FreshPoint

Description:

The Gala apple is a cross between a “Golden Delicious” and “Kidd’s Orange Red” and developed in New Zealand in the 1930s. Overtaking the Red Delicious in popularity, the Gala apple is now the most popular apple grown today, and is readily available in most markets year-round.  The Gala apple is described as crisp and sweet. It is a sweet apple and a little less acidic, a little less dense–a perfect choice for galettes or even tarts.

The three major apple-growing regions in the U.S. are the States of Washington, New York, and Michigan.

Receiving and Storage

When storing and handling apples, avoid dropping the case as they’re very susceptible to bruising–they’re still edible, but the bruising limits their shelf life and the bruises can also taste a little bitter.

Keep apples dry and wash them right before you use them, you don’t want them sitting in your refrigerator or your cooler wet, that breaks them down quicker.

You also want to keep them away from strongly scented items such as onions. An apple will absorb that onion flavor, and nobody really wants an apple that tastes like an onion. You don’t want to keep them near ethylene, it’s not sensitive, but it will shorten the shelf-life and it can make the apples a little mealy.

Recommended Storage Temperature

The recommended optimum storage temperature for the Gala apple is 32° – 40°F. We recommend you store them in the front part of your cooler (near the door). The temperature fluctuates from the front to the back of the cooler due to the location of the cooling unit and frequency of the door being opened. Download our PDF for more cooler storage hints.

Check out what’s going on this week. For our latest market update, please see The FreshPress.

You can also click here to be notified when we post fresh new videos.