How to Store Apples for Winter
Everybody loves to dig their teeth hard into fresh juicy apples. Not only they taste good on their own but make excellent component in a salad or in juice or milk shake form. The best thing about apples is you can easily store them for months without any deterioration and treat yourself whenever you want with fresh apples in any form. Storing apples for winters does not ask for much science tricks or money. You need simple things from around the house to make your apples last longer. Apples usually spoil due to bruises or when they are in contact with another spoil apple. If you keep them away from these two, they are going to bear the time well. Our step by step guide tells you how exactly to do that.
Instructions
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1
The right varieties:
Some apples bear longer than others. Late ripening varieties actually get better when stored because they get time to ripe slowly and sweaten. Cripps Pink, Cripps Red, Enterprise, Fuji, Golden Delicious, Braeburn, Crispin, Stayman and Rome are some varieties that keep well for lon periods of storage. Plucking apples when they are slightly under ripe is a good idea because they will ripen up during the storage.
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2
Sort:
Check all apples for cuts and bruises. Even a small bruise can spoil an apple when stored and spread the spoil. Separate all such apples and eat them or make applesauce or apple pie out of them. Sort the big ones from the small ones. Store both sizes in different boxes because the small ones bear the time better. So when you plan to eat, start with the big ones.
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3
Storage:
Apples are usually stored in traditional wooden boxes, seed trays, or cardboard boxes. Get newspapers and wrap up the apples roughly in them. Do not pack tightly because you want the air to circulate. The newspapers will keep any spoil from spreading. Some people even store their apples in polythene bags. Keep checking the boxes for spoils and removing any apples that show signs of spoils.
You can also keep the apples in the refrigerator in perforated polythene bags leaving room for air circulation. However this is only possible for small quantities and you have to take extra care to prevent them from frosting which breaks them down.
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4
Where to store:
The perfect storage place is cool, dark spot where they won’t freeze. Root cellars are one good option as long as you do not keep the potatoes near them because potatoes release a gas which spoils apples. However, it does not have to be a root cellar. You can keep them in an unheated basement, a pantry, an enclosed porch, an unheated attic where the conditions are dark and cool.
