“The Bizarre Case of the Exploding Apples.”
Now to be fair, I didn’t actually see or hear them explode. So maybe they didn’t really explode but for some reason burst their skins leaving the inside a rather soft and mushy pulp.
We had bought some apples from a bin at a local store and when we got home left them in their plastic bag in our garage. A few days later when I went to get an apple, there were six burst apples.
I started a quick internet search on exploding and bursting apples. One site said that sometimes apples will have bacteria growing in them, something like yeast. This causes the apples to ferment, creating a buildup of gas inside them. The pressure builds up inside the skin until they suddenly burst open. That is one explanation.
Also under exploding apples I found an internet sensation where some people hook up equipment so they can spin apples really, really fast. The centrifugal force drives the juices to the outside and they do explode in a spray of apple juice and pulp. Interesting, but that is probably not what happened to ours. They were just sitting there.
Next, I watched a video where the person cut the core out of the apple. They then packed the hollow space full of baking soda and poured vinegar over it. Suddenly they had a foaming apple volcano that did sort of explode. Interesting, but again, not what happened to ours.
I expanded my search and when you do that you just never know what may show up. I found an article talking about Adam and Eve and metaphorically an exploding apple. Another article suggested that aliens joy riding around the planet might use their energy beams to knock apples off trees. Others suggested that disgruntled house elves, trolls or gnomes might play tricks like this on humans. Or it could always be some sort of pagan curse you don’t realize you’ve gotten. All possible explanations but not likely.
Eventually I found an article that had some interesting information. Have you ever wondered how it is that we can buy what appears to be fresh apples at the stores year-round? Well, someone discovered that if you stored apples in a warehouse and maintained a specific temperature and humidity, that will increase their storage time. Then you add in a nitrogen generator to maintain a certain nitrogen-oxygen ratio. Then you could store apples for months and months.
In case you didn’t know this, nitrogen is four times more abundant in our atmosphere than oxygen, making up 78 per cent of the air around us. By increasing the amount of nitrogen, it not only can be used to preserve foods, but it can also be used as a fire suppressant.
So, the apple harvest is arriving, and the warehouse wants to move out the old apples and replace them with this year’s surplus, so they send the old apples to the store pretending it is this year’s crop. The apples are suddenly in an atmosphere with more oxygen, a different temperature and humidity. If they have some bacteria or yeast in them, it goes on a reproduction rampage and the pressure inside the apple builds up until skins burst.
Probably in the store and in households that had bought the apples and not eaten them yet, apples were bursting. So, this may be the reason why our apples burst.
Actually, I am a little surprised that no one has made a comical horror movie about exploding fruits and vegetables. The Revenge of the Killer Apples and Brussel Sprouts. I’m not sure Brussel Sprouts explode but I know some people who don’t like them wish they would.
So I learned a bunch of stuff about apples I didn’t know before and when you buy them at the store you just never know how long ago they were picked.