devote a chapter to Good Keepers. Local farmers are also excellent resources. They provide food for their families all winter and can give you storage tips, cooking suggestions, even recipe ideas. I am constantly amazed at the breadth of knowledge and common sense of our farmers. Many also offer root crops for purchase throughout the winter. Accepting the challenge of storing your family’s food for the winter and getting off the corporate food train is not easy and requires diligence and commitment, but the opportunity to eat real food, to know where your food comes from, to be secure in knowing that you can provide for your family is a huge step toward food independence. I encourage you to nourish your bodies and your souls, and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Happy eating! Cheryl Wixson is MOFGA’s resident chef and Organic Marketing consultant. She and her husband of 33 years recently moved to Stonington and are designing their new root and wine cellars. Cheryl welcomes your questions, comments and observations. Contact her at [email protected] or 207-852-0899. |
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Also see this link:
http://www.hobbyfarms.com/food-and-kitchen/root-cellars-14908.aspx Note that both pages discuss how you might want or need two (or more) seperate climates so a series of rooms might help insulate the furthest room (from the basement I mean) so it stays cooler and yet the intermediate roosm can store stuff that doesn't need as much humidity or as cold of temps. I have a lot to learn before I build however! |
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I'd like to have a freestanding root cellar too.
The thing that holds me back is that it's a big project and my basement does a pretty fair approximation of a root cellar as is. The basement has a dirt floor and hovers around 40-50 degrees throughout the cold months. The downside is that we really can't run our oil furnace at all and still maintain a "root cellar like" environment as it shoots the temperature up. Since we heat with wood anyway, that's not a huge limitation.....but it is still a limitation. |
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The root cellars I am familiar with from my time on the farm were usually in a corner of the basement. The walls were thick limestone, the floors dirt- sometimes covered with Pea Gravel. They would be located in a corner and so surrounded on two sides by the thermal mass of the outside dirt. They were usually fairly small and lined with rough board shelving. They featured an "air duct" to vent- the door into the basement area was very well sealed.
Often the basement was home to a wood burning furnace so it was necessary to have the vent to allow cold air into the cellar- or at least vent the warmer air from the cellar outside. In Wisconsin, from harvest time to early April you could count on 50 degree or cooler (often MUCH cooler!) nights and so the cellars, when sealed stayed quite cool despite location near the stove. |
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Yes, root cellars are wonderful. That said, all the ones from my past were either just a dirt hole dug under the house, or an old storm shelter dug into the bank outside the house. I would not have the dirt hole because I would not be able to go down there. The creepy crawlies would make it an unusable space for me. And the old storm cellar is pretty much the same. HOWEVER, if I were going to build one, I would do it as a storm cellar in the bank beside my driveway, and I would make it bug/critter tight. With concrete and such, that is now possible––tight doors, doorsweeps and everything. And if I had one of these, I would definitely grow a larger garden. Potatoes, root crops, all that. I don't grow potatoes (beyond a few for new potatoes in spring) now because I have no way to store them so there's no point If you're going to garden seriously, a good cellar is a wonderful thing. Oh...and there's the possibility of holding wine. Can't overlook that. Hate to tell you but there will always be spiders, SPIDERS, I have bomb the one I have several times a year...Freaking spiders.... |
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Yes, root cellars are wonderful. That said, all the ones from my past were either just a dirt hole dug under the house, or an old storm shelter dug into the bank outside the house. I would not have the dirt hole because I would not be able to go down there. The creepy crawlies would make it an unusable space for me. And the old storm cellar is pretty much the same. HOWEVER, if I were going to build one, I would do it as a storm cellar in the bank beside my driveway, and I would make it bug/critter tight. With concrete and such, that is now possible––tight doors, doorsweeps and everything. And if I had one of these, I would definitely grow a larger garden. Potatoes, root crops, all that. I don't grow potatoes (beyond a few for new potatoes in spring) now because I have no way to store them so there's no point If you're going to garden seriously, a good cellar is a wonderful thing. Oh...and there's the possibility of holding wine. Can't overlook that. Hate to tell you but there will always be spiders, SPIDERS, I have bomb the one I have several times a year...Freaking spiders.... Oh, but they can't be the size of the effin' monsters that lived in the ones I remember. OMG. They were bigger than my hand. Those monster wolf spiders. I know they don't hurt anything except bugs, but I just can't deal with that. If I make it tight enough, those things can't get in. How do they get into yours? kitties |
