I have picked beets in November and stored in gallon ziplock bags in my refrigerator until early March. I find the flavor is good thru January then they seem to loose their flavor the longer I store them after that. My solution was to grow less of them as I had way too many beets and carrots in the fridge. The space used up got to be an issue too. We only own one refrigerator. Wish we had another to store all the apples, beets, carrots ect. Always easy to find friends willing to take the excess.

Ammonia? Nope! Just "fishy," and that's often why people don't like fish. Just soak that baby in salty ice water and cook it prior to dinner. It will taste and be fresh. @donna_in_sask DH just called from Costco asking the usual DH questions. I didn't tell him to buy fish, but it's a 3 hour drive home since it's rush hour. He went for a doctor appt, and I gave him the Costco list. He's bringing home those nice lamb chops they have, but no fish. Tonight is just homemade pasta sauce over angel hair, Caprese salad with real buffalo mozzarella and some garlic toast.

Not that I am aware of. A refrigerator should work the same just keep the temperature set right by adjusting to 36-38 degrees using a thermometer. Watch out for cold spots! I know my fridge has the cold air blowing out on the top shelf so produce there freezes while the bottom shelf is warmer. Commercially, apples are harvested at different stages of ripeness depending on how long they will be stored. Dead ripe are great to eat upon picking but will not store as long. Starch tests or pressure tests are used to determine ripeness. Too green is not good but remember that even with the cold they will slowly continue to ripen. When I pick Red Delicious for storage at my home, I pick when the flesh is white, seeds black but still very crisp. Eating them at this point is not a good experience as they are like eating a raw potato. After cold storing them until early December, they are truly delicious! The flesh has turned yellow. Sweet but still crisp. Just mentioning this as over ripe apples will not store as long. The really big orchards have CA storage in which all the oxygen is pumped out of the cooler which really slows the ripening rate down. This way apples can be stored almost for a year.

Thanks, all! I have enough to experiment with. I’ll try part in the freezer and part in sherry in the refrigerator. Most gets used in Chinese cooking, where grated from the freezer would work well. I have a cranberry chutney recipe that calls for matchsticks. If it picks up sherry flavor that would be a good one. Do I peel it first? I’ll divide into 1” pieces, which is a usual recipe quantity. Or does it keep better uncut and whole? I got an ornamental ginger at a plant swap this spring. I put it in a low lying area where I could use a ground cover. It’s too soon to see how it will look. Then I bought a different variety in a nursery clearance sale this fall.