Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-02-28
FROST PRESERVES THEM.

Some Facts About Frozen Apples That
Are Contrary TO the General Belief.
From the New York Sun.
'If yorfr garnet 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, Baldwns, or
any other choice apples, just as well next June
as you did last Christmas" said Washington
street commission merchant. "Ill have last
years Baldwins, and l don't know but last
years greetings, sound as a knot in my
house next summer, in the same dish with this
years harvest apples; yet nine out of ten people
would have thought these same apples were
ruined two months ago, and would have treated
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 mer-
gone but the fact is that just the contrary a is
the truth. Let barrel of apples freeze in the
fall, and keep them frozen, or, rather, do not
the very condition they We're when taken from
the tree. Baldwins, and in fact all tavoDite
eating apples do not have their full flavor nor
r1pen in the barrel, and at their best in Jan
uary. 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, however, the
ripening process is checked. The vitality ofthe
apple is simply suspended, and it only needs
proper treatment to restore it to its natural ac-
tion. The trouble has always been that when
barrel Of apples was found to be frozen it was
rolled of at ohce to q warm place and subjected
to a rapid thawing. Some people take the
apples out Of the barrel and plunge them in cold
water to draw the frost out. The result is a
habby, havorless fruit, really not worth the
r9s it occupies and subject to speedy decay
oil because of popular ignorance. A frozen
apple is 1ns 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, II you ever find that your barrel
of Baldwins Is frozen heat it gently. If the
apples are thoroughly frozen the barrel will not
contracted with the frost. 1t would be impos-
sible, now, to move the barrel without running
every apple in it. So, If it stands where it will
not be subjected to sudden warmth, and thus
pies up SO they will be kept dark. Then 60
away and let them alone until spring comes
and draws the frost out Of everything. Then
uncover your apples. 1t may startle you, but
you will find the barrel full to the head with
the plump fellows that were rolled into your
house in the fall, and which were O sorry-look-
ing lot Of wrinkled, shrunk-up fruit the last
time you saw them.
off 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 Novem-
Der. BY the middle of May or LIST of June they
will be In the fragrant, mellow condition that
they would have been in five months before if
the most hadn't stepped In and held it back.
times In one winter, owing to sudden changes
In the weather. but they were all right when
the hnal drawing Of the frost took place. A bar
rel Of apples might be kept frozen thousand
sound and fine favored when thawed out and
rtpened as 1t was the day it was packed"