Preserve Apples for Year Round Use 17 Easy and Creative Ways
Apple season is one of my favorite times of the year. Whether you have your own trees or enjoy the bounty of local orchards, you can preserve apples to enjoy year round.
I’ll share the easiest way to preserve apples, best storage apples, and lots of creative apple preserving ideas.
We have about a dozen young apple trees in our permaculture orchard, plus three old volunteer trees on the fence line. Sometimes the neighbors call with extra apples, other times we try out varieties at the local orchards.
What’s the best way to preserve apples?
My favorite way (and arguably the easiest way) to preserve apples is to keep them in a cooler in the garage.
Here in northeast Wisconsin, we put fresh apples in a cooler in the garage. We prop the lid open slightly to allow ventilation. These apples keep for several months with no other preparation.
If you have room in your crisper drawer, you can hold apples there for a long time, too.
In the root cellar, make sure to keep apples away from root vegetables. The apples emit ethylene gas that can cause sprouting.
For more on root cellar storage, see “Root Cellars 101“.
For Best Shelf Life
Apples store best at 32 – 40℉ (0 – 4.4℃), with a relative humidity of 90 percent and some air circulation.
As long as conditions are cool and not too dry, with some air flow, the right varieties will keep.
I loosely stack the apples in a bin or cooler, but if you like, you can individually wrap them in newspaper.
Which apples keep the best?
Some of the best apple varieties for storage include:
- Bancroft
- Ben Davis
- Black Oxford
- Brown Betty
- Cameo
- Chieftain
- Cortland
- Davey
- Douglas Wormless
- Egremont Russet
- Empire
- Enterprise
- Fuji
- George Webster
- Glover Goldie
- Golden Delicious
- Granny Smith
- Honeygold
- Idared
- Jonathan
- Kathryn’s Favorite
- Lodi
- McIntosh
- Melrose
- Milwaukee
- MN 1734
- Mutsu
- Northern Spy
- Patterson
- Priscilla
- Prairie-Spy
- Red Delicious
- Red Esther
- Redstone Canyon Gold
- Rome
- Secor
- Spartan
- Stayman
- Sweet McIntosh
- Turley
- White Winter Pearman
- Wilson Juicy
- Winesap
- Wodarz
This list is compiled from St. Lawrence Nursery, Purdue University, and Iowa State University. If your favorite isn’t on the list, go ahead and experiment and see how long it will keep.
Applesauce and Apple Butter
One of our favorite ways to preserve apples is applesauce. We eat our applesauce fresh, freeze it, turn it into popsicles, can it, and use it to make fruit leather.
When making applesauce, look for fruit with a softer texture. Some of our favorite apples for applesauce are:
- Golden Delicious
- McIntosh
- Yellow Transparent
- The wild apple tree on the fenceline
I love using my old Back to Basics Food strainer for making sauce. It’s been discontinued, but the Norpro Sauce Master is similar. If you have a KitchenAid mixer, they have a food strainer attachment.
For all the details on applesauce, see “Easy Homemade Applesauce – How to Make It, How to Use It“. (Canning instructions included.)
For a thicker, richer flavor, try making spiced apple butter. This apple butter recipe is our favorite.
Dehydrating Apples
The great thing about using dehydrating to preserve apples is that they takes up less space. Apples are up to 86% water, so when you dry them, they really shrink up!
To make dried apple chips, we peel, core and thinly slice the apples. (This combo slicer and peeler makes this go MUCH faster.)
In the article “Dehydrating Apples“, we cover tips to prevent browning, fun flavor ideas, and safe storage instructions.
I use my Excalibur dehydrator for big batches, and my Snackmaster for smaller batches.
I find home-dried slices to be much tastier than most store varieties. They have a much stronger “apple” taste, and the texture is light and crisp rather than resembling foam rubber.
They are also sulfite free, since we use lemon juice and other natural treatments to prevent browning.
It’s fine to dry trays of apple slices and trays of applesauce at the same time. Dried homemade applesauce makes the best fruit leather!
You can also mix applesauce with other fruit purees to make different flavors of homemade fruit leather.
Check out “How to Make Homemade Fruit Leather” and “Pumpkin Fruit Leather” for applesauce based recipes.
Freeze Drying
For those with a home freeze dryer, freeze drying apples also works well. Simply slice and prep apples as you would for dehydrating, and lay them in an even layer on your freeze dryer trays.
Would you like to save this?
Apples are less sweet than some other fruits, so they generally dry quite quickly. The texture of freeze dried apples varies. Some varieties come out light and crisp, other stay softer. We really liked the finished texture of River Belle apples. Some other varieties to try include Gala, Pink Lady, and Fuji.
Be sure to store your finished freeze dried apples in an airtight container, such as a mason jar or Mylar bag.
Canning Apples and Apple Pie Filling
Because they are high in acid, you can use a water bath canner or steam canner to preserve apples. My friend, Melissa, shares her apple pie filling recipe here, and my friend, Jill, shares how to can apple slices here.
You can also can apple juice by processing with 1/4 inch head space for 10 minutes for pints and quarts.
If you have small apples, you may can them whole. Check out these recipes for Spiced Crabapples and Honey Cinnamon Crabapples.
Preserve Apples in Jams, Jellies and Apple Preserves
Apple jelly is one of the simplest jellies to make. All you need is apple juice and sugar. If you prefer, you can use honey. The natural pectin in the apple provides the jelling.
See “How to Make Apple Jelly” for the recipe and canning instructions. Apple currant spread combines apples and currants, and autumnberry apple cider jam is fun for foragers.
Bonus recipe – if you have crabapple trees that don’t produce tasty fruit, try apple blossom jelly.
To mix things up, you can try maple apple jam or brandied cinnamon apple preserves. Both of these recipes use less sugar for more apple flavor.
Freezing Apples
What’s the best way to freeze apples? Peel the apples and cut them into slices. Dip the slices in lemon water for a few minutes. (Use about 1/2 cup lemon juice and 1 quart water.)
Drain the slices in a strainer, then arrange them in a single layer on a baking sheet. (I like to line the sheet with reusable parchment paper for easy cleaning.)
Freeze the apples for at least four hours, or overnight. Pack the frozen apples into a labeled and dated freezer bag. Use within one year.
To avoid ice crystal buildup, seal the frozen slices in a vacuum seal bag. If you want, you can prep apple pie filling and freeze it in gallon freeze bags.
Fermented Apples and Apple Salsa
You can also use fermentation to preserve apples, and take them from sweet to savory with salsa.
This 5 spice apple chutney makes a great topping for kefir, pancakes or waffles. Apple salsa combines the heat of jalapenos with sweat-tart apples. (Plus it’s safe for canning!)
Hard Apple Cider
If you have a cider press, you can preserve apple cider longer by turning it into hard cider.
Apple Cider Vinegar
When you’re processing apples, don’t toss all the cores and peels. You can use them to make homemade apple cider vinegar.
What else can I do with an over abundance of apples?
While you’re working to preserve apples for long term storage, you can also enjoy these easy apple recipes.
Fried Apples with Maple Cinnamon Glaze (No Refined Sugar)
Easy Apple Cake with Caramel Topping
5 Amazing Spiced Apple Cider Drink Recipes
I hope you find this post helpful when apple season brings a wonderful bounty of fruit. If you have a question or a favorite apple preservation recipe or tip you’d like to share, leave a comment below.
This article is written by Laurie Neverman. Laurie grew up in the kitchen, learning baking and home cooking from her momma. At age 15, she and her mom and two sisters created Irene’s Custom Cakes & Catering, which was her summer job through most of high school and college.
Originally published in 2009, last updated in 2024.