Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-05-07
FROST PRESERVES THEM.
Some Facts About Frozen Apples.

IF your garrett or loft is only cold
enough, there isn't any reason in the
world why you shouldn't treat your
friends with plump. full-favored Rhode
Island greetings, Baldwins, or any
other choice apples. just as well next
June as You did last Christmas, said
q Washington street commission mer-
chant. III have last wears Bald
wins, and | don't know but last wears
| greetings, as sound as a knot, in M
house next summer, in the same dish
with this years harvest apples; vet
nine out OF ten people would have
thought these same apples We're ruined
two months ago, and would have treat
ed them accordingly, Why? Simply
because they were frozen"
Doesn't the freezing of apples spoil
them, them" asked the reporter.
The general opinion is, . replied the
merchant, that after an apple freezes
its value is gone; but the fact is that
| just the contrary is the truth. Let a
barrel of apples freeze in the fall, and
keep them froze, or, rather, do not dis
| turb them, and in the spring they will
be IN the very condition they were
when taken from the tree. Baldwins.
and, in fact, all favorite eating apples.
do not have their full flavor nor mel
lowness when first packed in the fall.
They ripen in the barrel, and are at
their best in January. After that they
begin to decay, and when March comes
they are few and far between, those
that are left being the result of especial
good care and attention.
IF they are frozen in the fall how
ever, the ripening process is checked.
The vitality of the apple is simply sus-
pended, and it only needs proper treat
ment to restore it to its natural action.
The trouble has always been that when
n barrel of apples was found to be
frozen it was rolled off at once to q
warm place and subjected to 4 rapid
thawing. Some people take the apples
out of the barrel and plunge them
into cold water to draw the frost out.
The result is a tiabby, favOrlcss fruit.
really not worth the room it occupies,
and subject to speedy decay; all be-
cause of popular ignorance A frozen
apple is one of the most sensitive
things in the world. Touch your finger
upon it, and when the frost is thawed
from the apple the spot touched will
be mark of decay, which spreads
rapidly over the fruit
Therefore, if you ever find thatyour
barrel of Baldwins is frozen, heat it
gently. If the apples are thoroughly
frozen the barrel will not be full by
nearly a peck, so much has the fruit
contracted with the frost. 1t would be
impossible now to move the barrel
without running every apple in it. So,
if it stands where it will not be subject
to sudden warmth, and thus thawed
out rapidly, let it stand. Cover the
apples up where they will be kept dark
Then 90 away and let them alone until
spring comes and draws the frost out
of every thing. Then uncover your
apples. 1t may startle you, but you
with the plump fellows that were
rolled into your house in the fall, and
which were sorry-looking lot of
wrinkled, shrunk-up fruit the last time
you saw them.
eff they were assorted apples when
packed you need not pick them over,
for they will be just as sound and hard
as they were in November. By the
middle of May or 1st of June they will
be in the fragrant, mellow condition
that they would have been in five
months before if the frost hadn't
stepped in and held it back. I've had
apples frozen and thawed three times
in one winter, owing to sudden changes
in the weather, but they were all right
when the final drawing of the frost
took place. A barrel of apples might
be kept frozen a thousand years, 1 be-
iieve, and the fruit would be just as
sound and fine favored when thawed
out and ripened as it was the day it
was packed. "-Ne1O York San.