A rich harvest of apples will delight any gardener. But at the same time, with joy, the question arises: how can all this wealth be kept fresh until spring? Which varieties are best stored, how to determine their degree of ripeness, what methods of laying apples exist - read about all this in our article.
Every gardener knows that growing a crop is only half the battle; you also need to be able to preserve it. Experienced gardeners the wisdom of “apple longevity” has been mastered for a long time, they have been experimentally developed to the maximum effective ways storing apples to preserve their benefits, aroma and freshness.
Choosing the right varieties, harvesting according to all the rules, correct sorting, stacking, optimal temperature and humidity are the main components of long-term storage.
Choosing the right varieties
Whether apples will be stored for a long time without deteriorating in taste depends on their variety. Varieties have such a concept as keeping quality, that is, the ability to retain nutritional and nutritional properties for a certain, fairly long time.
Late (winter) varieties of apples, which are harvested starting in mid-October, are characterized by excellent keeping quality. Today the most famous and popular are the following winter varieties:
- Aurora- a variety resistant to low temperatures and fungal diseases. The fruits are large, o round shape with a diffuse, wide blush, they are distinguished by their pronounced aroma and juiciness. Harvesting begins in early October. This variety keeps well until spring, even in the refrigerator.
- Jonathan- one of the most famous winter varieties. The fruits are small, have a pleasant aroma and a wine-sweet taste, subject to optimal conditions storage does not lose nutritional quality until mid-May.
- Golden Delicious — American variety, the fruits are medium-sized, golden in color, juicy, valued for their excellent taste and aroma. Apples of this variety ripen by the end of September and are stored well until mid-April.
- Calville snowy- Ukrainian variety of folk selection. The fruits are medium-sized, greenish-white. It stores well in the basement, without losing its taste and aroma until mid-April.
- Renet Simirenko- most common late variety Russian selection. The fruits are large, round in shape, have a pronounced aroma and sweet and sour taste. Apples of this variety are favorable conditions can be stored until summer.
- King David- American late variety, characterized by high yield. The medium-sized fruits have a flat-round shape, a dark red blush covers almost their entire surface. This apple variety has a spicy aroma, juiciness and excellent taste.
It is very difficult to describe all the variety of varieties in one article. You can find out more information by consulting with specialists involved in growing apples in your region.
How to properly harvest
You should carefully prepare for picking apples: select tools, clean containers and storage, plan the order of work. IN in this case It is very important to determine whether the apples are ripe - under-ripe and over-ripe ones will not lie.
Defining maturity
You can determine when it’s time to remove apples from the branch visually, by looking at the carrion. If among the fallen fruits tasty large apples with characteristic varietal characteristics, which means the rest are ready for collection.
Ideal maturity can also be determined by the following criteria:
- press on the apple, if the dent disappears, the harvest is not yet ripe;
- if the peel bursts when pressed, the apples are considered overripe and are not suitable for storage;
- Ideal full maturity is indicated by non-leveling, sagging skin.
Maturity can be determined “scientifically”, in a special way chemically. To do this, dissolve 4 grams of potassium iodide and 1 gram of iodine in a liter of distilled water. The apple is cut in half and dipped into the solution. Maturity in this case is defined as follows:
- if after two minutes the edges and middle of the apple turn blue, it means there is a lot of starch in it, which indicates immaturity;
- if blue is observed at the edges and yellow towards the middle, the maturity is ideal;
- presence only yellow color- The apple is overripe.
Experienced gardeners believe that it is better for the apples to be unripe than to be overripe and begin to rot.
Correctly picking apples from trees
To harvest winter apples, choose a warm, clear, dry day. It is better to do this in the afternoon, when the air is warm enough and the fruits are perfectly dry.
The fruits are picked very carefully so as not to damage them. Take the apple with all fingers, pressing the stalk with the index finger where it is attached to fruit branch, and slightly lift the fruit up. Do not unscrew, break off or pull the apple down. In fruits intended for long-term storage, it is under no circumstances necessary to tear off the stem; this significantly reduces the keeping quality of the crop.
When harvesting winter apples, you should not wipe off the matte film, the so-called natural waxy coating, from them. Picked apples should not be thrown away; they must be carefully placed in a container prepared in advance.
