This is the scene in most Indian households- fruit or vegetable making its way to the bin early in the morning because of spoilage. I mean I have seen this happening in my home every once in a while. The reason- stock up fruits and vegetables while they’re in the season and be unable to store them properly for longer shelf life. And one of the most common fruits to make its way to the bin is the apple. So, to save you from wasting money and food, here are some tips to store apples to save them from early spoilage or damage.
1. Inspect the apples for any cuts, bruises, soft spots or bug damages. Use these imperfect apples immediately and store the good ones. Storing the good ones with the damaged ones will reduce the shelf lives of all the apples altogether.
2. Sort your apples by size and quality. As the large apples need to be eaten first, you’ll get a chance to finish them and not spoil them first. Some varieties of apples ripen faster than others. Separating them based on their varieties will lead to analyzing which ones to complete first and storing the slow ripeners for later.
3. Make sure you wrap each apple in a newspaper before putting them inside a box or basket. If one apple of the lot goes bad, then the newspaper will protect it from spoiling the entire lot or at least the one placed near it.
4. Temperature and humidity play a vital role in keeping fruits fresh. And 30 degrees F is the apt temperature for storing apples. The apples will suffer from freeze damage if stored below 30 degrees F and will ripen faster if the temperature goes above 40 degrees. So, it’s better to keep the apples in the fruits compartment instead of keeping them anywhere ranging from the fridge door to the lower shelf.
5. Last but not least, keep a constant check on our apples for any signs of spoilage or damage. Remove the spoiled apples quickly before they get a chance to spoil the others in the lot.
6. Avoid placing them near onions or potatoes as they will quickly absorb the flavours and will ripen prematurely.
We hope these hacks will save your apples from getting spoiled. Try using these hacks to store your apples and let us know if they work.