I've shown pictures of the apple store I built for my mother before but I thought I'd show you all a picture for what some of the apples look like in it now.
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| Scotch Bridgett - one of our favourite keepers. |
Careful picking, storage and selection of variety is all that is needed. You need to be vigilant with checking them and remove any that go bad. Sadly keeping food in this way is a skill we're slowly loosing and one day we might all need it again. Best to practice with food storage now I think, when the results aren't quite so important!
The old ways are the often the best way, as you are the apple man, I keeping meaning to pick your brains on apple trees that would be good to grow up here,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that we should keep these skills going. You never know what the future holds. I like to find different ways to preserve without electricity.
ReplyDeleteThey'll be fine in a pie or crumble.
ReplyDeleteI had some that kept well this winter on the porch where it was dry and cold. I suspect that had I taken more trouble with them and kept them in a little warmer area when it got below freezing that they would have done more closer to your success. I remember seeing an insulated wooden chest on my grandmother's porch when I was little, now I know what it was used for.
ReplyDeleteThey've lasted well. You're so right about needing to practice these old ways now .... while we still have the luxury of falling back on bought commodities if necessary. I'll be keeping this in mind :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame many of the food keeping skills have been lost. It's something my husband and I have been working on.
ReplyDeleteI tried to store apples in my basement, in boxes of sawdust, long ago. It was an abysmal failure. These days I buy dried apple chips in mylar bags which have been flushed with nitrogen, then stored in food storage pails. At least we can cook with them, though they aren't "fresh" tasting like the ones your efforts produce. Also, my stored apples are not "renewable" as yours are.
ReplyDeleteMy mum always stored apples, mainly for Christmas and into the winter months. I hated the job of checking them.
ReplyDeleteWell done, Kev. I don't think we shall store apples like that, though it's a good idea. Canning or dehydrating is the way I store our apples.
ReplyDeleteKev - our strange house has half of what can only be called a dirt-floor little strange area. but we can keep apples, potaoes (always on opposite sides of the basement), squash, pumpkin pretty much all winter down there without much wastage. i think it's great that your apples lasted that long and yes - they are definitely still usable. congrats!
ReplyDeletesending love! your friend,
kymber
Kymber,
DeleteIs it similiar to a root cellar? How big is the dirt area?
Kev - it's almost a root cellar - previous owner just didn't get around to pouring a concrete floor - thank goodness. it's about 20 x20ft (the big area)and about 12ft high but then we also have two other crawlspace areas attached to it. we keep the temp at about 3C all winter usually only leaving 2 lightbulbs on all night. if we are experiencing weather that will make the basement colder, then we run a little heater a few times to get it back to 3C. it's perfect as it is very cool and very dark.
DeleteMy apple stores ran out before Christmas.
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