Sorting apples
Immediately after harvesting, it should be kept in a cool room for 15-20 days, after which it should be sorted - during this time all signs of possible defects will appear. After this, it is necessary to sort through the apples, selecting for storage fruits with stalks without wormholes or mechanical damage.
It is recommended to store apples of different varieties in different containers; they should also be sorted by size - small, medium and large. After this, the crop is stored for storage using one or more of the methods listed below.
Storing apples
It is better to allocate a separate pantry or cellar for apples. The fact is that these fruits emit a lot of ethylene during storage - a gas that promotes the rapid ripening of other vegetables. An increased ethylene content in the cellar causes root vegetables (potatoes, carrots, beets, celery) to sprout rapidly and spoil faster. Therefore, it is strictly not recommended to store apples together with these vegetables.
Before planting apples, the room should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. The walls are whitened with a solution of freshly slaked lime and copper sulfate in proportion: 10 liters of water, 150 g of vitriol, 1.5 kg of lime. The floors are sprayed with a solution of iron sulfate (450-500 g) per 10 liters of water.
Late apples, depending on the variety and temperature and humidity indicators, can retain their nutritional value for 4-7 months. Ideal storage conditions in this case are considered to be: air temperature from 0 to +3...4 degrees, relative humidity at 85-90%. If the humidity is lower, the apples will wilt quickly.
For winter storage Any container is suitable, the main requirements for which are cleanliness and strength. These can be wicker baskets, wooden, cardboard or plastic boxes which should be thoroughly cleaned before use.
You can store apples in winter in various ways.
Easy installation
The apples are laid with the stalks up in one, two or three layers, without shifting anything. You can stack a lot of apples in this way, but this method is considered the most “short-lived”; the stacks should be checked regularly to prevent possible areas of rotting from spreading.
Wrapping in paper
Each individual apple is wrapped in paper napkins or plain white paper and placed in a prepared container with the stems facing up. If all the fruits are healthy, then apples can be stored in this way for quite a long time.
Interlayering (overspilling)
Most the best way winter storage. The best material in this case there will be well washed and dried sand with the addition of ash in a ratio of 1:10. Sand and ash are poured onto the bottom of the prepared container in a layer of 3-4 centimeters, then the apples are laid out so that they do not touch each other. Cover it with sand again. This way you can lay 3-4 layers.
Instead of sand and ash, you can use other materials: sawdust, leaves or shavings of trees (not conifers), onion peels, sunflower husks, peat or moss.
Storage in the ground
If on personal plot There is no cellar; the apple harvest can be stored in the ground. To do this, dig a trench 50-60 cm deep and 30-40 cm wide in advance. The bottom of the trench is covered with coniferous spruce branches or juniper branches - this will protect the planting from rodents. Apples are packed in plastic bags of 4-5 kg each and placed on the bottom, then covered with earth on top. To protect against severe frosts, you can sprinkle dry leaves on top.
Treatment with carbon dioxide or ultraviolet light
The apple harvest is perfectly stored in the cellar in plastic bags, into which water is pumped through a small hole using a siphon to carbonate carbon dioxide. The hole is then quickly sealed.
Some summer residents treat apples laid in one layer with a bactericidal ultraviolet lamp within 30-40 minutes. The lamp is hung at a distance of 1.5 meters, the apples are turned over once for uniform processing. This method allows you to destroy most harmful fungi and bacteria that cause the development of rot.
By storing your apple harvest, you can enjoy the fragrant apples all winter long. healthy fruit and be sure that your body will not be harmed by the chemicals that are often present in fruits sold in supermarkets in winter.
Today there is high competition in the apple trade. In chain stores on the shelves, most of the fruits are imported, and only a small amount of– domestic. Small neighborhood stores or market stalls also do not have an abundance of variety of domestic apples, and even if they are present in the assortment, they cannot boast of their quality.
How to increase apple sales and attract consumers so that they can buy apples from you and not somewhere else. If you read the previously written article about, you will notice the main difference between an imported apple and a domestic one – the appearance.
