Storage

After apples are picked, they last only a short while, and when you buy them from the store, they only last a week in the fruit bowl. Because of this, in the early days apples had to be shipped soon after packing to keep them in good condition for the consumer. Apples were sometimes piled and covered with dirt for winter storage. In the first decade of the 1900s, apples were stored in potato cellars. But neither of these methods guaranteed freshness. In the 1920s cold storage was introduced, giving the growers more flexibility in marketing. Yet some apples continued to spoil before they found a market.

In the 1950s, Wenatchee native Archie Van Doren introduced Controlled Atmosphere (CA) storage to the Washington apple industry. The Apple Industry had found out that by storing the apples in a reduced oxygen atmosphere, that respiration slows down. They do this by storing them in special controlled atmosphere storage areas where they increase the level of nitrogen. Ripening apples give off carbon dioxide (CO2). Researchers figured out that increasing the amount of carbon dioxide around the fruit, it produces a back pressure and reduces the rate of respiration. CA storage is a non-chemical process in which temperature, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and humidity levels are carefully controlled. Temperature is kept between 32 and 36 degrees Fahrenheit, humidity is held at 95%, and oxygen is replaced with nitrogen and carbon dioxide. By changing the atmosphere around the apples, the ripening process is slowed, and apples can be stored up to a year with little or no loss of quality.

The first commercial quantity of Red Delicious was stored in a mylar tent in a Yakima area warehouse. Now Washington has the largest capacity of CA storage of any growing region in the world. Today in Eastern Washington 66% of all storage is Controlled Atmosphere storage.