Apples make a great addition to a variety of meals. Whether it be a tart apple used in a pie, more acidic apples
used to complement a main course, sweeter apples to add life to a salad, or apple juice used as a sweetener
substitute, apples are the perfect fruit for cooking. Since the 50's apples are usually grown for their individual
purpose. Tart apples grown for cider, sweeter smaller apples for juice, dessert a.k.a. eating apples for Sunday
afternoons and school yards everywhere.
Apples don't have fat, cholesterol or sodium, which may help you maintain heart health and a healthy weight.
These little power houses have both soluble and in soluble fiber - you know the cliche - don’t make me say it!
What is available near you may be the same varieties available year round across the country. If you are lucky
enough to live in a 4 seasons weather climate, you probably live near an apple farm. You lucky apple eater will get
to eat apples that have thin yet crisp skin and only initial surface acidity atop inches of sweet flesh. If you live
farther from apple farms, or it is out of season, you will have to contend with apples picked before their prime.
These apples typically have thicker skin so they can withstand the travel and handling. Depending on how they
were shipped and for how long will dictate the condition of the flesh and acidity concentration.
If you happen to bite into a tart one, cut it and freeze it for later baking or cooking.
Here is a quick guide to the most common supermarket apples:
Fuji
These are great eating apples. Crisp, juicy slightly subacid white flesh with outstanding texture. Fuji is the most
extensively planted apple variety worldwide. They may require up to 200 days to mature - find out when they
arrived in your local store and how long until the next shipment.
McIntosh
Fruit beautiful deep red color, size variable. Flesh white, firm, tender, very juicy, flavor characteristically
aromatic, perfumed, subacid - definitely eating or juicing apples.
Granny Smith
Well known for their bright green color. They are referred to as having a "tart-sweet-tart" flavor meaning it is
mostly tart but with a hint of sweetness. Its firm texture and good size, as well as its unique flavor makes it ideal
for baking and roasting.
Red Delicious
Deep red skin covers a sweeter flavored apple. This variety offers the most antioxidants per serving. It is the most
popular apple (purchased the most) in the US. Red Delicious is not a native type of apple but was scientifically
created to have a more resistant skin and could travel longer distances. Should be stored in the refrigerator or it
will shrivel and get mealy. Not for cooking.
Golden Delicious
Large conic golden yellow fruit. Firm, crisp, juicy, flavorful flesh. Mild sweet distinctive flavor. Just like its Red
cousin should be stored in the refrigerator. Requires gentle picking, bruises easily.
Gala
Excellent for fresh eating. A very pretty, medium size, apple with a lot of sweet slightly tart flavor and juice.
Pink Lady
Oblong, green fruit turns yellow at maturity and is overlaid with pink or light red. Fine-grained, white flesh. Thin
skin bruises easily. These are often smaller than other apples. I think they are great peeled, and roasted whole.
Winesap
Medium sized, round, dark red fruit with crisp, juicy yellow flesh with a spicy, vinous flavor and aroma. These are
amazing in Euro style tarts, chutneys and served with roasts.
Braeburn
A New Zealand import, is a red and green-gold color that is sweet, aromatic, and juicy. A great eating apple if it
was picked and shipped within 1 months time.
Apples to Juice to Cider to Brandy
Apple juice is the most common fruit juice in the world. At least 55 million tonnes of apples were grown
worldwide in 2005, with a value of about $10 billion. China produced about two-fifth of this total - including the
sweetest varieties. United States is the second leading producer, with more than 7.5% of the world production.
Turkey, France, Italy and Iran are among the leading apple exporters.
When apples are pressed into juice, the juice is left to ferment which becomes cider. Let that cider ferment for a
long time and you arrive at brandy. It is never worth it to buy inferior apple brandy. These are usually full of
additives to speed up the fermentation process and the taste will be compromised.
We all know about the Garden of Good & Evil...
This is a great apple story, and for some explains where the Adam & Eve biblical story comes from: The Greek
goddess of discord, Eris, became disgruntled after she was excluded from the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. In
retaliation, she tossed a golden apple inscribed Kallisti ('For the most beautiful one'), into the wedding party.
Three goddesses claimed the apple: Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. Paris of Troy was appointed to select the
recipient. After being bribed by both Hera and Athena, Aphrodite tempted him with the most beautiful woman in
the world, Helen of Sparta. He awarded the apple to Aphrodite, thus indirectly causing the Trojan War.
