Apple Storage

[Hanathehappyhen]

Hi! I have a small apple orchard with 20 trees. Every year the trees make thousands of apples. Normally we store them in a fridge but it gets crowded and I feel like there has to be a better way of storing them. I was thinking about wax covering them like in stores but I can't figure out what kind of wax they use. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks!

 

[nchls school]

Carnauba wax

The applied layer is very thin, only about 3 mg of wax coat an apple. Several different types of wax are used, mostly Carnauba wax that comes from the leaves of the Brazilian palm, Candelia wax from a dessert plant, as well as food grade shellac from the Indian lac bug.Mar 20, 2017

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Where do you live roughly? What’s the temps like now? An old school method was to dig a deep hole in the ground and fill it with straw and layer the apples with the straw and cover it up. Or dig a hole and put a 55 gallon drum in there and fill it with apples. You might be digging a whole 5-6 feet, but you want to reach temps of 54 deg. That’s a ton of work though!!

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I think they used that “wood barrel sunk in a river” trick back in the colonial days around these parts.

The saying “one bad apple spoils the whole bunch” is very much based on fact, so make sure any apples you want to store long term are bruise and blemish free

 

[Acre4Me]

My FIL has over 100 apple trees - he loves apples for his own enjoyment and giving away and making cider and dried apples. When they did some work on the garage, he built a small insulated room and put a window a/c in the wall and modified the thermostat so it would go lower than the pre-set low temps. This is now his "cold room" for apple and other garden produce. Works like a charm. They live on the dry eastern side of Washington state.

 

[CluckerFamily]

You could make applesauce and store in a freezer. Mine always lasts the family a year until the next season's apples are ready to make more applesauce.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

I just bought a book Gene Logsdon's Practical Skills : A Revival of Forgotten Crafts, Techniques, and Traditions. It’s amazing and has so many storage techniques and recommendations for various produce.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

You could make applesauce and store in a freezer. Mine always lasts the family a year until the next season's apples are ready to make more applesauce.

Applesauce is also ideal for canning.

 

[Hanathehappyhen]

Carnauba wax

The applied layer is very thin, only about 3 mg of wax coat an apple. Several different types of wax are used, mostly Carnauba wax that comes from the leaves of the Brazilian palm, Candelia wax from a dessert plant, as well as food grade shellac from the Indian lac bug.Mar 20, 2017

thanks! Any ideas where I can get carnauba wax?

 

[Hanathehappyhen]

Where do you live roughly? What’s the temps like now? An old school method was to dig a deep hole in the ground and fill it with straw and layer the apples with the straw and cover it up. Or dig a hole and put a 55 gallon drum in there and fill it with apples. You might be digging a whole 5-6 feet, but you want to reach temps of 54 deg. That’s a ton of work though!!

that does seem like a lot of work! its a good idea though. I live in Northern California in winter/fall the temps are about 60- 30 degrees.