How To Store Apples Long Term And Short Term

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Have lots of apples piled up from your backyard harvest or your latest orchard trip? Wondering how to keep them fresh and crisp through the winter? Find out how to store apples so you can keep them fresh all winter long.

Quick Answer: How To Store Apples

Short term (a few days to a couple weeks): Keep apples in a bowl on the counter for up to a week, or in your fridge’s crisper drawer for 5 to 6 months if you have the space.

Long term (all winter, no fridge needed): Store apples in a root cellar, cool basement, garage, or closet that stays close to 32°F (0°C) with high humidity. Properly stored, they’ll keep for 6 to 12 months.

The short version either way: pick good storage apples, handle them gently, keep them cool and humid, and check on them monthly.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

• Which apple varieties actually store the longest (and which ones need a warmer spot)
• Whether storage temperature really depends on the variety
• How to harvest or pick apples so they last as long as possible
• The pros and cons of storing apples on the counter, in the fridge, or without refrigeration
• Step-by-step instructions for packing and storing a big harvest for winter
• How often to check stored apples, and what to look for

Apples are one of my favorite fruits. Not only are they usually one of the cheaper fruits to buy, but they can be used in so many ways. From simply using cut apples as snacks to a wide variety of apple recipes like applesauce, apple butter, and apple crisp.

I was so happy when we bought our home that it had 2 apple trees that were just starting to produce apples. But those small trees weren’t yielding enough apples for us.

So for years, it’s been a family tradition to head out to a local pick-your-own apple farm and spend the afternoon picking our favorite apple varieties. It’s always a fun afternoon with the kids.

But once you come home, you have bushels of apples that need to be dealt with. It can feel so overwhelming sometimes, right? Of course, the fall is a busy time of year for putting food up and putting the gardens to bed for the winter.

So instead of getting overwhelmed by all the apples you just picked, store the apples so they will last you for months. Then you can take your time and enjoy baking your favorite treats.

Choose Good Storage Apples

Having your apples last starts by selecting the best apples for storage. You’ll want apples that have thick skin and a firm, hard flesh. Often these are tart varieties of apples.

Some types of apples have a great shelf life and can be stored for up to 6 to 12 months with the right conditions!

You can buy apples from the grocery store in the fall for storage. But avoid buying apples in the late winter or spring for long-term storage. They have already been stored for months and are more likely to go bad sooner.

What Are The Best Apple Varieties For Storage?

• Ida Red
• Granny Smith
• Fuji
• Pink Lady
• Red Delicious
• Northern Spy
• Crispin
• McIntosh

Does Storage Temperature Depend On The Variety?

Turns out, yes! I always thought every apple just wanted it as cold as possible, but that’s not quite true. Most apples store best right around 32°F (0°C), but a few varieties are what’s called “chilling sensitive,” meaning they don’t actually do well that cold.

Store them too close to freezing, and you can end up with soft, mushy spots or brown patches inside the flesh, even when the outside still looks fine.

Granny Smith, Fuji, and Red Delicious (all on the list above) are chilling-sensitive, so they’ll do better in a spot that’s a little warmer, closer to 37 to 39°F (3 to 4°C), instead of down at 32°F (0°C) with the rest.

And just so you know, 32°F isn’t actually the freezing point for apples the way it is for water. Depending on the variety, apples don’t freeze solid until somewhere between 27.8°F and 29.4°F (-2.3 to -1.4°C), so storing them right around 32°F still leaves you a safety margin before you have to worry about frozen fruit.

Honeycrisp, Gala, and Cortland are chilling-sensitive too if you happen to be storing those, so keep them a little warmer as well.

Harvest Carefully

If you are picking from your own apple trees or heading to a pick-your-own orchard, you’ll want to take care picking your apples.

Handle the apples gently so you don’t bruise the fruit. Don’t pick apples with cracks or blemishes for storage, those are best used up quickly.

Also, try to keep the stem on the apple when you’re picking. Apples with the stem left on can last much longer than if they’ve been removed.

Apple Storage Methods At A Glance

Not sure which storage method is right for you? Here’s a quick comparison before we dig into the details of each one.

How To Store Apples Short Term

If you prefer to buy apples every week or two, then simply storing apples in your kitchen works well.

Can Apples Sit At Room Temperature?

Fresh apples can be stored on your counter for 5 to 7 days. If your apples came in a plastic bag, remove them and place them in a bowl. Plastic bags will hold too much moisture and cause the apples to go bad quickly.

Apples won’t last much longer than a week if left unrefrigerated.

Should You Refrigerate Apples?

Yes, your fridge is the best place to store apples for short-term storage. Apples like cool temperatures and a humid environment, which makes your fridge the perfect place to store apples.

The best area of your fridge is your crisper drawer. If you can keep your crisper for only apples, you can store them for 5 to 6 months if the temperature and humidity are right.

But considering the size of most crisper drawers, it’s likely to only hold enough apples for a family for about a month.

This also helps to keep your apples away from other fruits and vegetables. Apples give off ethylene, and that can cause other fruits and vegetables to spoil faster.

