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Apples are an abundant autumn fruit, that is easy to preserve for winter. It’s also easy to store apples for winter, and keep them fresh for several months past harvest. Apples are a personal winter favorite, whether it’s as a dried apple chip, apple sauce, or if it’s fresh winter stored apples.
It’s apple season. On Sunday we drove 2 1/2 hours to my favorite organic orchard, Harker’s Organics in Cawston, BC and picked up boxes of apples and pears for preserving. The back of our Honda Fit was crammed with 40 pound boxes — Galas, Honey Crisp, Sunrise, and Macintosh apples, Italian prune plums, and Bartlett Pears. This is the 10th year we’ve made this trip for Fall fruit. It always makes me happy.
I love it when we have apples, pears, and plums to process for winter food. But even better than having a good store of apple sauce, dried apples, and “pear candy” put by are the health benefits of apples and pears. This is a great time to add apples, pears, plums, and other fall fruit to your pantry or even longer term storage
Do we have our own apple trees? Yes we do. Do we still buy fruit at the orchard? Yes, we do. Our trees are still young and don’t produce as many apples as we like. I prefer to get the fruit in season direct from the farm and preserve it, rather than buying it at the grocery store.
You’ve heard the adage, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”?
Many studies have linked the consumption of apples with lower risk of mortality. Several studies have specifically linked apple consumption with a reduced risk for cancer, especially lung cancer. Another study found that women who ate 1 apple a day had a 35% decrease in risk for heart disease and stroke.
It is the antioxidants in apples that are attributed with this benefit. The catechins, a polyphenol, in apples seem to be more bioavailable than catechins in tea, red wine, and other sources. In another study eating at least 2 apples or pears a week decreased the risk of asthma and lung disease in both men and women. In another study eating apples or pears 3 times a day contributed to weightloss and a reduction in blood sugar levels in overweight, middle aged women. Learn more here.
5 tips to help you get the most from fall apples
Only plan to store apples that are unblemished and of a storing variety. Many long term storage apples will be sold in wrapping, or with packing to help keep apples from touching. You can leaves apples in these set boxes in a cold room, and just check each box and tray of apples each week to remove any that are beginning to show signs of spoil, softening, bruising, or browning.
Apples, unlike pears, are picked ripe enough to consume immediately and don’t need to ripen in storage. Avoid storing apples and pears next to each other, as the apples will make the pears ripen too fast.
A good space to store apples can be an unheated basement room, or a semi-heated garage that won’t freeze and will have relatively stable humidity. A steady, 40% humidity or a bit higher, is a good thing for apples. Whatever you do, don’t store apples for winter on an unheated deck, or sunroom. Frozen apples are not fun to deal with.
If you just have a few apples, the crisper drawers of your refrigerator are always a good bet. The fridge won’t be convenient for multiple boxes and bushels of apples though. Store apples in a room, on their own, and away from root vegetables like potatoes as the apples can cause those to soften too. Check out this article on root cellaring for even more long term storage options for fresh apples, pears, squash, potatoes, and even carrots.
1) Pick the right apple for your purpose
At the farm stand on Sunday I asked if they had any 2nds for apple sauce and scored 2 x 40 pound boxes for just $20 each. These were certified organic apples that needed to be moved to make room for the new varieties. Most of these 2nds were Sunrise apples. They are the perfect texture for apple sauce. I combined Sunrise and MacIntosh (2:1) for the perfect flavor. Both of these apples are ideal sauce apples. No sugar needed. I add 1/4 cup of lemon juice to my apple sauce in the sauce pan to prevent browning. I water bath can my applesauce – 20 minutes for both pints or quarts. (25 minutes for my elevation of 2700 ft.)
You can also dehydrate applesauce for the best fruit leather ever, or maybe even make it as a cow-boy candy fruit leather.
2) Choose winter keeper varieties to store apples for winter
I don’t plan to preserve all the apples I brought home. Apples like Gala, Honey Crisp, Golden Delicious, and other firm apples are keeper apples that will be good for fresh eating for several months. They will keep till December if you store them in a cool, dry place with minimal temperature fluctuations. For longer storage you’ll need to refrigerate them. These are the best apples to use for apple pie filling, apple crisp, and dried apple slices. They hold their shape when cooked. Apples like Granny Smith and Northern Spy are tart, firm apples and will keep into January and February if kept in a cool, dry, place. These are the best apples to store in a root cellar, for fresh eating and for winter pies.
If an apple spoils in a large box, it should only affect apples actually touching it. Check boxes of apples, and bags, regularly to remove any apple that’s starting to spoil. After all, one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch.
3) Dry apples with the skins on
Much of the vitamins and antioxidants in an apple are found close to the skin. Instead of peeling the apples before dehydrating or freeze drying them, Simply core them, slice them, dip in lemon juice to prevent oxidation, and dry them. The peels also add fiber.
4) Don’t store apples that are soft varieties
Softer apples like MacIntosh or Sunrise are the best apples for apple butter. They cook down quickly and are rich in pectin. Use a slow cooker on low heat to cook down apple butter in its thick, caramelly goodness. Use it as a spread on bread, pancakes, and potato pancakes (my personal favorite). Apple butter can be water bath canned in half-pint or pint jars. Leave a 1/4 inch head space and process for 10 minutes.
When going apple picking, whether for varieties for sauce or apple butter like Macintosh, or for winter keeping varieties like Gala, or honeycrisp, make sure to handle the apples gently and avoiding bruising them with rough handling or dumping. Harvest apples by lifting the apple up toward the branch, don’t twist down on it.
5) Apples are rich in pectin and make awesome fruit leather
Apples are available from the Farmer’s Market or from local farms starting as early as August or September, and running well into October and November. Hit up a U-pick, or your local farm stand to get the best shelf life from your fresh apples. Avoid storing your fresh apples in a plastic bag, air circulation helps apples stay good.
Once you have the apple sauce made, use some to dry for fruit leather. Add in your favorite fruits and berries and use at least 50% apple sauce for the ideal fruit roll-up texture. Even less than perfect fruit can make awesome dried apples and fruit leather. Learn how to make fruit leather here.
Protip: Plant those apple seeds.
Apples only produce fruit if they are cross pollinated which means every single seed has the potential to yield a brand new apple variety. That’s where all the apples we love so much came from. It takes just 6 to 10 years for an apple tree to produce fruit when planted from seed — up to 15 years if you live in a short summer climate. Plant the seeds in a hedge row and enjoy the adventure. All apples are edible and useful for juice or cider, and many are delicious for fresh eating. (Apples grown from seed are sometimes called a “Pippin” — Hello, Lord of the Rings fans).
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