Heat is the enemy of the Pink Lady® Brand Cripps Pink Variety apple. In fact, after it’s picked from the tree, it’s rushed into cold storage. Here the fruit is stored in bins in temperatures close to freezing before it heads to the selection area. Here it’s segregated by a computer-controlled system involving a number of quality based parameters.
In the second phase of this system, each apple is individually ‘marked’ with
the computer remembering it, as its weight is used to determine
its size. Once in its carton the Pink Lady® Brand Cripps Pink Variety apples
are returned to another cold storage facility.
The next stop is a refrigerated truck or rail car, again where the temperature level is closely watched for trips that can extend to several thousand miles.
Whether you favorite supermarket has refrigerated display
tables or not, the best thing you can do to maintain the quality
of your Pink Lady® Brand Cripps Pink Variety apples is to immediately store
them in your refrigerator. This fruit will do best when continually
stored at 33 degrees and this is the case even though this
brand is known to be a very firm apple with a long storage
shelf live.
Pink Lady® Brand Cripps Pink Variety apples are excellent eaten fresh but you should be prepared for a long-lasting burst of flavor. If you like apples that ‘bite back’ when you bite into them, you will be an instant fan of his apple. However, this isn’t a one-dimensional lady as it is also a great cooking apple.
Product Availability Information For Consumers
The Pink Lady® Brand Cripps Pink Variety as grown in the United States now has a somewhat limited season. The fruit is harvested in early to mid October in California and later (around the end of October into early November) in the Northwest.
Following harvest, the fruit often goes into storage for a ‘finishing period’ during which the sugar becomes more in balance. Therefore, in some seasons, the Pink Lady® Brand Cripps Pink Variety apples grown in California may not be available until around the mid-November with the fruit from the Northwest coming to the supermarket around a month later and lasting through May. As the production increases, an increasing use of controlled atmosphere storage has the potential of extending the season.
The outlook for the Pink Lady® Brand Cripps Pink Variety is very bright as based on the number of trees planted in recent seasons. Of course, Mother Nature has the final say.
