How to store apples at home

Apples So familiar that they are almost not noticed. But when there are a lot of apples, the question immediately arises - where to harvest? Compotes, jams, pastille - this is familiar. That would be fresh, but in winter! How to store apples at home? Yes, very simple.

Choose apples for storage

Early ripe (summer) will not lie. Mid-season (autumn) are stored for 2-3 months. Late-ripening (winter) last until March. Of course, if properly collected and stored. You also need to be able to choose apples for the bookmark. The first situation: a neighbor, pulling up his workouts and gaining more air, comes up to a tree and shakes him well. The fruits fall to the floor, to the neighbor's head, scatter in all directions. In the evening, he with a bandaged head complains over the fence that, they say, apples are not stored, they begin to rot immediately. How else? They are beaten off, with a bursting skin, scratched.

Gather apples carefully. Each fruit is carefully twisted from the branch with your hands, preferably with gloves. This will leave the whole natural wax coating. The peduncle must be left. A slightly unripe fruit is right. In order not to cover the tree, harvesting starts from the lower branches, rising up. The collected apples are carefully placed in containers, and not thrown into baskets from a height.

Bookmark by all the rules

The second situation. A man sits on the veranda in the evening, sips fragrant tea with strawberry jam and watches a scornful picture. The notorious neighbor, who suffered during the day from an apple-tree fall, with the whole family drags the crop to the barn. There, grunting and hacking, they lower huge baskets full of freshly picked fruits into the cellar. Then tightly close the cellar lid and, satisfied, leave.

Returned only after a month. The picture is repeated, only in the reverse order: apples are dragged into the light from the cellar. Rather, what is left of them is an acidic mass covered with mold. Ambre - inexpressible! And again, complaints about the poor preservation of the crop, and with an indescribable pun. We, says, washed every apple, wiped it ...

The correct actions:

1. Quarantine. Needed like air! Apples must lie down for at least two weeks. For example, in a barn or on a balcony. This reveals hidden damage and disease.
2. Fruits cannot be stored in large volumes. They lay apples in 2-3 layers, no more. Then the upper ones do not press on the lower ones, there is free access for ventilation.
3. Wrapper. You can’t just take and send an apple to the cellar. If the crop is small, it is advisable to wrap each fruit with plain paper. If there are a lot of fruits, then layers in boxes or baskets are sprinkled with peat, moss, sunflower husk, sand, onion husk, sawdust.
4. Sorting. Recommended. At least in size and degree of maturity. Large apples ripen quickly, small by that time already perespey.
5. Ventilation. Necessarily necessary. All varieties of apples emit ethylene. This gas makes fruits ripen faster. Therefore, once every 5-7 days, thorough ventilation or a good ventilation system in advance.
6. Temperature. From 0 to + 5 ° C. Strictly! It goes down - the fruits freeze. Increases - bacteria, microbes are activated. Apples begin to “blossom and smell” with incredible speed, and by no means violets.
7. Wax coating. Frosty coating on the fruit should try to damage as little as possible. This is a natural defense against pathogens. What a wash! You can’t even wipe it with a soft cloth.

The tips are simple, and the life of fruits is extended for a rather significant period.

Storing apples in a trench

The third situation. The neighbor worked "well", but there is still plenty of fruit.Somewhere having heard out of the corner of his ear about underground storage, he briskly begins to dig a hole. Somehow picking out two bayonets of a shovel, he pours apples into the resulting “trench”. On top puts those same two bayonets of the earth. He thoroughly tramples around the burial place (there is no other name for it), the contented one leaves. Worked notably.

In winter, he wanders around the site for a long time, looking for the place of the alleged exhumation. Even if he finds that he digs out there? Half-finished compost with a bunch of earthworms.

Proper storage of apples in trenches is a complex of measures. The depth of the pit should be at least 50-60 cm. Plank or sawdust with a thick layer is placed on the bottom. Fruits are packed in plastic bags of 4-5 kg. Knotted, leaving as little air as possible inside. Carefully stack the bags in a trench. Top covered with spruce branches or a thick layer of peat.

They fill the entire structure with a layer of earth, at least 20 cm thick. The ropes from the ties are made long, they are brought up. The last layer is a dense film. This is rain protection.

In winter they come, see their beacon (stick, flag, piece of iron, rod, branch). Carefully remove the shelter and pull out the bag with beautiful fragrant apples from the garden.

Drying

The fourth situation, the last. By hook or by crook, grief Michurin destroyed most of the harvest. But still the remaining apples hang in some places. Waiting for their fate with a shudder. And the neighbor did not keep himself waiting. He chopped the last fruits with a stick, gathered them from the ground and poured them on a rag in the garden or directly on the roof of the barn. After 2 days, dances with a tambourine begin on the neighboring site. And the whole family is running, desperately shaking his legs and shouting something inarticulate.

We advise you not to go outside in order to get a closer look at this whistle. Everything is simple:

• September
• heat
• apples on the roof
• smell
• wasp

Yes, the most ordinary wasps. But how much!

After a while, everything fades behind the fence. You have to wait a little longer and you can go out. It is recommended to pre-sip valerian. For it is impossible to identify that which will meet your needs without fear. It will begin to complain about the dominance of creepy insects. And through the wailing wailing of a lisping mouth, you can finally hear how it all began. It turns out that the neighbor thus dried the apples!

So that the face does not resemble Pancake pancake, you need to dry the fruit correctly. Ripe apples sorted, washed. Wormholes, injuries and sore spots are cut out. Cut into slices or circles, removing the core. Lay out on the baking sheet of the oven or pan drier. And the process begins. At a temperature of 55-70 ° C, apples dry in 7-10 hours.

Such fruit chips are stored for about 7 months in cloth or paper bags. Glass, metal or plastic are not suitable as containers. Dried apples quickly become musty, change their smell, mold.

Useful Tips

1. It is recommended that you check your fruit bookmark regularly. The slightest sign of spoilage and the apple is taken away so as not to infect the rest.
2. In the absence of a cellar, the fruits can be stored on an insulated balcony or in a cool pantry. The conditions for cleaning and preparation remain identical.
3. Boxes and baskets are disinfected with a weak solution of potassium permanganate or chlorine before storage. The cellar is treated with a solution of lime with copper sulfate or sulfur fume.
4. Despite the increased ventilation, the humidity level in the room or storage should not fall below 80%. You can maintain the norm by spraying water on the walls or floor. Or put open filled containers.
5. It is not recommended to store apples at home if they are bought in a store. Industrial processing almost completely kills the taste and aroma of fruits. What is the point of saving them if you then have to eat cotton pulp that smells of synthetics?
6. Before harvesting, try to water the trees to a minimum. Or refuse altogether. So apples are not saturated with excess moisture.
7. Their fruits are sometimes outwardly far from ideal, but they have much more useful and nutritious substances than purchased ones.
8. If the stalk too long prevents the fruit from being stored, then it can be shortened. The main thing is to leave at least a small tail.
9. It happens that a person does not have a balcony or a cellar. Then the apples are stored at the front door or under the bed. It is possible in the refrigerator. True, then the period is reduced to 2 months. Not much, but better than nothing.
10. In order not to rack your brains, from which box to take fruits for food first, you can simply sign them. For example, grade name and bookmark date.

Straw is a poor litter, but a good flavor. Few people like apples from under it.

No need to become like a neighbor's "gardener". A little effort and delicious fragrant apples of their own production will be on the table all winter.

Video: how to store apples for the winter