North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Dennis Norton" <dmnorton@royaloakfarmorchard.com>]

Here are the storage tips in our U-Pick brochure we pass on to our customers 
here at Royal Oak Farm Orchard:

In the bag.if you buy apples in a plastic bag, which helps retain juiciness 
of the apples, leave them there.  Make sure that there are several air holes 
in the bag, then store the bag in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator. 
Cool air between 32-34 degrees F. prevents apples from losing their crunch 
and spoilage. Apples ripen 10 times faster at room temperature than when 
refrigerated.  Cool air helps prevent decay and helps  maintain quality, 
juiciness, and crispness.  One bad apple.undetected - can spoil the bunch. 
That's why it's important to sort and use  apples with defects immediately. 
Only perfect  apples, free of bruise and decay, should be kept for later 
use.

The ethylene gas emitted by apples acts as a ripening hormone on other 
plants as well. If you store a number of apples in the refrigerator, you may 
notice undesirable changes in their neighbors. Carrots become bitter. 
Potatoes tend to sprout and shrivel.  Asparagus toughens. Brown spots may 
appear on lettuce. And cucumbers turn yellow. Not that ethylene is all bad! 
To speed the ripening of a bag of hard tomatoes, slip in an apple and seal.

Dennis Norton
Royal Oak Farm Orchard
http://www.royaloakfarmorchard.com
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "tanis grif" <tanisgrif@yahoo.com>
To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, January 22, 2006 6:53 PM
Subject: [NAFEX] check your refrigerator temperature


> Scion storage observation:
>
> I wonder how many refrigerators average a temperature over 40 degrees? 
> The NAFEX
> list often enough discusses keeping fruits (& veggies, if one tends to 
> forget them &
> let them rot) in a different refrig than your scionwood, because fruits & 
> spoilage
> give off ethylene gas.
>
> I get nervous, when I haven't collected scion yet, if the weather forecast 
> is for a
> day or 2 over 40, but I bet most refrig.s are above that.  No wonder scion 
> breaks
> dormancy in storage!
>
>
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