citric acid to stop apples browning... help please

kermitnz1, Feb 9, 3:13pm
Hi guys, I am wanting to cut up and bottle a couple of buckets of apples today. They are ones off our tree and brown very quickly when I'm peeling/cutting them. Someone suggested throwing them into a bucket of citric acid and water while I'm doing them to stop them going brown.

My question is, how much citric acid would I need to add to 1/2 a bucket of water please?

Thanks guys :-)
245sam, Feb 9, 3:24pm
kermitnz1, I'm sorry I can't help you re the citric acid but I'll tell you what I have found to be successful - although I haven't been doing apples by the bucketful! but the same principle should work though.

When I squeeze the juice from lemons or limes I freeze all the skins then when I'm peeling apples I take those frozen skins directly from the freezer to the cold water that I intend to put the apples into - this idea sure does keep the apples much whiter. It's a little while since I last had apples to peel and cook but last time I think I also had, on the bench, a spare lime or two (we have a tree that produces quite prolifically) so I squeezed the juice into the water then add those skins too.
Just another option but the citric acid idea is a good one if no lemons or limes or their skins are available - hope someone can help you re that soon. :-))
kermitnz1, Feb 9, 3:30pm
Thanks heaps 245sam. I will make sure I keep my skins from now on and bung them in the freezer! ! !

I actually have more than 2 buckets full of apples to do. I'm just bottling 2 buckets of them, the other 4 buckets I'm making into apple & mint jelly, apple syrup and apple sauce. I have already made our appel stroop yesterday. I will be glad to get them finished, although I do enjoy it.
margyr, Feb 9, 4:00pm
i think Mum used to use absorbic acid, she got it from the chemist. had to make sure they were rinsed really well after.
margyr, Feb 9, 4:06pm
Another method is to place the apples in water that has had lemon juice or cider vinegar added to make it acidulated. The squeezed lemon can also be cut into slices and added to help acidulate the water. Juice from other citrus fruit can also be used, such as oranges and grapefruit. Use approximately 1/4 cup lemon juice to 1 quart of cold water.
kermitnz1, Feb 9, 4:06pm
thanks margyr, all I have here is citric acid, and I know someone mentioned using it to stop browning in a thread a while ago, but they didn't say how much to use. Maybe I will just start experimenting :-)
margyr, Feb 9, 4:19pm
Mum just used to throw a handful in the bucket and add the water, stirred and then started peeling.
cookessentials, Feb 9, 4:37pm
has the mace arrived yet kermitnz1?
kermitnz1, Feb 9, 4:39pm
Hi Pam :-) I am off into town tomorrow, so I was going to pop in then, I am quiet looking forward to having a look in there. And I'm also looking forward to getting these plums out of the freezer and having a go at the sauce with the mace in it! ! ! Thank you.
cookessentials, Feb 9, 6:06pm
Yeah, I have a bag full of plums - perhaps I need to be getting them out and doing the same!
alebix, Feb 9, 6:59pm
Use a cheap bottle of lemonade to stop them browning.
valentino, Feb 9, 7:00pm
The method I use when doing a salad and the apples stay white is a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to a tablespoon of brown sugar mixed together then for every 2 very large apples and stirred quite well to coat all cut pieces.

They stay white in a fridge for a few days especially when combined with other salad ingredients of wild rice, creamy mayo and plain yoghurt mixture, celery and S&P.

Now in bottling, it could also work depending on your bottling recipe.
kermitnz1, Feb 9, 7:27pm
Thanks heaps guys, I will try out all the methods over the next few days, phewwww I'm tired of peeling apples already today lol. I have bottled some apricots this morning, and now I am bottling apples in plum juice, this afternoon I will make up the apple sauce, so no need to peel or core just chop it all up and take the yuck bits off as it goes through the sieve thank goodness.
annie.nz, Feb 9, 8:43pm
I've tried everything - keeping them submerged under lemon water, salted water, hot water, ice water, citric acid, sugar water - all pretty unsatisfactory, at least for some varieties of apple.

Apparently, as one of the posters has said above, ascorbic acid (which is Vitamin C) is good - and if you google, this appears to be the best solution. You can wash it off afterwards if you want, but it's not toxic and there is no maximum safe dose. The apples slices prepacked at the supermarket are coated with ascorbic acid, I'm pretty sure. You can use fizzy vitamin c pills at a pinch.

I'm going to try this next time.
fruitluva2, Feb 9, 11:33pm
A great tip of freezing skins too! Cheers
245sam, Feb 9, 11:54pm
annie.nz wrote:
I've tried everything - keeping them submerged under lemon water, salted water, hot water, ice water, citric acid, sugar water - all pretty unsatisfactory, at least for some varieties of apple.

My suggestion/advice refers to Granny Smith apples as that's the type I usually use for cooking now - we used to love Golden Delicious when there was an orchard just a few Km away and we could either PYO or buy them already picked - it was a great orchard where we were encouraged to try before we bought i. e. pick an apple and try it, then pick a bagful if we liked that variety or move and try another of their varieties - so long as we did actually pick and buy a bagful of apples and not try having a free apple feed of apples! ! Sadly all those lovely apple trees are gone and the whole area subdivided and built on.

:-))
annie.nz, Feb 10, 2:37am
Yeah, 245Sam, I agree - granny smiths are good. I was doing some old-fashioned cooking apples I'd scored. Brown mess. Basically I had to work fast and get them cooked.
mango5, Feb 10, 2:40am
Man I wish I had a lemon tree. So many things require the use of a lemon in some shape or form.
245sam, Feb 10, 2:43am
oops, obviously I didn't edit that post (#16) too well, if at all! !

The 2nd to last line should read... . .
"buy a bagful of apples and not try having a free feed of apples! ! "
:-))
tasmum, Aug 2, 10:17pm
I have trees full of apples also and found the best gadget for doing the job! it cores, peels and slices the apples. Worth it's weight in gold! My kids love using it and argue over who gets to use it next LOL.