The space or storage area for fruits must also be cleaned and disinfected beforehand. One of the methods is sulfur disinfection, where 2-3 grams of sulfur are burned per 1 m² of storage area in special containers. The storage remains closed like this for 2-3 days and then ventilated.
Through preservation, the aim is to extend the period of fruit use with minimal losses and achieve high commercial values.
There are several storage methods:
- Preservation in natural conditions
- Mechanical cooling storage (refrigerators)
- Refrigerated storage and controlled atmosphere
Preservation in natural conditions
To store apples for a certain period of 3-4 months or even longer, as simply and cheaply as possible, it is necessary to have: newspaper paper (or some other type), crates, apples, and a cool storage space. Cleaning the fruit would be welcome but not necessary. The spoilage of the fruits is influenced by the storage time, mechanical injuries, and direct contact between the fruits.
Time – cultivars with a sour taste such as Jonathan, Idaredi, Greni Smithi last longer compared to those containing more sugars, such as Golden and Red Delishec.
Selection – Care must always be taken during fruit handling, starting from harvesting to packaging for storage, to prevent damage. Only healthy fruits are chosen for storage, while the damaged ones are consumed fresh or processed. To preserve the fruits longer, a solution can also be prepared in which the fruits should be soaked for a few minutes before being placed in the crates:
Prepared solution: 10 L water; 0.4 kg calcium chloride; 20 g wine preservative (vinobran); 10 ml Chromov or Radov.
Contact – to avoid contact between fruits during storage, we individually wrap them in newspaper, except for colored ones, due to heavy metal poisoning, or wrap them in other clean paper. Wrapping does not mean being airtight but just enough to stay normally in the storage crate without being unwrapped.
Storage – the storage area is important to have optimal humidity of 80-90%, good ventilation, temperature not lower than 2 °C, the storage must be dark, other products, especially potatoes, should not be stored in the same place, crates should be 15–20 cm above floor level, and there should be moisture - water on the floor.
Mechanical cooling storage (refrigerators)
Fruit preservation with this method is done at controlled temperatures of 0.5 - 4 °C as well as at controlled air humidity of 90–95%. Storage with cooling (refrigerator) and controlled atmosphere Through this advanced method, besides controlling temperature and relative air humidity, the refrigerator atmosphere is also monitored, particularly oxygen concentration (O2) of 0.8 - 5%, carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration of 0.5 - 5%, and nitrogen (N2) concentration of 90 - 98.7] %
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