An imported apple always has a neat appearance: round, shiny, and has no damage to the skin. Apple from domestic manufacturer It rarely looks as impressive, but in terms of taste it has no competitors. This means we can conclude: in order to increase competition, increase the demand for apples from local producers, as well as increase the sale of apples in general, it is necessary to improve the quality of appearance.
How to do this?
Let's think about what could affect appearance apples and ruin the beauty?
Apple diseases
· Pests.
· Mechanical damage
· Apple “caliber” – the size of the apple in diameter.
We have already talked about how to deal with various diseases and pests in our articles; you can find out more about how to deal with various diseases and pests using the links below. Of course, you want to reduce mechanical damage to apples even at the stage of fruit growth, but most of these damages are not so noticeable, and they can only be identified during harvesting.
It would seem that how the size of the fruit can influence the competitive offer, but the apple was born that way, nothing can be fixed. But no. When calibrating, the apples are one to one; there is no such thing as apples of sizes 55 mm and 75 mm in diameter lying next to each other. In addition, you can introduce several “calibers” and thereby increase the demand for the purchase of apples.
Sizing and sorting apples
Sizing apples allows you to get fruits of the same size, but sorting allows you to separate damaged apples from whole ones. This allows us to increase the competitive supply of apples on the market. Let's talk in more detail about each of the processes.
The very first calibration that a manufacturer faces is manual calibration when placing apples in containers. Most often this is a small board with holes different diameters, it is installed next to the container, and apples begin to be laid out. The apples are placed individually, having first checked the “caliber” through the board.
The method is not bad, because visual quality sorting also takes place simultaneously with calibration, but it is not intended for large volumes due to a number of disadvantages:
· Long process. Each apple must be passed through a hole in the board.
· Tedious process. A person cannot concentrate for a long time on a monotonous action and examine every apple. After some time, errors may occur.
Therefore, special installations soon appeared that make it possible to speed up the calibration process literally several times.
The simplest setup would be a small table with a rotating central element. Apples are fed through a transfer belt onto a rotating element made in the form of a cone small height, then roll down to the base of the element, but rest with the upper edge against the “gate”, which is installed at the required height and corresponds to the caliber of an apple. It turns out that large apples cannot fit into the small “gates”, and pass them further until they match the size of the next ones.
This calibration process is much faster than a manual one, it allows you to calibrate large volumes of apples, but requires manual sorting by apple quality.
Progress does not stand still, and today there are automatic lines that allow you to simultaneously calibrate and sort apples according to given parameters. At the same time, they require minimal human intervention in the process.
The lines are assembled from several components, which may differ in their functionality, but the principle remains the same.
· Feeding apples to the line
Mechanical feeding: This is when the apples are transported in a container, and then they are transported further along the transport line.
Water channel system: in this case, the apples are immersed in a special receiving pool, where the initial washing takes place, and then they enter the next block.
Each of these systems can have either manual or automatic loading.
· Sorting and calibration unit
Modern methods make it possible to calibrate and sort apples according to many parameters: weight, apple color, damage, sweetness. In the case of sorting for sweetness, samples for sugar are taken from apples.
That is, at the output of this line we immediately get a calibrated and sorted apple, actually one to one. The computer that is responsible for sorting is very accurate and rarely makes mistakes, so the person working on the line can only put the apples into containers.
In the case of feeding apples through water channels, in front of the sorting block there is a drying block, where the apples are dried so that dust does not stick to the wet apple, and there are no large errors when weighing the fruits.
· Packaging of apples at the exit
This block can also have different design variations. Most often this is a long table with receiving trays. In this case, only the specified apple is supplied to each tray. For example, only red 80-caliber apples are served on the first table, a red 65-caliber apple is served on the second table, and a slightly damaged apple of any color and 70-caliber is served on the third table.
Near each tray where apples are supplied, there is a worker who puts the received apples into containers.
This line also has disadvantages: a very high purchase price and Maintenance, and the large occupied area of the sorting complex.
Let's sum it up
In order to improve the competitive offer on the market and increase sales of apples, the farm needs to organize any of the listed methods of sorting and sizing apples.
You can choose any of the proposed solutions, but you must remember the main disadvantages of each method.
