Storing apples so they stay fresh!

• Storing apples
• More tips for storing apples
• Freezing apples
• Preserving apples
• This might also interest you

When you store apples, two things are key for freshness: low temperature and high humidity. Optimal storage conditions can slow down how fast an apple ripens. These keep them fresh for longer and stop them going floury and wrinkly as fast.

All types of apples need to be stored somewhere with enough air humidity or they will start to shrivel. They also need low temperatures. That is why apples should be stored in the fridge. The BioFresh Fruit & Vegetable safe from Liebherr has the perfect storage conditions for apples: just under 0 °C with high air humidity. This will keep them fresh for up to 80 days.

Where is the best place to store apples?

The following list of possible storage locations clearly shows how important low temperature and high air humidity is when storing apples:

• at room temperature, apples will keep fresh for 17 days.
• In the fridge compartment of your appliance, apples will keep fresh for 40 days.
• In the EasyFresh safe from Liebherr at around 7 °C and high humidity, you can store apples for 50 days.
• In the BioFresh Fruit & Vegetable safe from Liebherr at just over 0 °C and high humidity, you can store apples for 80 days and they will stay fresh.

Unheated cellars as well as garages and attics that are secured against frost can be good storage spots for large quantities of apples.

In a fridge without a BioFresh Fruit & Vegetable safe, it’s worth covering the apples with cling film. However, this should be pierced to allow air circulation. The cling film ensures increased air humidity and also protects the fruit from drying out.

When storing, it’s important that you don’t stack the apples or place them close together in boxes To prevent bruising and rot. If you notice mouldy spots on an apple, throw it out immediately so that it doesn’t affect the other apples.

If you can avoid it, don’t store other kinds of fruit directly next to your apples. This is because apples give off the ripening gas ethylene, which makes other fruits ripen early and spoil faster.

Apples like it cold. Frozen they stay fresh for eight months. But is freezing apples a good idea and how can you go about doing it?

Apples have a high water content. This means that they quickly become mushy when they thaw. Apples also loose their flavour when frozen. After they’ve been frozen, apples are only really suitable for preparing as apple sauce, jam or in (pan)cakes.

Cooking the apples from fresh is more efficient than freezing the apples first and then boiling them, so we would advise against freezing if you can.

The only reason to freeze apples is if you don’t have enough storage space. Or if you simply can't eat your large apple harvest fast enough, but you don't want to do without apple cake made from your own apples all year round.

In this case, we advise you to cut the apples into slices and then freeze them on a tray. Once the pieces have frozen, you should store them in an airtight container.

Whole apples should not be frozen. This is because the fruit needs a long time to fully freeze which impacts quality. The SuperFrost function in your Liebherr freezer can help: the temperature is lowered to -32 °C for 65 hours to preserve lots of vitamins.

Further preparation is much easier if the apples have already been chopped before freezing. Always label your containers to help you keep track of your supplies.

We have put together some tips on how to preserve apples and how to store them for the long term:

We have an ace up our sleeve for good storage: soak your apples in a 50-degree water bath for two to three minutes. This can protect the apples from the worst storage disease, the Gloeosporium rot. However this doesn’t work for all types of apple, so we advise testing this method on some of your own apples beforehand. It is important that the fruit is then allowed to dry for around eight hours before being packaged for final storage.

Of course, there are many other ways to process apples so that they keep for longer. The easiest way is probably to use them to make apple sauce. To do this, cut the apples into small pieces. If you want, you can remove the peel beforehand. Simmer the apple pieces with some lemon juice and a little water for around 30 minutes. Add some vanilla sugar, cinnamon or tonka bean if you want. When you get the desired consistency, you can pour the puree into sterilised glasses and seal them tightly. For really creamy apple sauce, you can use a blender or mixer and then pour the puree into the jars.

Incidentally, apple sauce usually describes a product to which sugar has been added. Apple puree, on the other hand, does not require any additional sugar and makes do with the natural sweetness of the fruit.

If you have a juicer to hand, you can of course also make apple juice from the fruit.

And there are other options. For example, drying thin apple slices for a few hours in the oven or in a drying machine. This makes crunchy apple crisps.

You can also make jams and jellies from apples. These can be used to make wonderful winter creations, especially combined with pears and cinnamon.

Instead of grabbing apple strudel from the supermarket freezer in spring, you can prepare it using your own apples in autumn and winter and then freeze it. This way, you can feed friends and acquaintances this delicious dish all year round.