Everyone knows about the beneficial properties of apples. They need to be eaten daily for both babies and adults. Therefore, take care in the fall to procure a supply of these fruits for the future. How to keep apples fresh for the winter ? This is what we will talk about in this article.
How to properly prepare the fruit crop for long-term savings?
In order for apples to remain fresh in appearance and retain all their useful properties until spring, it is important to know the rules of not only their savings, but also the collection. Therefore, the process of
harvesting these fruits approach wisely. Pay attention to the following recommendations.
- Follow the apple picking deadlines. Do not pluck the ripened fruits, but do not let them ripen.
- Remove the fruit from the branch with the stem.
- When collecting fruits, try not to damage the peel of the apple and the flesh. The fruit must remain whole and dense.
- After the fruits are picked, do not wet or rub them. Each apple should retain a natural wax coating.
- After harvest, leave the entire fruit crop for two to three weeks in the so-called “quarantine”. To do this, put it in wooden boxes, which put in the basement for a couple of weeks. After this time, sort out the fruits, discarding rotten and damaged ones.
How to keep apples fresh until spring?
Consider the most reliable and proven ways to save these fruits.
- Wrap each apple in a newspaper and put it in a dry cardboard or plywood box. Stack the fruits near each other not very tightly. In one container, you can put 2-4 layers of fruit, no more. Otherwise, apples in the lower tier may crumple and begin to rot.
- How to save apples for the winter in a plastic bag? Cut the stalk of each fruit so that it does not scratch the peel next to the lying "relatives". Fill apples (2-3 kilograms) in bags of dense cellophane and tie a bag with a rope. In several places, pierce it so that air access and the gas exchange process occur. Stack apples in wooden crates and store in the cellar at temperatures up to 0 degrees.
- When choosing a way to preserve apples in winter, pay attention to the method of transferring fruit with dry breathable material. It can be sawdust, buckwheat husk, peat, moss, foliage of trees. How to save apples for the winter in this way? The bottom of the wooden box is covered with sawdust (or any other selected material). A series of fruits are laid on them with the stalks up. From above apples are covered with a layer of sawdust. Thus, several tiers of fruits are formed. The topmost layer of sawdust should be about 10 centimeters.
- How to save apples for the winter in the ground? In the garden, dig a hole of such a size that it can fit freely in a box in which the fruits will lie. Pack apples in plastic bags (as described above), put them in a box. Cover it with a lid. Lower the container into the pit and cover it with earth. Cover this place with branches or straw from above. This method of storing fruits is inconvenient in that during frosts it is very difficult to remove a layer of earth to get to the fruit box.
You received information on how to keep apples fresh for the winter. Use these tips, and you can enjoy a healthy and delicious fruit throughout the cold season.