Interactive lesson

Apples, pears and quinces until spring, step by step

Interactive lesson: which varieties keep, how to cool, wrap and stack them, how pears ripen and how to keep apples until April.

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The whole lesson as text

1. Which varieties keep

Only late-keeping varieties go into store: those picked hard that ripen while lying in store.

Late-keeping varieties only — Eat or process early and mid-season varieties within a few weeks. Autumn varieties keep roughly 1–3 months.
Old late keepers — Bramley's Seedling, Ashmead's Kernel and Sturmer Pippin, or Northern Spy and Winesap, are best from December to March and keep until spring.
Modern late apples — Idared, Braeburn and Golden Delicious, or Fuji and Granny Smith, are best from November to February and keep roughly 3–5 months.
Pears, quinces, medlars — Winter pears keep roughly 2–4 months, quinces 2–3 months. Medlars soften in store in 3–6 weeks.

Why: An old late-keeping apple picked hard and sharp in October softens and sweetens in store. An early or autumn variety turns floury and goes off in the same time.

Varieties differ by region, rootstock and year. The best data are your own: keep variety scores for three years.
Golden Delicious shrivels in store: it needs bags with holes or damp hessian.

2. From picking to store

How long an apple will keep is decided on the day it is picked.

Pick hard — Pick late-keeping varieties hard, at the start of ripeness, in October.
Class I only — Only sound fruit with the stalk goes into store. Choose medium-sized fruit: large fruit has more problems in store.
Crates into the shade — Crates straight into the shade, never into the sun.
Cool overnight — Overnight in a cool, airy place, into the cellar next morning. Bring it in only once the cellar drops below 6–8 °C.

Why: Picked too early, an apple is sour, shrivels and gets marks on the skin. Picked too late, it is floury and rots by December. And an apple picked at 20 °C takes days to cool in a cellar.

If the cellar is still at 10–12 °C, keep the crates in a shed or by the north wall, aired at night and covered against frost.
Picking, the starch test and sorting into four classes are in the module H12-07 Harvesting and storing fruit.