jsf Solutions

Helping you enjoy fruits.

Storing Apples
Apples picked fresh in season are the best you will find all year. Enjoy your harvest by encouraging your family to eat an apple a day. This is a good habit to develop since many health benefits from eating apples have been discovered.
Late maturing varieties of apples will store for use throughout the winter if the fruit is hard, mature and in good condition. Sort the apples and separate those with imperfections. Use those first, most imperfections can be sliced or peeled off and do not affect the flavor of the apple. Apples picked too green are subject to a number of storage disorders, and if picked beyond maturity, they quickly become overripe in storage.

Cool apples quickly after harvest for best results. For most varieties of apples, the optimum storage temperature is 30 to 32 degrees with a 90% humidity. This is hard to reproduce in most homes. Use a thermometer to find the coolest area that you have. Higher storage temperatures reduce the storage life considerably, and apples ripen twice as fast at 40 degrees as at 32 degrees. Apples can be stored outdoors in insulated boxes or straw-lined pits or buried containers as long as the outside temperatures are above 10 degrees.

Layer apples with newspapers to increase storage They will last longer and retain more flavor if kept in a fruit cellar in plastic bags, or placed in single layers in cardboard boxes with a section of newspaper between layers. However, the cardboard boxes and plastic bags must be perforated to allow air circulation. If the fruits are individually wrapped in paper toweling or newspapers before being placed in boxes or baskets, better results will be achieved. Newspaper or plastic liners help maintain high humidity and prevent the apples from being affected by the surrounding air. The balance of humidity is subtle; excess humidity will encourage decay and insufficient humidity will encourage shriveling.

Avoid storing apples too long and regularly check for signs of spoilage. Mustiness will spread to healthy apples. Storage depends on the variety.