Root cellars are returning as more adopt local food practices

As more people commit to buying their food locally, the age-old concept of the root cellar is making a comeback.

From New York City to Wisconsin, the cool, dry places that were necessities in homes of our grand parents and great-grand parents are making a comeback with backyard gardeners and farmers’ market shoppers wanting to store fresh vegetables over the winter.

Jasia Steinmetz, author of “Eat Local: Simple Steps to Enjoy Real, Healthy & Affordable Food,” said her husband is seeing the resurgence of root cellars in his Wisconsin construction business.

“I’d say the majority of homes they’re building now are requesting to have a root cellar built in,” said Steinmetz, a professor of food and nutrition at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

Until recently, it had become a lost art. Just in time for winter, Steinmetz said, there are several ways you can recreate that atmosphere in just about any home.

“It’s a pity we have lost that skill and knowledge, because it is a great technique of humidity and temperature,” she said. “There’s lots of ways you can mimic that.”

In her book, Steinmetz provides an easy-to-read guide for finding and utilizing local foods, which can boost both nutrition and the local economies.

Now is a great time of year to start, she said, because of the “root crops” now available at farmers’ markets, roadside stands and grocery stores. These include beets, turnips, sweet potatoes and some radishes.

“Potatoes are a good example because they can keep a really long time,” Steinmetz said.

With a root cellar, they can keep all winter.

If you’re handy with tools, you can build one in a weekend in the corner of a cool basement. Steinmetz lives in an old farmhouse, which at one time had a root cellar with a dirt floor, where the furnace and water heater now sit.

“So in our cooler, and sometimes drafty house, we have an unheated closet that’s on an outside wall that stays pretty cool,” she said. “That’s where we keep potatoes, onions, garlic and squash. It gets us through the tail end of winter.”

A farmer friend, she said, had a corner of a building that was vacant, and he insulated it with thick Styrofoam.

You can also dig a hole in your yard.

Steinmetz said she had an invasive bush she had removed, with deep roots, leaving a hole about six feet deep.

She stored turnips, carrots and other veggies in plastic containers, layered with sand, and surrounded by bales of straw.

There’s a feeling that comes from knowing where your food originates. Steinmetz said a whole generation of children are being raised without any inkling of where their food originates. They just know the packages at the grocery store.

When you know about the food growing process, she said, you also learn that fresh just tastes better. As a nutritionist she said the less the food has to travel, the better it is for you.

“Every dollar you spend stays in your local economy, and it tastes really fresh, and the nutrient load will be so much higher, because it’s closer to harvest,” she said.

Eating local begins a journey of discovery. Steinmetz said each region of the country, and even each county, have unique varieties of food.

“When people start realizing they’ve got special food within their region that’s only grown there, that gets really exciting,” she said. “If you want the taste of our region, then you have to come to our neighborhood. While we can enjoy a global market, it doesn’t have to be at the cost of our local market and keeping these varieties alive and keeping these farmers growing them.”

This story was originally published October 20, 2011 at 4:39 PM with the headline "Root cellars are returning as more adopt local food practices."