Hacker News Reader

Apples are a great at storage. Some can be extremely hardy if kept in a mostly dry and cold place. It was one reason they became so popular: you could keep them over winter in a root cellar.

This is how we get out-of-season apples. They basically get stored in refrigerated warehouses.

Granted not all apples are like this. Some become mealy pretty quickly.

For anyone reading who has an apple tree, quick correction: cold and humid.

My crop easily lasts for 3 months in my storage fridge (and I don't take the time to sort them to properly eliminate bruised fruit, etc), but the key is cold and humid, not cold and dry.

Ah, sorry, and I don't seem to be able to edit. I guess I always consider a fridge a dry place, but that's not really true the more I think about it.

When you buy an apple in the store, unless it is labeled as "new crop" it has already been in storage for up-to a year.

http://www.foodrenegade.com/your-apples-year-old/

You should read up on usda storage guidelines for them. Apples can be stored for almost a year.

IIRC (citation needed) Granny Smith are quite hardy due to the acidity.