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Yes, root cellars are wonderful. That said, all the ones from my past were either just a dirt hole dug under the house, or an old storm shelter dug into the bank outside the house. I would not have the dirt hole because I would not be able to go down there. The creepy crawlies would make it an unusable space for me. And the old storm cellar is pretty much the same. HOWEVER, if I were going to build one, I would do it as a storm cellar in the bank beside my driveway, and I would make it bug/critter tight. With concrete and such, that is now possible––tight doors, doorsweeps and everything. And if I had one of these, I would definitely grow a larger garden. Potatoes, root crops, all that. I don't grow potatoes (beyond a few for new potatoes in spring) now because I have no way to store them so there's no point If you're going to garden seriously, a good cellar is a wonderful thing. Oh...and there's the possibility of holding wine. Can't overlook that. Hate to tell you but there will always be spiders, SPIDERS, I have bomb the one I have several times a year...Freaking spiders.... Oh, but they can't be the size of the effin' monsters that lived in the ones I remember. OMG. They were bigger than my hand. Those monster wolf spiders. I know they don't hurt anything except bugs, but I just can't deal with that. If I make it tight enough, those things can't get in. How do they get into yours? kitties They beam in or bore their way thru concret...seriously, I need to bomb them again, I think all it does is make them stronger...one of these days I am going to disappear... 
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Yes, root cellars are wonderful. That said, all the ones from my past were either just a dirt hole dug under the house, or an old storm shelter dug into the bank outside the house. I would not have the dirt hole because I would not be able to go down there. The creepy crawlies would make it an unusable space for me. And the old storm cellar is pretty much the same. HOWEVER, if I were going to build one, I would do it as a storm cellar in the bank beside my driveway, and I would make it bug/critter tight. With concrete and such, that is now possible––tight doors, doorsweeps and everything. And if I had one of these, I would definitely grow a larger garden. Potatoes, root crops, all that. I don't grow potatoes (beyond a few for new potatoes in spring) now because I have no way to store them so there's no point If you're going to garden seriously, a good cellar is a wonderful thing. Oh...and there's the possibility of holding wine. Can't overlook that. Hate to tell you but there will always be spiders, SPIDERS, I have bomb the one I have several times a year...Freaking spiders.... Oh, but they can't be the size of the effin' monsters that lived in the ones I remember. OMG. They were bigger than my hand. Those monster wolf spiders. I know they don't hurt anything except bugs, but I just can't deal with that. If I make it tight enough, those things can't get in. How do they get into yours? kitties They beam in or bore their way thru concret...seriously, I need to bomb them again, I think all it does is make them stronger...one of these days I am going to disappear... They must get in really small and then grow. Yes, I've had that feeling about one day I'm just going to disappear and a spider will have eaten me. We had an old well house at the first house we rented after we got married. Biggest damn wolf spiders I've ever seen. I can hump a pack through the woods at night looking for a body, running through spider webs all the way, knowing they're crawling on me. I don't LIKE it, but I don't freak out because I've got too much else to do. But these things? Scream like a little girl. And I mean scream for about three minutes straight. Uxb has to deal with them. I just leave the area. I'll buy some kind of monster lizards to put in my root cellar if it'll keep out those things. I can deal with snakes, but not those big-ass spiders. |
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I am almost amazed we managed to find two Arachnophobs in in a thread about root cellers. I would have expected taphophobia to be a topic here more then one about spiders helping to defend your food stores from other bugs.  Dude, the spiders that grow in those places are like the size of Humvees. Just sayin. ETA: What I really have is tapherachnophobia. Fear of being buried alive with huge spiders. |
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When my dad was growing up the houses had the cellars under them. Board walls, dirt/stone floors with shelves and no insulation other than being under the house (which was uninsulated).
