How to Purchase and Store Apples at Home?

What is more frustrating than biting an apple that appears to be fresh, crispy, and tempting from the outside just to get grainy, powdery, tasteless, and dry stuff in your mouth?

In this article, I am going to share a few tips on purchasing and storing apples at home so that you end up with sweet, crisp, and juicy apples.

Tips for Buying Fresh and Good Quality Apples

Indications of a good apple are its color, firmness, and absence of signs of damage.

Color helps to judge the ripeness of varieties of apples that are normally red. If the fruit is mostly red or pinkish-orange, it will have a better flavor.

Red color indicates that the fruit has remained on the tree for a sufficient amount of time and has absorbed enough sunlight. So, the redder an apple is, the sweeter it will be. Avoid greener apples as they are prematurely picked, unripe, and tarter.

But in the varieties of apples that are normally green, it’s impossible to determine the ripeness of the fruit just by looking at its color.

Feel the weight of apple and go for the ones that feel denser/ heavier among similar-sized ones. You can also test it by dropping the apple from the height of about 1 foot in the cup of your other hand.

Hold the apple in your palm and try to squeeze it lightly. It should feel firm to the touch. Check at a couple of places around the apple to make sure that the majority of it is firm.

Avoid apples that feel soft or indent easily, as they are probably old or overripened.

Avoid fruits that have any bruises, brown spots, soft spots, or any other obvious signs of damage.

Sniff your apple. A fresh, good quality apple has a pleasant smell. A very strong smell indicates over-ripeness and mealiness.

Do not get attracted by the size of an apple, it does not affect the taste or flavor. Big and small apples can be equally delicious.

The size of an apple depends on how growers “thin” the trees of their blossoms. The more a tree is thinned, the larger the apples will be. Less thinning causes the tree to get overloaded with small-sized apples. So the size of an apple is just a balance of thinning and pruning.

Mealy apples:

Do you mean dry, crumbly, and tasteless apple?

Yes.

Apples become mealy when the glue that holds its cells together gets weak. A bite of that apple will make it disintegrate into individual cells. On chewing, the apple tastes dry because most of the water is still held inside the cells, which are harder to break open after disintegration.

Mealiness occurs due to overripening and improper or prolonged storage of apples.

There is no way to ensure that apples aren’t mealy. From the outside, mealy apples look almost identical to crisp apples. The best plan of action to avoid mealy apples is –

Go for firmer and crisper varieties like gala, honey crisp, fuji, etc.
Some varieties of apples, like red and golden delicious naturally have a more mealy texture than others. It’s best to buy them fresh and in season.
Buying apples in season is the best way to avoid mealy ones. Older harvest will be mealy, irrespective of their type. Always check for the place where the apples are harvested and the harvest season there.
Buy fruit from where they are kept cool.
Tap the side of the apple with the flat portion of your fingernail. Good apples sound hollow and sharp while mealy apple sound muffled and solid.
The reason is simple. Sound waves propagate through hard materials better than soft ones. Test on an apple-by-apple basis. You can bring an apple close to your ear for better audibility. Initially, it may be a little tricky but with practice, you’ll be able to identify the sound of good apples.

Try to make a small indent on an apple with your thumb. Crisp apples will have a slightly crushed feel. However, this method is not foolproof. Do not do so unless you are willing to take the ones you have chosen and to overlook the small bruise that you have made.

The Best Way to Store Apples at Home and Retain Their Freshness

Before storing apples, check all the pieces for any damage, cuts, or bruises. If you have bought such pieces, store them away from the rest of the apples and use them first.

Store them whole until you need to use them.

Do not store the apples in a sealed plastic bag. They will ripen fast because apples emit ethylene gas that speeds up the process of ripening and the bag concentrates the gas emitted from the fruit. It will cause over-ripening and a mealy texture.

Do you get it why a rotten apple spoils the whole basket?

Apples continue to ripen on storage, so it is always better to refrigerate them in the coldest section of your refrigerator. They remain fresh for 6-8 weeks. You can also keep them on the kitchen counter if you wish to use them in the next 7-10 days but nothing is comparable to the crispy, cool, and refreshing bite of the apple.

You can also place a damp paper towel on the apples or store them in a plastic bag with some holes punched in it (to allow the release of the gas) to help in retaining the moisture of the apples.

Do not store them with other vegetables or fruits, they may get spoiled due to ethylene gas emitted by the others.

Do not store them with onions, garlic, or other strong-smelling produce as apples absorb the smell of these items.

If you have a large number of apples, like from your garden or getting in bulk in a bargain deal, you can store them in a cool and dark area like a basement, garage or cellar at a temperature of 30-35 degrees Fahrenheit after wrapping them individually in newspaper or craft paper. Check them regularly and remove any rotten or moldy apples.

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