You don't have to store them in straight juice. At a place where I used to work, and we did fruit platters which needed to be prepped ahead of time, I would cut up the apples and drop them into a large bucket which had the juice of one lemon in it. They kept fine. So I think you'd get away with a large bowl and the juice of half a lemon.

The good news is I don’t have to peel the apples. The recipe uses Granny Smith’s and the light green peel adds to the dish.

@colleenoz was there just lemon juice juice in the bucket or was it lemon juice and water? Would the juice of 1/2 a lemon be sufficient for 4 cups of chopped apples?

@foodonastump unfortunately, we buy low acid OJ! Wonder if I could add a skoosh of apple-cider vinegar to the OJ to raise the acidity? Truly, there is no room in my friend’s kitchen. She has a large kitchen but every surface will be in use when I get there.

Is the oxidation of the apples retarded by keeping them cold or is it simply a function of being exposed to air? Would it help if I put them in a ziplock and squeezed out most of the air? Wonder how it would work if I put them in a FoodSaver bag and squeezed out as much air as possible? I’m getting visions of smushed apples!

So, here are my tests for today:

-Apples tossed with the tiniest bit of lemon juice

-Apples tossed with OJ (low acid)

-Apples tossed with OJ acidified with apple cider vinegar

-Apples tossed with poppyseed dressing

-Some of each of the above in a ziplock with the air squeezed out

Toss them with your dressing, they will be fine.

More ideas here if you want to grow your experiment. Supports Colleens post that the lemon juice can be pretty diluted.

https://www.epicurious.com/expert-advice/how-to-keep-apples-from-turning-brown-article

I've needed to do the same thing with apples. After I cut them, I put them in a bowl of 7UP. Didn't brown at all! Good luck!

FOAS, thanks for the link to the article! It leads me to believe that the Food Saver might be a good idea. P.S. I love Epicurious!

@Jean L, did keeping them in a bowl of 7Up change the texture? I’d be afraid of them getting “water-logged.”

The experiments have begun, but are currently limited in scope. I have one slice with dressing on it and one slice with apple cider vinegar on it. I’m timing them. If I can hold them 2 hours with the dressing, I’m going to stop there. I’ll lightly dress the apples and put them in a ziplock with the air squeezed out. Depending on what’s happening at the moment, I may do water-displacement to get more air out.

Let us know! By the way, I like the sound of your salad. I didn’t used to like a fruit/veggie mix but now I do. Some dried cranberries might be nice, too.

After one hour, the slice with the dressing on it is totally unchanged. The slice with the vinegar is beginning to darken, not much but just a tad.

Good testing. I admire your empirical approach.

After 2.5 hours (because at 2 hours, I was in the middle of making an amaretto cheesecake with a crust that I put too much butter in). The plain one by itself is a new slice from the apple to provide a standard. The one with the poppyseeds on it was tossed in poppyseed dressing; the brown one had apple cider vinegar flooded over it. All have been sitting on the counter uncovered, although I intend to store them in the fridge. Looks like the one in the poppyseed dressing is a winner. I do not see any reason to test further.

FOAS, I’ll post the salad recipe for you in a minute. The dried cranberries do sound good, but I’m fresh out and I wouldn’t go to the grocery this afternoon unless it was a matter of life and death.

John, high praise indeed.

This recipe is from Tables of Content by the Junior League of Birmingham, AL. Our cookbook club cooked from it a couple of years ago. I omit the garlic bagel chips. They are difficult to get on your fork and there is sufficient crunch from other sources in the salad. I think if you tap on photo, it will enlarge to be more readable.

IMHO the the kind of apples used affects how quickly they turn brown.

Those non-GMO varieties that are good for keeping from browning quickly - like for salads or serving as an appetizer for dips are: Cameo, Snow Sweet, Cortland (my fav), Empire, Gala, Gold Rush, Ginger Gold, Ambrosia, Masanova, and Shizuka according to the table from Google search. I do know the ones I've used happily non-browning are Cortland, Gala, Ginger Gold, and Snow Sweet. I do a quick dip in a solution of orange juice as I core and/or peel them and then they're put in the FoodSaver until ready to serve.

