STORING OF FRUIT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 35, 10 February 1934, Page 13

STORING OF FRUIT

apples and pears. I Careful storage is necessary to prcj serve the mid-season and late-keeping I apples and pears in sound condition I throughout their normal season. Many I varieties are not sufficiently ripe to eat when gathered from the tree and must be stored, sometimes for months, before reaching maturity and the best condition for use. Early varieties, on the other hand, become ripe so soon after picking that little can be done by way of storage to keep them. It is .important to remember that, however ' ideal the storage conditions provided, [if apples or pears are kept long past i heir normal season there is certain to ' be considerable wastage. Preparation of Emit. The preparation of fruits for careful storage ought to start during the growing season, for essential conditions of successful storage are that the fruit 'should be sound and free from damage or blemish by pests or disease. A frostproof outhouse or shed, or a roomy cupboard, can be adapted to storage successfully providing certain precautions are taken. The essentials are that the store-place shall be clean, wholesome, frost-proof or nearly so, well ventilated and darkened. If the atmosphere is too dry and the temperature uneven the fruit shrivels and deteriorates in qualI'.rressive dryness is usually the most serious fault in improvised fruit stores and is responsible for much of the shrivelling experienced. All stored fruits should be inspected frequently. It storage room is limited, late-keep-ing cooking apples and hard-skinned dessert varieties can be kept in a clamp or pit out-of-doors; this is prepared in the same way as for potatoes. The site tor the clamp should be level and well drained, free from the drip of overhanging trees. The apples should be heaped on a good thickness of clean straw or fern. Another Layer of Straw. ’ 'tn top of the apples another Javer of straw is placed and the fruit is left, to “sweat” for ten days or so. When the fruits have dried the straw is covered with a coating of fine dry soil some 6in. deep and the sides of the clamp well sloped to carry off rain. Wisps of straw or small 'drain pipes must be left along the ridge of the coating of soil to act as ventilators, i Finally, a small trench is dug around 'the foot to carry off surplus water. I Late-keeping apples may also be wrapped in tissue paper, packed in wooden [boxes, nailed down, and then buried to ia depth of 6in. underground.