The produce you buy in the supermarket or grocery store is not fresh. With many items, like spinach, the leaves may have been plucked no more than a few weeks ago. But with many others, like apples, the fruit probably sat in cold storage for a year before making its way to the supermarket.
I thought this was common knowledge.
But in a recent Facebook discussion in which many readers chimed in with incredulous statements like, “A year old? No way!” I realized I was wrong. This information is not common knowledge.
But it should be.
Here in the U.S. apples generally ripen between August and September. They pick the apples when they’re slightly unripe, treat them with a chemical called 1-methylcyclopropene, wax them, box them, stack them on pallets, and keep them in cold storage warehouses for an average of 9-12 months.
I guess we should be grateful. It used to be that rather than being sprayed with 1-methylcyclopropene (also known as 1-MCP), cold storage apples were sprayed with fungicide.
From the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, we learn this:
Apples not intended for fresh market are stored at low temperatures, with low levels of oxygen and high levels of carbon dioxide. While this slows the apples’ natural production of ethylene and its effects, fungicides must often be applied to prevent fungal rots from taking hold. But since its commercial debut in 2002 under the name “SmartFresh,” 1-MCP has in some cases diminished the need for such treatment.
(source)
After learning that apples that have sat in cold storage for 12 months are commonly called “birthday apples” within the industry, one Australian investigative news organization decided to do a test to see just how old the apples on their grocery store shelves really were. They collected samples from major Australian supermarkets and sent them to the Sydney Postharvest Laboratory for testing.
The results?
Analysis showed the Woolworths samples were about 10 months old while the Norton Street and Coles products had spent 9 months in storage since being harvested.
(source)
So, how do you get the most nutrients from your apples?
Buy fresh. Don’t assume you’ll get apples year round. Buy in season. Buy from a local farmer when possible. Once you buy your apples, store them on your counter top rather than the fridge.
Quickly eat or remove bruised apples as the old saying is most certainly true, “one bad apple spoils the bunch.”
Don’t assume that buying organic apples will automatically mean you’re buying fresh apples either. Although SmartFresh (1-MCP) is not currently approved for use on organic apples, organic growers still use approved non-synthetic fungicides and controlled atmosphere cold storage to achieve a similar effect. (source)
This is disturbing! When you buy an apple you think you’re getting it relatively fresh not a freaking year old! This is crazy!!!
