How to Wrap and Store Apples and Pears

Fruits like apples and pears can stay fresh for a remarkably long time if they are harvested correctly and stored properly. Follow a few quick tips and you will be able to choose the best apples and pears to harvest, store them correctly, and enjoy them for quite a long time.

Apples

Pears

Paper

Plastic bags

Wooden crate

Establish if the fruit is ripe. Most fruits ripen over a period of several weeks or even longer. For eating fresh, harvest them only when they are ripened to perfection but for storing choose them slightly under ripened. It is usually easy to tell when soft fruits are ripe by looking at their color. To keep pace with ripening, you will need to harvest every the fruit every day or two. Ripe apples and pears should come away easily in your hand when ripe. Hold the fruits firmly and then twist. If they do not come away easily, leave them on the branch. Apples will ripe completely on the tree but pears should be harvested a little earlier and allowed to ripen inside.

Harvest the apples or pears. Grasp the fruit and twist. If the stalk breaks easily and the fruit comes free, it is ripe. If not, leave it. Harvest pears the same way.

Choose only fruits in the best condition to be stored, regardless of which method you are using. Apples and pears can be stored fresh, preferably when very slightly under ripe.

Wash and dry the apple or pears. Five the fruit a quick wash with fresh or distilled water and a quick gentle towel dry with a cotton cloth.

Wrap the apples or pears. Wrap each fruit in a piece of tissue paper, taking care not to bruise it. Put the fruits in a slatted wooden tray or shallow cardboard box. This method can also be used for pears.

Store under ripe apples and pears in a plastic bag until they are completely ripened. Put slightly under ripe apples or pears in a clear plastic bag with ventilation holes and fold over the end. Store the fruit in a cool, dark place.

Check stored fruit often and remove any damaged fruit.