News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1885-03-12
FROST PRESERVES THEM.
Some Facts AbOut Frozen Apples that a
Contrary TO the General Belief.

'If your 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, Baldwins, or any
other choice apples, just as well next
June as you did last Christmas" said a
| Washington street commission merchant
to New York Sun reporter. "I'll have
last years BAldwins, and / don't know
but last years Greetings, as 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 CT apples spoil
them, then ?" 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
barrel Of apples freeze in the fall and
keep them frozen, 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 mellowness
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 1t only needs proper treat
ment to restore it to its natural action.
The trouble has always been that when
a barrel of apples was found to be frozen
1t was rolled off at once to a warm place
and subjected to 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 fabby,
favorless fruit, really not worth the
room 1T occupies, and subject to speedy
decay-aIl because of popular ignorance.
A frozen apple is one of the most sensi.
tive 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 that your
barrel OF Baldwins is frozen, heat it
gently. Ii the apples are thoroughly
frozen the barrel will not be full by
nearly 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
ed to sudden warmth and thus thawed
out rapidly, let it stand. Cover the ap-
pies up so that they will be kept dark.
Then go 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 up to the head with the plump
fellows that were rolled into your house
ia the fall, and which were a sorry-look-
ing lot of wrinkled, shrunk-up fruit the
last time you saw them.
"If 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 mid |
die OF May or LIST of June they will be in
the fragrant mellow condition that thew |
would have been in five months before |
II the frost hadn't stepped in and held il !
back. I've had apples frozen and
thawed ont three times in one winter
o wing to sudden changes in the weather
bnt they Were all right when the final
drawing of the frost took place
barrel OF fruit might be frozen a tbou-
sand years, L believe, and the fruit
would be Just as sound and fine fIavored
when thawed out and ripened as il was
the day it was packed"