Know your Fruits - Apple

Apple is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, is a pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, known for its high yields and long storage life.
The tree originated from Central Asia and there are over 7,500 known cultivars of apples, with red, yellow and green varieties.
Apples appear in many religious traditions, often as a mystical / forbidden fruit.

img src: travel.latimes.com

Storage:

• Commercially, apples can be stored for some months in controlled-atmosphere chambers.
• For home storage, store apple for approx 2 weeks, at the coolest part of the refrigerator (below 5°C).
• Several types of apple, have an even longer shelf life.

Use of apple:

• Apples can be canned, juiced, and optionally fermented to produce apple juice, cider, ciderkin, vinegar, and pectin.
• Distilled apple cider produces the spirits applejack and Calvados. Apples are also used to prepare apple wine.
• Apples are an important ingredient in desserts like apple pie, apple crumble, apple crisp and apple cake.
• They are also eaten baked or stewed, sometimes dried and eaten or re-constituted (soaked in water, alcohol or some other liquid) for later use.
• Puréed apples are generally known as apple sauce. Apples are also made into apple butter and apple jelly.
• Apples are also used (cooked) in meat dishes.
• Toffee apple is a traditional confectionery in the UK, prepared by coating an apple in hot toffee and allowing it to cool.
• Candy apples (coated in a hard shell of crystallised sugar syrup), caramel apples (coated with cooled caramel) are popular in the US.
• Apples are eaten with honey at the Jewish New Year of Rosh Hashanah to symbolize a sweet new year.

img src: doh.sd.gov

We believe "An apple a day keeps the doctor away"

• Apples may reduce the risk of colon cancer, prostate cancer and lung cancer.
• Apples contain relatively low amounts of Vitamin C as well as several other antioxidant compounds.
• The fiber content, helps regulate bowel movements and reduce the risk of colon cancer.
• They also help in controlling heart disease, weight loss and cholesterol.

Some popular varieties of apple across the globe:

• Braeburn Apple
• Empire Apple
• Fuji Apple
• Gala Apple
• Ginger Gold Apple
• Golden Delicious Apple
• Granny Smith Apple
• Gravenstein Apple
• Honeycrisp Apple
• Jonagold Apple
• McIntosh Apple
• Pinata Apple
• Pink Lady Apple
• Pippin Apple
• Red Delicious Apple
• Rome Beauty Apple

Continue reading...>>