For a complete list of apple varietals: http://www.allaboutapples.com/varieties/index.htm
used to complement a main course, sweeter apples to add life to a salad, or apple juice used as a sweetener
substitute, apples are the perfect fruit for cooking. Since the 50's apples are usually grown for their individual
purpose. Tart apples grown for cider, sweeter smaller apples for juice, dessert a.k.a. eating apples for Sunday
afternoons and school yards everywhere.
Apples don't have fat, cholesterol or sodium, which may help you maintain heart health and a healthy weight.
These little power houses have both soluble and in soluble fiber - you know the cliche - don’t make me say it!
What is available near you may be the same varieties available year round across the country. If you are lucky
enough to live in a 4 seasons weather climate, you probably live near an apple farm. You lucky apple eater will get
to eat apples that have thin yet crisp skin and only initial surface acidity atop inches of sweet flesh. If you live
farther from apple farms, or it is out of season, you will have to contend with apples picked before their prime.
These apples typically have thicker skin so they can withstand the travel and handling. Depending on how they
were shipped and for how long will dictate the condition of the flesh and acidity concentration.
If you happen to bite into a tart one, cut it and freeze it for later baking or cooking.
Here is a quick guide to the most common supermarket apples:
Fuji
These are great eating apples. Crisp, juicy slightly subacid white flesh with outstanding texture. Fuji is the most
extensively planted apple variety worldwide. They may require up to 200 days to mature - find out when they
arrived in your local store and how long until the next shipment.
McIntosh
Fruit beautiful deep red color, size variable. Flesh white, firm, tender, very juicy, flavor characteristically
aromatic, perfumed, subacid - definitely eating or juicing apples.
Granny Smith
Well known for their bright green color. They are referred to as having a "tart-sweet-tart" flavor meaning it is
mostly tart but with a hint of sweetness. Its firm texture and good size, as well as its unique flavor makes it ideal
for baking and roasting.
Red Delicious
Deep red skin covers a sweeter flavored apple. This variety offers the most antioxidants per serving. It is the most
popular apple (purchased the most) in the US. Red Delicious is not a native type of apple but was scientifically
created to have a more resistant skin and could travel longer distances. Should be stored in the refrigerator or it
will shrivel and get mealy. Not for cooking.
Golden Delicious
Large conic golden yellow fruit. Firm, crisp, juicy, flavorful flesh. Mild sweet distinctive flavor. Just like its Red
cousin should be stored in the refrigerator. Requires gentle picking, bruises easily.
Gala
Excellent for fresh eating. A very pretty, medium size, apple with a lot of sweet slightly tart flavor and juice.
Pink Lady
Oblong, green fruit turns yellow at maturity and is overlaid with pink or light red. Fine-grained, white flesh. Thin
skin bruises easily. These are often smaller than other apples. I think they are great peeled, and roasted whole.
Winesap
Medium sized, round, dark red fruit with crisp, juicy yellow flesh with a spicy, vinous flavor and aroma. These are
amazing in Euro style tarts, chutneys and served with roasts.
Braeburn
A New Zealand import, is a red and green-gold color that is sweet, aromatic, and juicy. A great eating apple if it
was picked and shipped within 1 months time.
Apples to Juice to Cider to Brandy
Apple juice is the most common fruit juice in the world. At least 55 million tonnes of apples were grown
worldwide in 2005, with a value of about $10 billion. China produced about two-fifth of this total - including the
sweetest varieties. United States is the second leading producer, with more than 7.5% of the world production.
Turkey, France, Italy and Iran are among the leading apple exporters.
When apples are pressed into juice, the juice is left to ferment which becomes cider. Let that cider ferment for a
long time and you arrive at brandy. It is never worth it to buy inferior apple brandy. These are usually full of
additives to speed up the fermentation process and the taste will be compromised.
We all know about the Garden of Good & Evil...
This is a great apple story, and for some explains where the Adam & Eve biblical story comes from: The Greek
goddess of discord, Eris, became disgruntled after she was excluded from the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. In
retaliation, she tossed a golden apple inscribed Kallisti ('For the most beautiful one'), into the wedding party.
Three goddesses claimed the apple: Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. Paris of Troy was appointed to select the
recipient. After being bribed by both Hera and Athena, Aphrodite tempted him with the most beautiful woman in
the world, Helen of Sparta. He awarded the apple to Aphrodite, thus indirectly causing the Trojan War.
For a complete list of apple varietals: http://www.allaboutapples.com/varieties/index.htm
| APPLES |
