Apple scald commonly ruined winter fruit in long term cold storage, until British scientists Franklin Kidd and Cyril West in the 1910s showed that lowering oxygen and raising CO₂ greatly slowed fruit and vegetable metabolism and increased storage life. Later researcher Robert Smock and the Geneva, New York research station refined the technique into today’s “controlled-atmosphere cold rooms.” The low oxygen means people shouldn’t linger in these rooms without extra oxygen. Thanks to this discovery, apples stay crisp deep into the next spring.
Growing Home - Apple Scald
