ABOUT COLD STORAGE APPLES

The following was originally posted to veg-raw, an e-mail list, back in 1995.
It is a response to an inquiry regarding cold storage apples.

One poster asked for further information on cold storage apples. Like most
other fruits, apples have a definite season and ripen generally in Fall in the
Northern hemisphere. The fruit is picked, processed, and packed, then stored
in cold storage until it is eventually shipped to market.

Processing for apples includes waxing (some produce waxes are animal based;
most are synthetic or petroleum based) and fumigation. The apples are then kept
under cold storage: carefully regulated temperature and humidity. The fruit may
be held for months; in rare cases it may even be held in storage for nearly
a year! If apples were sold only in season, they would be available for a few
months of the year, then be unavailable (except for opposite season imports
from Southern hemisphere producers) until next season. Instead, they are
available year round, the result of cold storage practices.

Once shipped to market, cold storage apples have a short shelf life and may
spoil rapidly if not refrigerated. The long term storage also removes most of
their flavor and reduces the nutrient content. Some people refer to cold storage
apples as apple-flavored cardboard, a negative but fairly accurate view.

The best apples are fresh apples: what is referred to as new crop (to
distinguish them from the stale cold-storage apples) and current crop that was
picked recently. Because much of the apple crop from Washington state is cold-
storage, this writer avoids purchasing Washington apples, except for new crop.
Instead I purchase California apples, and buy them only if they are in
season. Even an organic apple, if it is out of season, has almost surely been
held in cold storage.

Tom Billings