About a year ago, the Agropak company, specializing in the supply of equipment and materials for pre-sale preparation and packaging of vegetables, included a new aspect in its scope of activity - equipment for sorting apples. FruitNews journalists talked about the emergence of a new direction with Roman Kalinichenko, equipment sales specialist at Agropak.
- Please tell us what influenced the decision to expand the scope of the company’s activities?
The first thing that played a role was the growth of the apple industry compared to vegetables and fruits. Gardening is on the rise and will continue for quite some time. Any business-oriented company sees that this niche will have good prospects in the future. The company has experience working with foreign suppliers, has engineering, and it was decided to use these resources to develop a new direction, which in the future should provide financial benefits. We decided to “pump up” this area, develop it and deepen it.
How did you choose a partner to supply equipment in this segment? How did you decide which company to bring to the Russian market?
There are not many companies on the market that could develop this area in professional level. We chose a fairly large company that, firstly, could provide such a territory, cover such a market without serious delays in production. Because the market is quite large, there are many requests, and a small factory cannot cope. Secondly, in terms of equipment reliability. The Greefa equipment we chose is precisely industrial equipment; it has great accuracy and can operate 24/7, as it is designed for long-term, reliable operation.
- As a result, do you offer only Greefa lines to apple producers?
We supply full line- from and to. From sorting to packaging solutions. At the same time, individual solutions from various suppliers are integrated into this line. The packaging complex usually includes equipment for packaging in polyethylene or mesh from the companies Ulma or Gillenkirch, and weighing dispensers from Newtec. By the way, Greefa itself makes the simplest packers in plastic bags under the tape. But when more is required difficult option with a more beautiful sealed bag and accurate weight, Newtec and Gillenkirch equipment is used.
- Have you conducted research on what packaging for apples is most in demand in our market?
I think that our apple market has not yet formed, so it is difficult to say what packaging will be in demand. Nowadays, many apples lie scattered on the supermarket shelf and people pick them up in a bag and weigh them themselves. But if you look at Poland, at Europe, they use packaging in breathable polyethylene or polypropylene. This packaging looks better on shelves and is more attractive than mesh. Polypropylene bags are more shiny, more vibrant. Such packaging may be the future. But it’s difficult to say now, since the market is still emerging.
- Returning to Greefa equipment. What sorting solutions can this equipment offer?
There are several options here. Direct sorting, when a mix of fruit enters the line, is immediately divided into various categories and packed into retail packaging, i.e. in a cardboard box. There may be preliminary sorting - presorting, this is relevant for large volumes, when the product comes in, is sorted, first packed into special containers - bins and then stored in them for some time. Then the calibrated product is fed to the sorting line for final sorting and packaging. This allows you to achieve more high performance and increase the packing speed by one and a half to two times. Since if an uncalibrated product enters the line, then after sorting it is unevenly distributed among the packaging tables and some people are forced to work faster, while others are forced to work slower. And when a pre-calibrated product is used, it is possible to pack exactly what is needed for the specific request of a specific customer in a short time with great speed. Packaging lines also include various systems palletizing, supplying substrates. There are many different types packaging.
What about the functions of the sorting system itself? What does it allow you to sort and which of these functions are again in demand in Russia?
The sorting system has quite a lot of functions. The line allows you to sort fruits by diameter, weight, and color. In addition, there is also sorting by external defects and even by internal defects or sugar content. The most popular among us is sorting by diameter or weight. It's the cheapest. Next comes sorting by color. It is becoming more and more relevant every day, because the demands and requirements of supermarkets are becoming more and more stringent.
The next stage is sorting by quality. This is an even more advanced system. It may also become relevant after some time - especially after long storage, when the apple has some defects. It is also important for those gardens where there is no net to protect the fruits from hail. After all, where there was hail, the harvest was partially destroyed and this apple needs to be sorted somehow. Sort it manually? This is colossal work and a huge human resource. And if you have a line, you can enable quality sorting at a speed of more than 10 tons per hour. And she will sort your apple into a good one and a second-grade apple.
Equipment that allows you to distinguish an apple “by taste” by its sugar content measures the change in the spectrum of the light flux passing through the apple. Thus, an apple can be divided into sweet, less sweet, and so on.
