Store and preserve autumn treasures correctly

In this article, we will help you to store apples correctly, which ones are best suited for this purpose and how you can easily keep them for up to 12 months.

September and October are our golden harvest months when it comes to long-lasting fruit and vegetables. Have you also been able to harvest lots of apples, pears, plums or quinces from the garden? Or were provided for by friends and family?

This is often a double-edged sword. Because everyone is happy about the great treasures that can be used to prepare all sorts of great things. But perhaps you also ask yourself how dishes can be modified so that you don't have to eat the same thing every day. After all, food can quickly become stale or even spoil if it is not eaten. That would be annoying, wouldn't it?

We want to help you with this issue and bring more variety into your diet with our tips and recipes. Our app also ensures that you don't miss any food expiring, saving you money. If you don't know it yet, give it a try!

Our first recommendation and also the best-known way to preserve ripe fruit for longer is preserving it. This prevents rapid spoilage and the preserved food can easily be kept for 12 months. Preserved food can easily be integrated into other meals in different variations.

Puree is a must!

Whether applesauce, raspberry purée, pear purée, apricot purée, plum purée, rosehip purée, coconut purée or nut purée. Puree is the easiest version of preserving.

It's very simple with puree. Whether for pancakes, porridge, pancakes or on cakes. There are no limits to your preferences.

Storing fruit correctly

Have you ever felt the same way, you have lots of apples and they rot faster than you can eat them? We know this problem too. In addition to the type of apple, the most important thing here is correct storage. Only the daily requirement should be stored in the fruit bowl. Everything else should be stored in a cool, dark place, such as the cellar. Humidity levels of 85 to 90 % are ideal here. It is also important to store apples separately from other fruit and vegetables. This is because apples affect their ripening process. If the apples are undamaged, clean and dry, they can keep until spring without any problems.

The apple variety, what makes the difference in storage?

Not every apple can be stored without problems. There are early/summer, fall and winter apples. With this list, we want to make it easy for you to get a better overview of the shelf life.

Granny Smith

• Best Storage Method: Refrigerate in a cool place (0-4°C)
• Shelf Life: Up to 6 months
• Storage Tip: Keep in a plastic bag with holes to retain moisture while allowing air circulation.

Honeycrisp

• Best Storage Method: Refrigerate in a crisper drawer
• Shelf Life: 2-3 months
• Storage Tip: Keep away from other fruits to prevent rapid ripening due to ethylene gas.

Fuji

• Best Storage Method: Store in a cool, dark pantry or refrigerate
• Shelf Life: Up to 5 months (refrigerated)
• Storage Tip: Wrap individually in paper to prevent bruising and rot.

Gala

• Best Storage Method: Store in the refrigerator
• Shelf Life: 1-2 months
• Storage Tip: Place in a perforated plastic bag to maintain humidity levels.

Golden Delicious

• Best Storage Method: Store in a cool, dry place or in the fridge
• Shelf Life: 3-4 months
• Storage Tip: Store loosely in the crisper drawer for maximum freshness.

Pink Lady (Cripps Pink)

• Best Storage Method: Refrigerate in the crisper drawer
• Shelf Life: 3-4 months
• Storage Tip: Avoid storing near strong-smelling foods, as they can absorb odors.

Red Delicious

• Best Storage Method: Store in the refrigerator
• Shelf Life: 2-4 months
• Storage Tip: Keep in a breathable bag to maintain texture and prevent softening.

McIntosh

• Best Storage Method: Refrigerate
• Shelf Life: 2-3 months
• Storage Tip: Handle carefully to avoid bruising, as they are softer apples.

Braeburn

• Best Storage Method: Refrigerate or store in a cold room
• Shelf Life: 2-3 months
• Storage Tip: Wrap in paper or store in a perforated bag to ensure air circulation.

Jonagold

• Best Storage Method: Store in a cool, dry place or refrigerate
• Shelf Life: 2-3 months
• Storage Tip: Keep away from direct sunlight and check regularly for spoilage.

Other methods

Compote is another way in which you can extend the shelf life of many types of fruit and vegetables. You can also store it for up to 12 months or even longer without any problems. It is important to do a visual inspection from time to time. After all, it's easy for a jar to become airy or perhaps contaminated at the beginning. Use our app to help you keep track of how much of what you have left and by when it needs to be used up.

Good preparation is everything!

This saying is not far-fetched and is an important tip when it comes to adding variety to your diet. Because instead of eating potato pancakes with apple sauce 3 days in a row, you can easily make delicious changes to your meals. Here we show you 3 ways to not only cover lunch, but also to spice up breakfast and dinner in a varied way.

Breakfast: Pancakes with apple sauce*

In between meals: Applesauce cake*, yogurt with applesauce

Lunch: Schupfnudeln with apple sauce

Dinner: Bread with peanut butter and apple sauce

Tip: Applesauce can also be used as an egg substitute. One egg is replaced by 70 grams of puree. Give it a try!

The tomato

The tomato is a vegetable that can also be preserved very quickly by canning, without long preparation. When you think of tomatoes, you probably first think of a delicious sauce that you can prepare. But with a little thought, you can also add variety to your plate.

If you make a tomato compote, you can easily make fantastic variations for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It tastes delicious on toasted white bread, ala bruschetta or on buttermilk biscuits for breakfast. A tomato and basil compote is also delicious with grilled meat or vegetables. It will keep in the fridge for around a month without any problems. If you want to keep it for even longer, boiling it down is essential.

You can easily make a sugo from boiled tomatoes to conjure up a delicious tomato sauce. This means that the often popular dish of pasta with tomato sauce can be whipped up in no time at all. Cooked tomatoes or vegetables are also very suitable for preparing casseroles. Whether as lasagne, moussaka or a vegetable quiche. There's plenty of room for your creativity here.

So, are you itching to get started right away? Great, then get to the jars. But don't forget! With all the storage jars in your hand, it can be easy to lose track of the shelf life and forget which one to use first. To prevent this from happening, our app helps you keep track digitally. Check right now whether everything is still in the green zone. Not using the app yet? Then download it now and test it for free.

We hope you enjoy preserving your fall treasures!