How to Prevent Apple Slices from Browning

Hello everyone! I am especially excited if you are visiting me for the first time today after seeing my segment on Studio5. WELCOME! A link to my Coconut Cream Fruit Dip recipe can be found at the bottom of this post.

Today I am sharing 3 different ways to keep your apple slices from browning, and you might be surprised as to which method works the best. This was kind of fun experiment for me. I actually did it twice because my kids wouldn’t stop eating all the apples before I could finish snapping my photos! Haha. I wanted to make sure you had a good time lapse and could see the change in the apples after a good amount of time has gone by. Each side-by-side photo below is comparing 2 hours versus 24 hours of time passed.

First off, we will start with the different methods. There is the classic use of lemon juice, which I am sure everyone knows about. Then I had heard that if you crush up a chewable vitamin c tablet, and dissolve it in water it would work, but the method that intrigued me the most was the salt, so let’s see how you do it.

Lemon Juice Method

1 TBSP lemon juice + 1 cup of water + 1 sliced apple. Soak 5 minutes.

The picture on the left is after 2 hours, the photo on the right is after 24 hours. To my surprise, the lemon juice actually worked the least. It still does a decent job, but it browned the quickest. You can of course put the lemon juice directly on the apples instead of diluting it in the water, but if you don’t like that added tartness to your apple, you might want to try one of the other methods below.

Vitamin C Method

1 Emergen-C packet (tangerine or orange is preferable) + 1 cup of water + 1 sliced apple. Soak 5 minutes.

The picture on the left is after 2 hours, the photo on the right is after 24 hours. The Emergen-C packet worked the BEST out of the three methods. These apples were still spot free even 48 hours later (I should have snapped a photo.)  It’s the same idea as the crushed up vitamin c tablet. The reason why this works is because it has citric acid in it which helps prevent the browning. You can also buy Fruit Fresh Powder, which is strictly citric acid.

Salt Method

1/8 tsp salt + 1 cup water + 1 sliced apple. Soak 5 minutes.

The picture on the left is after 2 hours, the photo on the right is after 24 hours. I hope you can tell by the picture that this was the 2nd best method of the three. The amount of salt is so small that you can’t taste it, but it works great! Salt has been used for hundreds of years as a preservative, and it definitely helps the apple keep from browning too quickly.

CONCLUSION: If I had to give my recommendation, I would say go for the salt! It’s the cheapest, most people have it on hand in their home, you use a tiny amount, you can’t taste it, and it works almost as good as the vitamin c packet. The only downside to the vitamin c packet is the added sugar and flavor because it is meant to be used as a fizzy vitamin drink.

How about you? Do you have any tried and true methods to keep your apples from browning that I haven’t talked about?

Be sure to check out my COCONUT CREAM FRUIT DIP recipe. It goes great with all fruit, apples included.