You can actually put that to good use, too, if you’ve got a stubborn avocado or a bunch of bananas that won’t ripen, tuck one of your apples into a paper bag with them overnight. The ethylene will help speed things right along.

Although storing apples in your crisper can give you great long-term storage results, you might find it inconvenient. After all, you have other fruits and vegetables you want to keep in the fridge too.

Thankfully, there are lots of other long-term storage options that won’t take up room in your fridge.

How To Store Apples Without Refrigeration

Apples are easy to store without using your fridge as long as you have the right conditions in your home.

Apples will store best in cool temperatures, 32°F (0°C) is the best storage temperature for most varieties, with 90 to 95% humidity. Just remember, if you’re storing Granny Smith, Fuji, or Red Delicious, they like it a few degrees warmer, closer to 37 to 39°F (3 to 4°C) (see the chart above).

Yes, you can keep apples even if your storage area isn’t as cool as it should be, but the apples won’t last as long.

Also, if the area isn’t humid enough, it will cause the apples to shrivel up.

You will also need good storage containers. Wooden bushel baskets work great and have been used for food storage for a long time.

If you don’t have any, you can also use cardboard boxes, wooden crates, or wooden shelves.

Root Cellar

At one time, most homes had a root cellar. They are cool, dark, humid rooms in your basement or built into a hill near the house.

Our home was built in 1850, and half the basement is a root cellar. We are so lucky to have this space. It’s perfect for storing apples through the winter along with other fruits and vegetables.

These rooms were built to have just the right humidity and temperatures to make food last through the winter. But modern homes don’t normally have root cellars.

So where do you store apples without a root cellar? In other cool areas of your home.

Basement

Basements are almost as good as root cellars for food storage, most stay cool and humid. It’s best if your basement is unheated. But if it is heated, you could close off an area to use as a cool room.

Garage

Depending on where you live, a garage can also make a good place to store apples over the winter.

But you’ll have to make sure the garage doesn’t get too cold and freeze. As long as the garage stays cool but above freezing, apples should store well.

Closet Or Cool Room

Most homes seem to have one area that stays cool compared to the others. It could be an unheated closet or a storage room that’s not heated. Areas like this can be used to keep apples.

Being that it’s in the living area of your home, it will stay warmer than the ideal storage temperature. This means the apples won’t last as long as if they were in your fridge or cellar. But it will still work for a while.

Enclosed Porch

An enclosed porch can be a good storage option if you live in a moderate climate. Just remember it’s important to make sure the apples don’t freeze. If you live in a northern area, this won’t be a good food storage option for you.

But if your temperatures don’t go below 32°F (0°C), then it could work.

How To Store Apples For Winter

After you’ve decided where you are going to store your apples, you’ll need to prepare them for storage. Wondering what the best way is to store apples for a long time?

I had a hard time keeping apples through the winter for a while too. Now I know it all starts with selecting the right kind of apples.

1. Pick Or Buy The Right Apples

Pick good quality apples from the trees, make sure they are ripe but not bruised or damaged in any way. Damaged apples will go bad quickly, and if you remember the old expression “one bad apple spoils the bunch,” you can lose a whole box of apples quickly after one goes bad.

Try to keep the stems on the apples, this helps to protect the apples so they last longer.

Make sure you are picking or buying apples that are good for storage, like the ones listed above.

2. Pack The Apples

Carefully place your apples into bushel baskets, cardboard boxes, or wooden crates. Handle the apples carefully so you don’t bruise them.

It might be tempting to just dump the apples into a box, but they will get bruised and turn bad quickly if you do that.

It’s best to use small or medium-sized boxes for storage. They are easier to lift and carry, but also, if you have some apples spoiled in one box, it helps keep it from spreading to all of your apples.

Some people also like to wrap each apple individually in newspaper to keep them from touching, the idea being that if one starts to spoil, it won’t spread as quickly to the next apple.

It’s the same idea behind using an apple shelf. But wrapping every single apple is a lot of work, and apples are stored commercially without doing it.

I don’t know any apple grower in our area who wraps their apples in storage, they’re all kept in large bins in cool conditions and last all winter just fine. So although there’s nothing wrong with wrapping your apples if you want to, we never do it.

Instead, I check my apples monthly during the winter and remove any as soon as they start to show signs of spoilage, which you’ll want to do whether your apples are wrapped or not, so skipping the wrapping saves a lot of time when sorting.

3. Store The Apples

Once you’ve packaged the apples, move them to the place you decided to store them in, such as your cellar, basement, garage, or other cool spot.

Choose an area that is as close to 32°F (0°C) as possible without freezing. Also, a humid area is best, if your storage area is dry, consider running a humidifier.

Place the boxes or crates in a single layer. If the floor of your storage area is concrete, then place a pallet on the floor and place your storage bins on top of that.

4. Check Regularly

You will want to check your apples regularly for any signs of rot. Try to do this at least once a month.

Carefully remove each apple and give it a quick inspection before placing it back into a storage box.

Any apples that are showing signs of bruising should be removed from storage and used up quickly. Obviously, any apples that have spoiled need to be removed and composted.

FAQ’s