How far ahead can I prepare this coleslaw recipe? I'm making a coleslaw to accompany dinner tonight which consists of:


1 Apple, julienned
1 Carrot, grated
2 spring onions, sliced
1tbsp Mayonnaise
10ml cider vinegar
10g chipotle paste
1/2 red chilli, de-seeded and chopped
Juice of half a lemon
1/2tbsp tomato puree
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2tsp dried oregano
1/2tsp olive oil


All the ingredients (bar the apple, carrot and spring onion) are combined thoroughly before adding the remaining two ingredients.

As there's lemon juice in the mix, I'm not concerned about the apple browning, but I am concerned about the dressing splitting or spoiling the veg in some way.

I've not made this ahead before, is there anything in the recipe that would prevent it being prepared several hours ahead of consumption, or make the end product less desirable if that's done?
That looks to me to be a lot of 'wet' to 'dry', so without really having a definitive answer I'd have 2 considerations.


How far you want your fresh garlic to 'mellow' [I really don't know the correct term for leaving crushed garlic so the sharpness goes off a bit.]  
How much water is going to be pulled from the apple.


1 could be affected by simply making up the dressing part early, then leaving it to mellow.
2 might be a bit trial &amp; error, but that's the one I can't think of a way round other than 'leave it out til late.' Better crunchy than soggy with a runny dressing. 

Carrot [&amp; most other things in regular coleslaw - cabbage, onion etc] I'd give one to three hours in the dressing before serving, but even that may come down to personal preference. The standard coleslaw I'm right now going off to make will be eaten in about 3 hours ;)