Freeze fresh apples

[Darienne]

OK. Here's the gist of the situation.

- we have a really heavily laden Macintosh this year

- we want to make juice again and freeze it for the coming year

- DH has NO time right now to stop and help

- I can wash, peel, and cut the apples into chunks

- I cannot core or juice the apples

- DH will be able to work with the apples in 2 weeks

- no, we have no help available, even for trading free apples

My proposal is to wash, peel and chunk the apples, put them into plastic bags and toss them in the freezer for two weeks.

Is this sensible? Useful? Stupid? (Found no useful info on Google in a modicum of tries)

Thanks.

[Country]

Why not dry them?

Oops. Just noticed you want them for juice, so forget the above. I've never tried freezing them.

But, unless the weather is hot, they should easily store for two weeks and more. I store mine all winter.

Edited September 25, 2011 by Country (log)

[Darienne]

But, unless the weather is hot, they should easily store for two weeks and more. I store mine all winter.

How exactly?

[butterscotch]

baskets or paper bags or boxes with holes punched for air circulation, out of the sun, somplace cool and dry.

[Country]

baskets or paper bags or boxes with holes punched for air circulation, out of the sun, somplace cool and dry.

Like that. Since you're in Ontario it must be cool enough now to store them in boxes or bags anywhere that's out of the sun. A garage, shed, or (dry) cellar should work fine. Mine are stored in the woodshed.

[Lisa Shock]

My parents keep apples in the basement all winter long, they live in Maryland.

[Darienne]

My parents keep apples in the basement all winter long, they live in Maryland.

In a box? With holes? Wrapped separately? Not wrapped?

[butterscotch]

My parents keep apples in the basement all winter long, they live in Maryland.

In a box? With holes? Wrapped separately? Not wrapped?

As long as you don;t stack them too deep (no huge containers like garbage cans) or cut off air circulation they should be fine in two weeks. No need to wrap them.

[andiesenji]

I still have some very old, much washed, burlap fabric, purchased from a garden center.

I bunch it up in the bottom of a large wire basket or fruit box with holes, put down a layer of apples, another layer of burlap, layer of apples - box holds about 4 layers of apples.

I store them in a cool place and most varieties will keep well for at least a couple of months. Some will keep longer.

This sitehas some good tips.

McIntosh apples should keep nicely in storage. In fact they actually get sweeter when stored for a few weeks.

[Peter the eater]

I store apples like the onions and potatoes -- hanging in a cool dark spot with ventilation. So far so good.

[Darienne]

And how long do they last PtheE?

Our cellar is almost the same as our house heatwise. Our garage is unheated...but warmer than the outside air. Oh, that is in the winter, which it is not. NOT WINTER. NOT.

[KarenDW]

I freeze apples all the time, for baking use. As freezing will cause the cell walls of the apples to burst, I think that freezing prior to juicing is a win-win situation in your case. You might want to drop the chopped apples into acidulated or salted water to prevent browning. And, you don't really need to peel, unless you would normally peel the apples before juicing.

That said, we have often kept apples for weeks on end... wash, dry, pack into milk crates. Stored "fairly well" at 20ºC for 8 weeks without losing too much moisture, or developing mold. By the 6th week the fruit was beginning to soften a little, and any which had been bruised may have started to spot.

What sort of juicer do you use?

[Darienne]

What sort of juicer do you use?

We are on our second Champion. I mean over many decades. Very expensive to buy, particularly in Canada, but well worth the money. We mostly use it for pulping green vegetables for our dogs, but it does yeomen service for apple juice and so many other things.

Thanks for the thoughts of the frozen apples. Makes sense.

[Lisa Shock]

My parents keep apples in the basement all winter long, they live in Maryland.

In a box? With holes? Wrapped separately? Not wrapped?

The house is old, the basement is deep with stone walls and multiple rooms. It's unheated, but it doesn't freeze, I guess that's because the furnace and water heater are in one of the rooms down there. Produce gets stored in the room furthest from the furnace near the wall. They keep potatoes, root vegetables, apples and pears. They have some old wooden fruit crates used as a base to keep the food off the floor. Apples (from the Northern Spy tree) are usually stored in more crates, with a layer of newspaper between them. If they run out of crates, they also have a supply of wooden bushel-baskets. Sometimes, they buy apples or pears from local farms and just use the cardboard boxes the fruit came in. Potatoes just sit in their 50lb sacks on top of crates.

[Darienne]

Thanks so much to all of you who have sent such great replies.