But the most popular ones are still sorted by size and weight. Sorting by weight is more accurate, since it allows you to determine the weight with an accuracy of one gram, and if you cut a layer one millimeter thick from the surface of an apple, you will get approximately 15-16 grams. Accordingly, if the apple is homogeneous, then sorting by weight works much more accurately.
Each apple passes through the weighing head, and the machine knows the exact weight and then associates the weight with the diameter. True, if apples of different varieties and from different orchards are mixed into one container, then sorting by weight will not be accurate. And if it comes from the same variety, from the same garden, then the accuracy is higher. The program creates a matrix. For example, we point out that a weight of 30-40 grams is associated with a diameter of up to 65 mm. Next 40-50 grams - 65-70 mm. Up to 200 such programs can be created for different gardens and varieties, as well as for various customer requirements. The program actually sorts by weight, but for the client it gives the result of sorting by diameter. These are the nuances.
- Do you think our market will eventually come to the point of determining internal defects and sugar content?
I think that this will be relevant, but the manufacturer must be quite large, because this is expensive equipment. To pay for the sorting system based on sugar content and defects, the company must pack about 100 tons per day. A small manufacturer will not be physically able to install such a line, because it is expensive. While on a large volume such a line will pay for itself. Accordingly, if there is a tendency towards consolidation and dominance of large manufacturers, then such equipment will enter the market together with them.
Already, many manufacturers are asking questions about the possibilities of sorting by defects. I believe that this direction has development potential. The big advantage is that our lines allow you to start with simple sorting by color, and only then add sorting by defects. The case remains the same, and you can first add only sorting by diameter, then add sorting by color, and then you can add sorting by defects. In the same building. You will just need to change the program and replace cameras based on the same module. Our equipment allows this.
The next direction that the company is considering as a prospect for business expansion is deep processing of potatoes.
The role of processing in the development of the Russian fruit and vegetable market will be discussed by participants Conference “Fresh vegetables and fruits category: search for growth trajectory”, which will be held on September 12 in Moscow as part of the Word Food 2017 exhibition, and FruitTech exposition will help exhibition visitors navigate the variety of equipment, materials and technologies for the production and processing of fruits and vegetables.
Mechanical sorting of apples
Competition between producers of fruit products increases the requirements for their quality. Therefore, farms must take care not only of choosing the optimal varieties and planting new orchards with them, but also of preserving and pre-sale preparation of dessert fruits, for which earnings are the highest. The latter is especially true for large
producers of fruit products - they must quickly and on time deliver goods online.
Preparing fruits for sale involves sorting them by size and color, washing and packaging. Complete process is quite labor-intensive, and modern gardening strives to mechanize it as much as possible. The equipment needed for this is produced in countries with developed horticulture - the Netherlands, Italy, Greece, Spain and Poland. Below is a market overview.
Unloaders
Sorting begins with the supply of fruit to the workshop. The container filled with fruit is turned out onto a conveyor line or into a special container filled with water.
receiving container.
To carry out this operation, you will need an unloader. The Dutch company Perfect, known to gardeners for its sprayers and mowers, produces everters and (dry sorters) and unloaders of fruits into water. SK everters are designed for dry sorting lines. It is compact (photo 1) and comes standard with a soft flap for the container and a photocell that helps manage unloading. It is possible to additionally equip the unit with a brush that rotates or is fixed. The lifting height of the container is set manually. The SK model is manufactured with manual, automatic and semi-automatic control.
Operating principle of the SK turner: a container covered with clamps and closed with a flap is turned over 135 ° (almost bottom-up) using hydraulic mechanisms, raised to a given height and moved so that when
move the damper a little, apples could fall on the unloading surface (beginning of the conveyor line). As the fruits pour out, the damper is pushed back further, and the container is raised higher (it moves on inclined guides), to full
unloading The accuracy of the unit's movement is controlled by photo sensors.
The DK model everters are more productive, in particular, the photo sensor controls not only the accuracy, but also the unloading speed. In other respects, the operating principle of the machine is similar to the SK model.
The unloader model FS2 is water type. Such machines are an essential component of modern sorting lines. Its main structural part is the receiving hopper - during operation it is filled with water. All structural elements The machines are made of stainless steel.
