Huntsville gazette., 1885-04-04
FROST PRESERVES THEM.

Some Facts About Frozen Apples That Are
Contrary to the General Belief.
''If your garret 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 we'll next
June as you did last Christmas, said
a Washington street commission mer-
chant "I'll have last years Baldwins,
and l don't know but last years green
ings, as sound as 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 ac-
cordingly. Why? Simply because
they were frozen"
Doesn't the freezing of apples spoil
them, then?" asked the reporter.
1.-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
disturb them, and in the spring
they will be in the very con-
dition 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 JAN
uary. After that they begin to decay,
and when March comes they are few
and far between, those that are left be-
ing 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
a barrel of apples was found to be
frozen it 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
outr The result is flabby, flavorless
fruit, really not worth the room it oc-
cupies, and subject to speedy decay
all 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. If 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 to sudden warmth,
and thus thawed out rapidly, let it
stand. Cover the apples up so they
will be kept dark. Then go away and
let them alone till 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 sorry-looking
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
middle of May or the first 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 out 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 thousand years,
I believe, and the fruit would be just as
sound and fine favored when thawed
out and ripened as it was ths day it was
packed, ~ Z Syn. II