Yes, the way I dealt with the frozen apples is to use crates to store the apples. It keeps the apples away from the walls. Don't know why your Grannys are mushy, but then again, mine were picked fully ripe in January, that might be the difference. Do far, the only apples that last a real long time have been zestar, rubinette, pink lady and granny smith, the Grannys appear to benefit from later harvest, but it's the opposite for pink ladys. If I pick my pink ladys earlier right when they are generating the first bit of pink flush they last 50% longer. I remember two years ago harvesting pink lady in mid November and eating perfect pink lady apples the following May. One additional problem has been the fact they many apples absorb odors. Some do not, pink lady, zestar and rubinette seem to have very well sealed skin.

Now I am very glad to be wrong on this topic - it's very good news to hear that breeders are actually focusing on taste. Jonagold is quite delicious. I read "The Fruit Hunters" and the author interviewed the Zeigers of Zeiger genetics. They admitted that most of the focus of their stone fruits has been on shippability, but they claim to now have changed their focus, and they are trying to improve on taste - the goal is to have a peach that tastes as good as the old heirlooms, but also ships well and stays good for weeks at a time. Yes, I am not sure I would even know how to grow apples on the East coast. I feel very fortunate to live in the Santa Cruz mountains, we have about the best climate one could ever ask for when it comes to apples. They are so tasty in my orchard, that is what got me so enthusiastic about apples. I spent years trying to grow all sorts of things from subtropicals like macademias to citrus and stone fruits. None rival the perfection of the apples in my orchard. We even get outstanding Summer apples because our Summers here (upper 60's to mid 70's daytime, mid 40's to low 50's night time in the middle of July and August) are equivalent to East Coast Fall weather. Our first apple to ripen is Anna around late May, and the last apple to ripen is Williams Pride in late January. Feb through April is covered primarily by storage apples. But we do get seasonal fluctuations here too that shift which apples end up tasting good. We get a period of hot Fall weather that - if it shows up too early tends to ruin the early Fall apples which seem not to like much heat. If the heat doesn't show up until October, then we get nearly perfect apples on all the varieties. Last Fall the Cox orange pippin harvest was ruined because the hot weather showed up at the end of August. They went mealy very quickly.

I think the seeds in your apples will be fine for planting--as long as the apples haven't rotted. Several years ago I grew some from seed for fun, and got quite a few seedlings. I took the seeds out of the apple in mid to late fall, rinsed them off and let dry in a dish for a few days, then planted shallowly in a pot--it was probably some time in November. The pot was placed under the drip line of the roof of the shop on the north side and semi-buried with leaves and some leaves laid on top of the pot. In late April/early May the next spring, I had seedlings filling the pot, pushing up through the layer of leaves. I transplanted them to a row in the garden as soon as I could, then when they got 3' or so high, moved them to spread them out permanently. None of them have bloomed for me yet, but they have had a lot of challenges, mainly drouth, deer, and grasshoppers and I just feel lucky that they are surviving at this point. I placed them under the drip line of the roof because we get very little moisture and I didn't want to have to remember to keep the soil in the pot moist. If you live in a wet climate, just put it outside where it will get some snow or rain over the winter to keep the soil moist.

I find, in general all apples loose flavor over time, have tested several cultivars we grow but Norkent was the only apple still crisp in April, all others were soft by Christmas. Collet was also soft my Christmas but still remained good flavor. From now on I only store these two. Flavor, firmness, crispness, appearance, depend allot by how they're stored, for some reason I hit the check pot this winter. The apples in plastic bag, [picture] held up the best, they were stored in 3 fridges, mine, mother in law and brother in law who stayed oversee for a couple of month, fridge hardly ever opened. The apples in my fridge ended up the worst, apples were all in same bags. Next year I want to test some in vacuum bags and root cellar,..if finished? I just send a letter to the head guy from our fruit growing group to see if members can show pictures and report which one's are holding up best over a long period.