Picking is the easy part. The real test of a fruit garden comes in February, when you open a box in a cold shed and find the apples still firm, sharp and worth eating. Whether you get that far depends on three things: the variety, the state of the fruit when it went in, and the conditions you keep it in. Get those roughly right and a modest harvest will feed you until the blossom returns.
Why some varieties keep and others don't
Late-ripening apples and pears are built to last. Fruit that hangs on the tree well into October has dense flesh, thicker skin and a slower metabolism once picked. Early varieties are the opposite: they ripen fast, soften fast and are designed by nature to be eaten within days of leaving the branch.
That is the whole principle behind a store. If you would happily eat it in August, eat it in August. Discovery, Worcester Pearmain and most of the summer apples will be floury within a fortnight whatever you do with them, and a fortnight of careful wrapping is not worth the shelf space.
Home conditions also matter more than most growers admit. A commercial cold store holds fruit at close to freezing with controlled humidity. A shed, garage or cellar runs warmer and drier, so take the shorter end of any keeping estimate you read.
The apples worth storing
Into the new year and beyond
- Bramley's Seedling — the great keeper among cookers, often sound into March
- Ashmead's Kernel — russeted, intensely flavoured, good to January or later
- D'Arcy Spice — traditionally eaten at Christmas, improves in store
- Edward VII, Annie Elizabeth, Newton Wonder — late cookers that hold firm for months
- Winston, Tydeman's Late Orange, Rosemary Russet, Cornish Gilliflower — reliable dessert apples to January
- Sturmer Pippin — picked very late; among the longest keepers of all
To Christmas
Egremont Russet, Cox's Orange Pippin, Orleans Reinette and Fiesta will generally see you to December, and a little beyond if the fruit was picked dry and unblemished. Cox is worth the trouble but unforgiving: one bruised apple in the box will take several others with it.
A few weeks at best
Katy, James Grieve, Ellison's Orange and Tydeman's Early are all excellent apples that simply do not store. Use them fresh, juice them, or cook and freeze them.
Pears: a shorter window and different rules
Pears are a different proposition altogether. Most should be picked firm, before they are ripe, and finished indoors in warmth. Left to ripen on the tree they go grainy or rotten at the core.
The best keepers are Conference (often to January, though the flavour peaks earlier), Josephine de Malines, Glou Morceau, Winter Nelis and Beurré Hardy. Williams' Bon Chrétien, Doyenné du Comice and Beth are best eaten within three to five weeks. Comice in particular can look perfect and be brown and mushy at the core, so cut one open to test before you trust the box.
A spell of cold helps pears ripen properly. Bring them into a warm room two or three days before you want to eat them, and judge by feel at the neck rather than colour.
Picking, sorting and wrapping
Only perfect fruit goes into store. Any bruise, scab, maggot hole or split will rot, and rot spreads. Pick with the stalk attached, cupping the fruit and lifting with a gentle twist; never pull. Windfalls are for the pan or the juicer, not the shelf.
Leave the natural bloom alone. Washing or polishing fruit puts moisture on the skin and invites mould. Wipe off loose soil with a dry cloth if you must.
- Sort the harvest into three piles: perfect, slightly marked, and damaged.
- Use the damaged fruit first — pies, juice, chutney.
- Wrap each sound apple in a square of newspaper or tissue, twisting the ends so the fruit cannot touch its neighbour.
- Pack in a single layer, or two at most, stalk upwards, in a wooden or cardboard box or a slatted tray.
- Label the box with the variety and the date; you will not remember in January.
Cool, dark and damp: the conditions that matter
Aim for 2–5°C, high humidity and darkness. An unheated garage, a cellar or a north-facing pantry suits apples well. A shed that freezes solid is a problem: once fruit freezes and thaws, the cells collapse and the flesh turns soft and bland.
Avoid sealed plastic bags, which trap condensation, though a perforated polythene liner can help keep humidity up in a very dry shed. Air needs to move around the boxes, so stand them on slatted shelves rather than a concrete floor, and do not stack them against a wall.
Keep apples away from onions, potatoes and other strong-smelling produce. Apples absorb taints, and the ethylene they give off makes potatoes sprout and speeds up the ripening of anything nearby. Pears and soft fruit are better stored separately too. Mice are another winter hazard — check boxes for droppings and chewed corners.
Keeping an eye on the store
Look through the boxes every week or fortnight. Remove anything soft, spotted or mouldy straight away, and handle the rest gently; cold fruit bruises easily. Eat the shortest keepers first and work through to the long ones.
Taste as you go. An apple that has gone floury is past eating fresh even if it looks fine, and is best turned into sauce. A home store that gives you good eating apples into January, and a few Bramleys to March, has done its job well. Expect no more than that, and you will not be disappointed.
Photo: Jenny Tran / Pexels
