Preserved fruit

Some years ago I bought a couple of lidded terracotta containers for storing onions and potatoes in the pantry. Six months back we moved house and the new kitchen had slide-out wire vegetable baskets and no real space for the terracotta pots. I thought they might do as plant containers once I got my proposed balcony garden growing and set them aside.



Several new planters with plants were installed this week and the landscaper pointed out the old vegetable pots sitting in the garage. We went to look inside them to see if they had drainage holes and were both rather surprised with what we found.



I thought I?d emptied the pots prior to shifting. However, inside the onion pot an orange was resting on an oven mitt (which was in turn resting on decaying onions). But the amazing thing was the orange was still much as it must have been when placed in the pot. After six months it didn?t appear to have undergone any deterioration aside from losing a slight amount of moisture from the skin. I cut it in half and it was still juicy.









It hadn?t gone the least bit mouldy and I am now wondering about the preserving properties of terracotta pots. True, the onions were a bit past it. But I am wondering if something from them might have stopped mould from developing on the orange, as I would have expected.



One of life?s little mysteries?