I'm glad your salad dressing is acidic enough to impact oxidation.

I crush up a vitamin C tablet and mix it with water, then dunk my fruit in that. It's basically the same thing as Fruit Fresh (ascorbic acid) and works like a charm, and leaves no aftertaste that I can determine.

I don't know how long I could leave them out, I usually just cut them right into the bowl of acidified water and then package them up for freezing or put them in the dehydrator.

Have fun, the cheesecake sounds delicious, and how can there possibly be too much butter? (grin)

Annie

Sorry, that was a bucket of water with the juice of one lemon. That's why I originally said you don't need to use straight juice. I should have been more clear.

Glad your experiments worked :-)

The link that FOAS posted above mentioned dipping the apple in honey and water to prevent browning. I think I’ll try that next time.

I read that a new GMO apple has been developed that will not brown when cut.

Well, what's the fun of that? I can deal with the marastemming and the asexual mutants, but I want my fruit to at least behave like fruit!

BTW, per Annie's post, you can get a small jar of vitamin C crystals which is probably enough to last you a lifetime. Useful any time you need kitchen acid. I use it a lot with whole wheat instead of orange juice.

OTOH, it was pouring when I was cutting my apples, today, so I didn't want to pick a lemon. I used a lime. It worked fine. :)

Useful info, @plllog, about the ascorbic acid crystals. It would probably last me 2 lifetimes. I don’t often prepare dishes containing raw apples. I really prefer my apples cooked.

Lemons, limes, oranges, you would think anything acidic would work, but the apple-cider vinegar certainly didn’t!

I am thankful on Thanksgiving (and every other day of the year) for this group with its body of knowledge.

I just took a break from prep, sat down, and about to look up the apple/fruit discoloring event...(an apple in my dressing) and pears with a cheese/charcuterie platter....

I've always used citric acid since I have a lifetime supple. And have looked this up before but always forget. I knew about vinegar being the wrong acid...and cell walls ruptured causing oxidation once exposed to air. But why so fast? And only certain fruits/veg?

SeriousEats to the rescue. Salt. For some reason he did not test honey water. Seems just about everything including lemon changes the taste. Salt does not as it can be rinsed off before plating. This is for fresh, not cooked but I need to prep my apple ahead.

Full article, HERE With pics and many apple slices.

Why Apples Turn Brown Once Cut

Apples are one of many fruits that contain a large amount of an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase. As its name suggests, it is capable of oxidizing polyphenols, molecules that play a variety of roles in plants, from protecting against infections to giving them their pigments. Polyphenol oxidase and the polyphenols themselves are stored in separate areas of the plant's cells, but when the cells are damaged—say, when an apple is sliced open, or dropped and bruised—the cells are ruptured, and the enzyme comes into contact with its prey...er...I mean, substrate. With the help of oxygen, which is in the air around the damaged cells, the polyphenol oxidase initiates a series of chemical reactions, transforming the polyphenols and eventually producing melanins—brown pigments.

The general name for this process is "enzymatic browning," and the problem is that it doesn't just change the appearance of produce; it also alters flavor, scent, and nutritional value...and usually not in a good way. (Although it's worth mentioning that it does help produce desirable effects in some of our foods, like teas, cocoa, and dried fruits like raisins.)

My Thanksgiving is Friday, tomorrow, so today is my prep.

And yes the dressing coats the apples preventing oxygen from browning them.

sleevendog, I use citric acid to clean the dishwasher, and ascorbic acid (vitamin C) to treat fruit to prevent/reduce oxidation. The citric acid most assuredly will change the flavor of the fruit, it's very "tart". I don't notice a nearly as much difference in flavor with ascorbic acid, although it's somewhat tart too. Vinegar, of course, is acetic acid, which is very much different.

Annie

I chopped the apples 3.5 hours before this picture was taken. After chopping, I put them in a zipper bag with poppyseed dressing and squeezed out most of the air. Success!