Back in the late 1970's we built one across the creek by digging into the bank. We used old railroad ties left in the ground when the railroad pulled the rails that used to run up to the old coal tipples in that area. The cellar has a gravel floor with drainage pipes under the gravel. The inside of the walls have old mine belt (old conveyor belt) nailed up in a way that channels any water that comes through the ties downward to the gravel (like roof shingles in reverse - he could have used shingles but at that time the mines were closing down and there were piles of mine belt pushed over the side of the hills when the mining companies "cleaned up" their sites). The door is 6" thick and insulated. They have a couple of the old pull string switch light fixtures in it. Shelves on the side and back walls. As stated earlier the potatoes and apples last all winter. The apples don't last as long as the potatoes. Every so often you need to get in there and pick all the new growth off the "eyes" on the potatoes as it just dries the potatoes out quicker. As to how long canned stuff lasts? I guess maybe it depends on the canning process and the conditions in the cellar. When my grandma died my mom and dad cleaned out the old (and not very well constructed) cellar under her house. I remember mom telling me there was over 80 quarts of green beans in there. Some were 6 to 8 years old and all of it was good. This was in 1990. They found 2 quarts of cherry preserves my grandma had canned the year my cousin David was born (spring weather is very uncertain in those mountains and I can only remember cherries "hitting" once in my whole life up there). My aunt (David's mom) took those two quarts of cherry preserves home and made pies out of them. David was born in 1951. Those two quarts of cherry preserves had been sitting on the shelf there for 39 years. I wouldn't recommend eating canned food that old but you know how it is. Look at it, smell it, cook it well. |
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When my dad was growing up the houses had the cellars under them. Board walls, dirt/stone floors with shelves and no insulation other than being under the house (which was uninsulated). Back in the late 1970's we built one across the creek by digging into the bank. We used old railroad ties left in the ground when the railroad pulled the rails that used to run up to the old coal tipples in that area. The cellar has a gravel floor with drainage pipes under the gravel. The inside of the walls have old mine belt (old conveyor belt) nailed up in a way that channels any water that comes through the ties downward to the gravel (like roof shingles in reverse - he could have used shingles but at that time the mines were closing down and there were piles of mine belt pushed over the side of the hills when the mining companies "cleaned up" their sites). The door is 6" thick and insulated. They have a couple of the old pull string switch light fixtures in it. Shelves on the side and back walls. As stated earlier the potatoes and apples last all winter. The apples don't last as long as the potatoes. Every so often you need to get in there and pick all the new growth off the "eyes" on the potatoes as it just dries the potatoes out quicker. As to how long canned stuff lasts? I guess maybe it depends on the canning process and the conditions in the cellar. When my grandma died my mom and dad cleaned out the old (and not very well constructed) cellar under her house. I remember mom telling me there was over 80 quarts of green beans in there. Some were 6 to 8 years old and all of it was good. This was in 1990. They found 2 quarts of cherry preserves my grandma had canned the year my cousin David was born (spring weather is very uncertain in those mountains and I can only remember cherries "hitting" once in my whole life up there). My aunt (David's mom) took those two quarts of cherry preserves home and made pies out of them. David was born in 1951. Those two quarts of cherry preserves had been sitting on the shelf there for 39 years. I wouldn't recommend eating canned food that old but you know how it is. Look at it, smell it, cook it well. This is the way it was in my grandmother's house. When she died, I bet there were 400 quarts of canned food in her basement. Some of it was 10 or 12 years old. There were always a few cans left at the back of the shelves that got missed in rotations, yaknow? And when we dumped it? It was still good. It wasn't FRESH––as in, it had lost its flavor mostly. But it was still edible. It was safe to eat. Most of the time....MOST of the time....spoiled food smells spoiled. But I do realize that not everyone has the same level of olfactory sense that I have, and maybe mine's not as good as some other folks's. I know that there are a few exceptions to this rule about smells, but if food is properly canned, it does last a long time. Or at least, it DID last a long time the way my folks canned. And I agree that cooking it well if it's older is probably a very good rule. Look at it. Smell it. Cook it well. That's a brilliant rule of thumb.
Does it stink? Does it have funky stuff growing on it? Is it green when it should be yellow? Or brown when it should be green? Is it fermenting? Are there bubbles and foam at the top of the jar? Throw it out. I've seen a few threads in here where people ask stuff like, "there's a small animal mutating in this jar I canned last week. Is it still good?" 
No. It's not. Dump it. 
Common sense. Look at it. Smell it. Cook it well .
I love that. |
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Does it stink? Does it have funky stuff growing on it? Is it green when it should be yellow? Or brown when it should be green? Is it fermenting? Are there bubbles and foam at the top of the jar? Throw it out. I've seen a few threads in here where people ask stuff like, "there's a small animal mutating in this jar I canned last week. Is it still good?"
No. It's not. Dump it.
Common sense. Now that is funny
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