Storing Apples and Pears for a Long Winter

Start with sound, late-keeping fruit

Not every apple is a keeper. Early varieties such as Beauty of Bath, Discovery and Worcester Pearmain are delightful straight from the tree in August, but they turn soft and floury within a fortnight. For long storage you want the late croppers: Bramley's Seedling, Newton Wonder, Annie Elizabeth, Egremont Russet, Ashmead's Kernel, Winston and D'Arcy Spice will all hold their flesh and flavour well into the new year if they are handled kindly. Pears follow the same rule. Conference, Beurré Hardy and Josephine de Malines store far better than the luscious but fleeting Doyenné du Comice, which is best eaten within a couple of weeks.

The other half of the equation is the fruit itself. Only unblemished specimens are worth storing. A single bruised apple gives off a puff of ethylene and soon develops a brown rot that spreads to its neighbours, so sorting as you pick is not fussiness — it is the whole trick.

Pick on a dry day, with dry hands

Choose a dry morning once the dew has lifted, before the fruit has been warmed by the sun. Wet apples go mouldy in store; warm ones ripen far too quickly. Cup each apple in your palm, lift it gently and twist. If it comes away easily with the stalk intact, it is ready. Never pull, never shake the tree, and never drop fruit into a bucket — tip it into a padded trug or a lined basket instead.

Pears are picked slightly under-ripe and ripened later indoors. Lift them in the same way and let the stalk part naturally; forced fruit will not keep.

Sort into three piles as you go:

• Keepers — perfect, stalk intact, no marks or bruises.
• Eat soon — small bruises, slight scuffs, fruit from the outside of the tree.
• Cook — windfalls, splits and wasp damage; these go straight to the pan or the juicer.

Wrap each fruit and pack it shallow

Individually wrapping fruit in paper is an old-fashioned habit that earns its keep. Use newspaper, brown paper or tissue, twisting the ends to make a little parcel. Wrapped fruit cannot bruise against its neighbour, and if one does turn, the rot is contained. Lay the parcels in a single layer in shallow wooden trays, slatted boxes or sturdy cardboard crates. Do not stack them more than two deep, and never tip fruit in loose.

Label each tray in pencil with the variety and the date — memory is a poor record keeper by January. Slatted shelves in an airy shed, or a traditional apple room, are ideal. Air must be able to move around the fruit, so leave gaps between trays and never crowd them against a wall.

Keep the store cool, dark and damp

Apples keep best at around 2–4°C, pears a degree or two cooler, with a steady humidity of 85–90 per cent. A frost-free garage, brick outhouse, north-facing larder or insulated shed will do the job. Steady conditions matter more than any particular figure: fruit suffers when the temperature swings about.

Darkness slows ripening, so keep the store unlit, and stand a shallow tray of water or damp sand nearby if the air is dry — but never wet the fruit itself. A fridge is fine for a few weeks' worth, though fruit left beside cheese and milk will taint them.

Mice will travel a long way for a Bramley, so give them no encouragement:

• Mesh over air bricks and fill any gap wider than a pencil.
• Keep the floor swept and free of straw, sacks and spilled grain.
• Set traps beneath the shelves, and keep bird seed and poultry feed in sealed bins well away.
• Do not store fruit beside potatoes, onions or anything strongly scented; the flavours will cross.

Check weekly and cook the casualties

Look over the trays once a week. Remove anything with a soft brown patch and use the sound parts at once. Expect losses; even a good store loses perhaps one apple in ten over a long winter. Bring pears into the warm kitchen a few at a time and give them two to five days to soften — they are ready when the neck gives slightly to your thumb. Late keepers will see you through to March, and an Ashmead's Kernel eaten in February tastes better than almost anything you can buy.

The casualties are a pleasure in themselves. Baked apples stuffed with sultanas, demerara and a knob of butter; a slow-cooked apple butter; spiced apple chutney with ginger, mustard seed and cider vinegar; pear and walnut chutney for the cheese board; cider-braised pork chops with a spoonful of apple sauce stirred through the gravy. Simmer peelings and cores with water for a fragrant jelly, and never throw away a windfall — a crate of them will give you juice for months.