1. Plan ahead for Fruit Storage - Pick the best fruit ahead of ripening for storage.
Apples and Pears continue ripening in store, so pick them slightly under-ripe, so that they will be at their peak after a few months of storage.
Our top five varieties for storage to store are;
Ashmeads Kernel, Claygate Pearmain, Pinnova, Bramley, Striped Beefing.
Store apples frost free, away from rats and mice, but at low temperatures (1-5 degrees centigrade).
2. Tidy up the Orchard for the Winter
Remove broken branches that may have collapsed with the weight of fruit.
Remove any mummified and diseased fruit.
Prune out any branches with canker, if they are too big to remove, then pare out the canker with a sharp knife.
3. Make Juice
Use surplus apples to make juice.
Only use good apples for juice, and do not pick them from the floor.
Blends of cookers and eaters often make the best juice.
We have found the more varieties you can include in a mix, the more interesting the juice.
Juice must be pasteurised or frozen to preserve it, frozen juice will preserve more vitamins and therefore has greater health benefits. Apple juice can store for two years.
Our top five juicing varieties by consensus last year were;
Adams Pearmain, Ribston Pippin, Lord Lambourne, Bramley and Egremont russet, Ashmeads Kernel.
