Storing apples: how and where to keep fresh fruit at home?

Apples are recognized as one of the most useful products for human health.It would be great if we could use them not only in late summer and autumn, but also throughout the entire calendar year. Of particular importance useful products become during vitamin deficiency in winter and spring. But in order to preserve fruit for such a long time, it is necessary to comply with certain requirements.

The preservation of fresh apples is influenced by many factors:

• ripening weather;
• age of fruit trees;
• variety;
• growing conditions;
• harvest time;
• storage conditions.

It is very important to choose the right apple varieties, and not to expect that any apple can survive well. Subject to the rules, the fruits retain their qualitative characteristics from three to nine months. Antonovka vulgaris, Melba, Striped Autumn, Welsey, Chosen One, Penin, Lighthouse, Crimean Aurora, Orange, Bogatyr, Olympic have well established themselves in this.

One of the most important requirements is the choice of optimally correct harvest time. The apples picked in time are not only fully formed, but also more resistant to diseases and can be stored for a long time. Willingness to harvest is determined visually.

Removable maturity is determined by a clearly defined characteristic color for each variety and the achievement of maximum fruit sizes. During this period, the skin of the fruit and the flesh become less dense, the aroma and taste are enhanced. Apples are easily removed from the branches. The first fallen apples - a signal of full maturity of the crop.

Gather, starting with the lower branches, gradually moving to the top. To remove the fruit is necessary in a steady dry weather. It does not remove the stem, do not erase the natural wax coating. Peeled fruits are not thrown, but carefully laid out in a container prepared for this. Filmed apples can not be kept in the open sun, they are set in a cool place.

For the preservation of fruit at home using cold storage, cellars, attics or basements.

The room in which you plan to store the fruit should be prepared. It is important that the room was perfect cleanliness: it is recommended to disinfect and whiten the walls in the cellar or basement. Shelves, boxes, containers, pallets before placing fruit in them should be thoroughly washed and dried. There should be no foreign odors in the storage, as the apples absorb other people's odors. To the extent that the storage of apples and pears should ideally be isolated from each other.

The premises are ventilated for several days in advance. According to GOST, there should be an optimum temperature ranging from -1 to +4 degrees with a relative humidity of up to 95%. The high level of humidity in the vaults prevents intense evaporation of moisture from the fruit.

If there are only a few apples, they can be stored at home in the refrigerator. There they will remain fresh for a long time. Do not wash the fruit before sending it in the refrigerator; it will save them from the appearance of mold. In order to protect apples from premature spoilage, healthy fruits should not be stored together with damaged ones. Place the fruit away from other products so that they do not absorb odors.

It is best to pack them in 1-5 kg ​​of food film, be sure to make holes in each resulting package so that the apples can breathe. If necessary, the early ripening of unripe apples is placed in a paper bag. In one package should be apples only one variety and ripening.

For farms specializing in the cultivation of fruit crops, or with large subsidiary farms for storage of fruits, it is ideal to use refrigerator containers (refrigerated containers).Such equipment not only maintains the required temperature and humidity. Such containers provide careful transportation even for very long distances.

For long-term storage, medium-sized, clean, flawless fruit is taken to have a saturated color. It should be noted that the fruits of larger sizes ripen more likely: they can be stored no more than one or two months. When unfolding it in a container, it should be taken into account and packed up the fruit, distributing them in size.

In preparation for laying, it is necessary to carry out a treatment to prevent the occurrence of rot and mold. For this purpose, aqueous solutions of iodinol or salicylic acid are used, keeping apples for some time. Protective film of fruit can be made with glycerin. A cloth napkin is impregnated with this agent and the apples are wiped with it.

Effective processing of fruit composition, which includes the following ingredients:

• water (35%);
• crystalline iodine (2.5%);
• potassium iodide (7%);
• starch (53%);
• baking soda (2%).

Apples are immersed in this composition for one or two minutes and then dried. This composition forms the thinnest protective film that completely covers the fetus.

The processing of fruit with propolis alcohol solution has proven itself well: 0.5 liters of alcohol will be required per 100 g of propolis. Apples are kept in this composition for 10-15 seconds and then dried.

To preserve the fruits until spring, it is possible to process them with chemical preparations. The most popular in our time is sodium pyrosulfate, which, due to the emitted sulfur dioxide, protects fruits from spoilage.

In winter, it is advisable to keep fruits in medium-sized wooden boxes or cardboard boxes. The gaps between the slats wooden boxes desirable minimum. It will be correct to shift the fruit with different materials. For this purpose, dry shavings of deciduous trees, oak leaves or dried moss are used. Modern technologies for this offer food film or a special packaging wrapper for products. Fruit with a particularly thin and delicate skin can be wrapped in paper napkins, which are pre-soaked with petroleum jelly.

It is possible to place apples on shelves or racks in 2 layers. In this case, the layers are replaced with matting, dry peat crumb, sawdust or woody leaves.

For long-term storage, dug pits are also used. Their approximate depth is 50 cm. In harsh cold climates, the pit should be made deeper. Apples are laid in plastic bags and carefully tied, then laid in a hole. In order to protect the fruits from rodents, the pit and bags are shifted with paws of spruce or juniper branches, after which the pit is buried.

The first 10-20 days the storage should be aired so as not to accumulate carbon dioxide emitted by the fruit. Periodically, apples are reviewed, sorting out spoiled specimens.

Before eating, apples are brought to a warmer place and the ambient temperature is slowly raised. This will preserve the beautiful appearance of the apples.

Most often the following happens:

• fruits of many varieties of apple during prolonged storage are subject to various diseases;
• at non-observance of temperature condition and storage at high temperatures at apples bitter pitting develops;
• high humidity in the storage, too late harvesting can cause metabolic disorders and lead to browning of the pulp;
• during long-term storage, internal decay occurs, the intercellular bonds are broken, and the apples become sluggish and loose.

One of the common causes of these and other diseases is the lack of calcium in fruits.This can be prevented by processing fruit trees in advance with an aqueous solution of calcium chloride.

Before storage, it is possible to treat the fruit directly and the fruit itself. To do this, the fruit is immersed in a solution for 1 minute (10 l of water and 400 g of calcium chloride) and dried thoroughly.

How to store apples for the winter, see the video below.