The sequence of operations is as follows: a container with fruit is placed on an unloader, which lowers the container into the water, where apples float up from it. They flow by gravity to the transfer points onto the conveyor. Model FS2 delivers fruits gently and carefully - water transport (photo 2) eliminates any damage.
Sorting
Further processing of fruits is carried out using sorting machines - mechanical and optical. The Dutch company Perfect produces sorting machines of all types.
The mechanical sorting machine CGM-5-4 (photo 4) is designed for sorting the harvest of cherries, cherries and plums; it distributes the fruits by size.
Fruits for sorting by
are given on a special platform, from which they fall onto a conveyor belt measuring 3 x 0.75 m. It presents the fruits on five pairs of conical shafts (the diameter of the shaft decreases with length). The shaft axes are parallel. The width of the gap (slot) between the conical shafts is not the same, this helps to distribute the fruits that fall into these cracks by size. The fruits, separated by caliber, go to four different unloading conveyors, from where they reach the packaging tables.
As standard, the machine is designed for sorting fruits with a diameter of 22-30 mm (with caliber graduation every 2 mm). Machine productivity - 0.4 t/h.
The machine can be equipped with a distribution system for slightly larger fruits.
The machine model MGS 250 is also mechanical and sorts fruits by weight, mainly we're talking about O hard fruits(apple, pear). This sorting machine has a cup conveyor (photo 5).
Whether the cup “throws away” the fruit is influenced by its weight. The length of the conveyor is divided into weight sections (sections 70 cm long).
At each segment, the cup unloading mechanism is triggered by a predetermined weight. Such sorting machines are made of 2-4 conveyor lines. Each line of the sorting machine distributes fruit with an intensity of 0.75 t/h.
The operation of the Uni-Cup model sorting machine is controlled by a built-in computer - for this it receives information from optical sensors (cameras). As standard, the machine sorts fruits by diameter. Conveyor lines are equipped with cups that are similar in design to weight sorting cups. However, such a cup does not work by weight, but by dimensions, which are read using cameras (photo 1). The machine is equipped with 2-8 sorting conveyors, each of which is capable of distributing fruits at a speed of up to 1.2 t/h. The lines can be equipped with photo sensors that react to the color of fruits or their defects.
One of the simplest sorting machines has been produced by the Dutch company Creefa for a long time - this is a mechanical unit A3/UP, designed for hard fruits (photo 8).
The principle of operation of the machine: after loading the fruits onto the receiving conveyor, they fall onto a round sorting table with a convex cone-shaped surface, it rotates and distributes the fruits by size. Performance
sorting - 0.45-1.2 t/hour. The machine is compact in size and easy to install. The unit is recommended for small farms specializing in growing apples.
The compact Mini CC machine (photo 9) is designed for sorting fruits weighing 30-450 g with a diameter of 40-100 mm using an electronic weighing device. The machine has six outputs for sorted products; it can be used both in small farms and in large-scale production.
The CombiSort machine (Photo 10) is designed for sorting apples, pears, peaches, apricots, plums, it works with fruits with a diameter of 40-120 mm and a weight of 20-500 g. This is a modern unit that distributes fruits based on data about their scanning (candling) - sorts by size (diameter), color, external and internal defects. Conveyor lines with cups - they unload fruits from the surface or other specified properties. Each machine has up to 10 sorting (conveyor) lines. Such a unit requires a special room; it is 70 m long and is mounted permanently. Recommended for powerful horticultural and vegetable farms and for fruit storage enterprises.
The Easy Sort machine (photo 11) is designed for high-speed sorting of round fruits and works in a similar way
CombiSort. These and other complex units that Greefa produces are controlled using a built-in computer.
The Greek company Olimpias specializes in machines for sorting and packaging fruits. In particular, they produce machines for sorting cherry fruits - Force Cherry (photo 12). The unit distributes fruits using highly sensitive optical sensors (cameras) not only by size, but also by color. The capacity of the sorting line is 0.5 t/h. The sorted fruits are removed from the machine by a stream of compressed air.
PERIPHERY
Peripheral equipment - unloading devices, storage bins, etc. are elected in connection with sorting machines.
