Storing and keeping your apples
Nothing tastes quite as good as biting into a crisp and juicy apple that you picked with your own hands; however, without proper storage and handling of the apples, you may indeed find out that “one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch.”
We wanted to share our best tips and suggestions for handling and storing your apples once you get them home after a day of apple-picking at Apple Holler.
- Store small quantities in your refrigerator, in plastic bags in the crisper-between 34-40 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Because apples can absorb odors from other foods stored in the same area, keep apples in plastic bags. The plastic also helps apples retain their own moisture. Make sure that there are several air holes in the apple bag.
- Apples ripen six to ten times faster at room temperature than if they were refrigerated. One or two days sitting on a countertop and the fresh crunch of your apple is lost forever.
- Lemon juice helps prevent apple discoloration
- Be careful about sugar. Too much sugar spoils the natural flavor of the apples and makes them mushy when baking.
- Apples give off a lot of ethylene gas, which is why one bad apple left undetected will give off enough gas to ripen the other apples. If you find a bruised apple, remove it immediately. Only perfect apples, free of imperfections and decay should be saved for later use.
- The ethylene gas emitted by apples can cause other nearby produce to ripen prematurely. If you store many apples in your refrigerator, you may notice some changes in the vegetable around them. Carrots can become bitter, potatoes will sprout and shrivel, asparagus will grow tough, cucumbers can turn yellow, and your lettuce may become brown.
