Russet Apple advice please

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For the first time in 32 years, my russet apple tree has produced a magnificent crop of huge lovely apples. What's the best way to store them, and how long do they store for? I keep Bramleys through till March/April every year, but \I suspect these might be a bit fussier. All advice welcome!

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[Tee Gee]

Strangely enough I have had my best crop of Russets as well this year.

In terms of storingI would have to say I am no expert but here is how my lot are stored:







My greenhouse is frost free and I keep a temperature of around 36°-40°F (3°-4°C) throughout the winter months.

I look the crop over two or three times a week and remove any that are not storing well before they contaminate the rest.

If you can't maintain these sort of conditions let me say that my in-laws used to store theres under the bed.

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Thanks, TeeGee, so they will keep for some time like that....that's how I store Bramleys, so I'll do the same with the Russets and keep checking them.
Under the bed, no way, I keep my bedroom far too hot for that, they'd be stewed!

[johhnyco15]

i tend to wrap every other eating apples in tissue paper just so they dont touch i do the same with pears too it seems to work and store them in the shed nice and cool hope this helps

[strawberry1]

The crates are an excellent idea. Mine are huge this year too and I am storing them in slatted drawers in a purpose wooden apple store. They are laid on newspaper, not touching and are in the dark in a very well insulated and airy outbuilding with a very even temperature. I expect they will keep maybe to january. Mine are called pigskin and my other long storing apples are bramleys, pigs snout (massive cookers/will be eaters in a few months) and christmas pippin. The wooden apple store is full, so any extra just get put on mesh shelving as the whole building is a good environment

[pumkinlover]

I've never had enough russets to store for long, but this year had noticed there are more than usual.
Teegee that;s a great crop.
I would eat them first though, they tend to go pappy if kept.
Just having one chopped up on my granola.

[Vinlander]

I've never had enough russets to store for long, but this year had noticed there are more than usual.
Teegee that;s a great crop.
I would eat them first though, they tend to go pappy if kept.
Just having one chopped up on my granola.

I agree if we are talking of Egremont Russet - they are at their best straight off the tree and soon after - they tend to get soft and sweet by December (which I don't like) and sometimes go mealy too (nobody I know likes that).

For me they are best juiced before December. I don't like stewed fruit so I don't bottle anything, and the only dried fruit I enjoy are the ones that are preserved naturally by their own sugar content.

However there are some rarer russets with a sharp tang and crisp flesh (notably Ashmeads Kernel, Rosemary Russet) that keep very well right through to March - though they are so delicious through December and January that you'd need several trees to have any left by February.

They would keep longer still - but by March even the best keepers (I particularly recommend Sturmer Pippin) aren't so much of a joy to eat and at that point there are better apples in the shops - especially when they arrive from from New Zealand (our grandparents didn't have this option). I try to juice everything by March.

Cheers.

PS. be wary of buying any russet that looks too perfectly uniformly round - they could be 'Bertrand' from France - a russet version of Golden D------ (I can't bear to use that word for it) - absolutely disgusting pale brown bags of water.

[saddad]

I have an apple store in the outside brick shed.. but struggle to use it as OH keeps jam and pickles  in it. The Egremont like it, now I need to make space for the Blenheim Orange...

[saddad]

The Bleinheim's are ripe on the tree... not had that before, 

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What an apple year it is! I have an old tree, small yellow fruit that keep for months and months, ripens late October but will stay on till mid-November - it's absolutely heaving with fruit. And the Bramleys! So many apples that weigh a full pound each!
I don't suppose that will be reflected in shop prices, for anyone unfortunate enough not to have apple growing friends....

[Vinlander]

The Bleinheim's are ripe on the tree... not had that before, 

Make sure you try some straight off the tree - there is a lovely, if fleetingly subtle taste in the background - you might call it orange but I'd call it hazelnut - I suppose it is reminiscent of the savoury orange flavour you get from the peel in marmalade - but without the bitterness.

Once it's gone (more than a day after picking) their place in the garden loses it's validity - they become a middle-ranking apple; and I prefer to have first rate apples in my garden.

Anything of persistently middle rank gets demoted to the allotment, and any I tire of there may even get grafted over to something first-rate - and then I can afford to give some sound fruit away in evangelical zeal...

Cheers.

[woodypecks]

Yes  I too had a bumper harvest of Russets...and not bad from my other trees either . Thanks for the storage advice..I,m now looking for those trays to put them in . Doing lots of baking too !    Debbie 

[saddad]

Taking the Blenhiem into store is on my to-do list for this week.

[Russell]

My experience of storing Egremont Russet apples has been disappointing, but I have found that Brownlees Russet stores very well. I have a very big fridge set to 2 degree Celsius, which is optimum Bramley storage temperature, and I use the polythene bag method.
The two Russets compare very well, the fruits are indistinguishable by appearance flavour etc except for the matter of keeping. The Brownlees I like to eat in January, it brightens up a dull month, but they will keep longer, though from February onwards the flavour very slowly evaporates. I once saved some as a Spring Bank Holiday treat but by this time the flavour had completely gone although the apples were physically very sound so I will not be repeating that trial. The two apples are very different to grow, the Egremont over-crops and goes biennial if not ruthlessly thinned, whereas the Brownlees produces masses of very decorative blossom every year without fail and thins itself. The Egremont tree is a rather rumbustuous character in the garden, when it has a growing year it is very enthusiastic and can get out of hand unless ruthlesly pruned, but the Brownlees is much more compact and takes well to being grown as a cordon or dwarf pyramid.
Coming into production I have a Rosemary Russet, last year was its first small crop but I found its flavour less exciting than the Egremont or the Brownlees. Maybe the fruit flavour will improve as the tree settles in.

[Digeroo]

It is a very odd year for me.  James Grieve produced nothing, Discovery was about 10% of normal but everything else done really well. 
A have a new golden delicious only produced four apples but they are huge.