Root cellar pantries provide the ideal way to store food in a cool dark environment, extending their shelf lives by several months or even up to one year and saving homesteaders from purchasing produce from distant farms that has likely already gone bad by the time it reaches stores for sale.
Root cellars were an indispensable necessity in pre-modern refrigeration times as families struggled through winter months. These structures dug into the ground took advantage of its stable cool temperature to store goods. Some were as simple as digging a hole and filling it with sand; others featured elaborate underground chambers lined with brick, stone or logs that provided shelter against humidity levels of 85-90% – either way it was important that these subterranean storage rooms maintained consistent low temperatures with 85-90% relative humidity levels for optimal conditions.
As part of building a root cellar pantry, other important factors must be taken into account in addition to temperature. These include ventilation and air quality. A damp environment ensures microorganisms that cause spoilage don’t proliferate; hence the commonality of having dirt floors for storage purposes. It is equally essential to keep your root cellar as clean as possible so as to avoid becoming polluted with the scents from decayed food stored there; otherwise it quickly becomes overrun with the unpleasant odor of spoilage fruit and vegetables.
Root cellar pantries should ideally be as dark as possible to prevent light from shining into them and damaging produce. Furthermore, regular inspection of food should take place, with any items showing signs of decomposition being removed as soon as they begin rotting – otherwise their destruction could spread rapidly to other foods and result in lost nutrients.
Root cellar pantries can be an ideal way to store foods, but not everyone has the space or budget for such a project. However, alternative approaches will still produce good results; from simply burying a garbage can with straw cover or turning an interior closet into cold storage room to using any consistently cool and dark area as makeshift root cellar storage for certain types of foods.