Apples

A selection of apples at Borough Market

A 'modern' apple peeler - London Science Museum

Bramley apples, used as cooking and eating apples

About apples

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. Apple wine can also be made. They make a popular lunchbox fruit as well.

Apples are an important ingredient in many winter desserts, for example apple pie, apple crumble, apple crisp and apple cake. They are often eaten baked or stewed, and they can also be 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. They are also used (cooked) in meat dishes.

• In the UK, a toffee apple is a traditional confection made by coating an apple in hot toffee and allowing it to cool. Similar treats in the US are candy apples (coated in a hard shell of crystallised sugar syrup), and caramel apples, coated with cooled caramel.
• Apples are eaten with honey at the Jewish New Year of Rosh Hashanah to symbolize a sweet new year.
• Farms with apple orchards may open them to the public, so consumers may themselves pick the apples they will buy.

Sliced apples turn brown with exposure to air due to the conversion of natural phenolic substances into melanin upon exposure to oxygen. Different cultivars differ in their propensity to brown after slicing.

Cooking apples

A cooking apple is an apple that is used primarily for cooking rather than eating fresh. Cooking apples are larger, and can be tarter than eating varieties. Some varieties have a firm flesh that doesn't break down much when cooked. Many apples are dual-purpose, eg Granny Smith's.

Cultivars can be divided into apples which are cooked whole in the oven and become soft and fluffy, often aromatic . Other varieties are processed, as in pies or sauce, etc., such as Bramley. Bramley is by far the most popular cooking apple in the UK.

Apples can be cooked down into sauce, apple butter or fruit preserves, baked in an oven and served with custard, and made into pies or apple crumble. In the UK apples are commonly boiled and mashed and served as apple sauce with roast pork.

Manzanas Reineta del Bierzo

Manzanas Reineta del Bierzo

The Bierzo Pippin, (White Pippin and Grey Pippin) are DOP apples produced in Carracedelo and Dehesas in the province of León in Spain.

The apples have superior characteristics to those produced in other areas of the country (probably due to the soil). They are hard, rather than floury and have a good balance of acidity, sweetness and juiciness, with an intense and unique aroma and flavour.

The apples are large fruits, with a characteristic shape, flattish, with a short petiole (the small stalk attaching the leaf blade to the stem) and a closed base. Its flesh is cream coloured and has a dull, green skin, with russeting which almost covers the entire fruit. This can appear unattractive to some, but this does not affect the flavour.

The introduction of the apple in El Bierzo has been linked to colonisation by the Roman Empire, but there are those who believe that religious orders contributed to its introduction. In the Monastery of Carracedo there is a Reineta tree of which there is no knowledge as to its age or who planted it.

Para ver más información sobre esta manzana en castellano, pulsa aquí.

Pomme du Limousin

Pomme du Limousin

Pomme du Limousin is a AOP fresh apple with the following characteristics:

• it has a slightly elongated shape, with a clearly marked eye and eye cavity
• it has a minimum size of 65 mm
• the flesh is white, firm, crispy, juicy and non-floury,
• the flavour is balanced as regards sweetness and acidity.

The apple is produced from the ‘Golden delicious’ variety, is greeny-white to yellow in colour and may have a pink blush. Products made from the apple (juice, compote, etc.) may not use the name Pomme du Limousin AOP.

The apples are grown, graded and packed in 100 municipalities in the départments of la Corrèze, la Creuse, la Dordogne and la Haute-Vienne. The production area for Pomme du Limousin is located on the plateaux of Haut-Limousin, the foothills of the Massif Central, between the Auvergne and the Aquitaine Basin. The light, deep soil lies on a crystalline basement and has good water-retention properties. The area enjoys a humid, ocean climate, with fairly abundant, although not excessive, rainfall and temperatures that do not reach extremes. The average temperature of more than 9oC defines the physiological limit of the crop and can be directly linked to the day/night temperature variation, which is a decisive factor in September and October. The cold nights and hot, sunny days promote the development of aromatic substances and anthocyanins, which give the skin its pink pigmentation. Another factor is altitude. Apple trees grow best at an altitude of between 300 and 500 metres and there is a precise correlation between the taste of an apple and the altitude at which it is grown, altitude mitigating the higher temperatures that often inhibit the development of aromatic substances and anthocyanins. Golden delicious grown at altitude has an elongated shape and is firmer, with a higher sugar content.

Encouraged by the increasing success of Pomme du Limousin, including on export markets, the whole of the sector has worked together to publicise the original characteristics of the product, promoting various initiatives, such as the ‘Route de la Pomme du Limousin’, tourist, cultural and sporting events organised around the AOP and the special menus created by artisans and restaurateurs to bring out the taste of the apple.

• Variety: The apples are of the ‘Golden delicious’ variety or of one of the mutants authorised for the AOP (standard characteristics or characteristics close to those of standard ‘Golden delicious’). Rootstock and grafts must be certified.
• Growing methods: The maximum yield is 58 tonnes per hectare. If that yield is exceeded, the whole production of the unit of homogeneous production concerned loses AOP status.
• Density: The planting density for the trees must be between 1 000 and 3 000 trees per hectare. The presence of pollinating varieties is authorised but their fruit cannot have AOP status.
• Pruning: The trees are pruned at least every two years, from the third leaf, using the vertical axis system. Pruning involves simplifying the fruiting branches and removing branches growing underneath these or receiving little light.
• Irrigation: Only localised irrigation or micro-irrigation is authorised and equipment to monitor the volume of water used must be installed. Fertirrigation is prohibited. Irrigation may not be carried out after 31 August or during the 15 days preceding harvest.
• Plant-health treatments: Chemical disinfection of the soil before planting is prohibited. Growers must keep an up-to-date cultural register in which they record all cultural operations carried out on each unit of homogeneous production.
• Harvesting: The date at which harvest can begin is laid down by prefectural order on a proposal from INAO. The apples are harvested by hand. Under no circumstances may plant-health treatments be applied to the fruit after harvest.
• Storage of the apples: The apples must be stored cold in order to preserve their firmness, texture and juiciness. From 15 December, apples to be packed must have been kept in rooms with a controlled environment. These rooms must be airtight and have equipment for recording and monitoring temperature and the levels of carbon dioxide and oxygen.
• Packing: The apples are packed in suitable packaging to ensure that their characteristics and quality are preserved. Packing takes place in the geographical area. Packages may contain no more than 20 kg of apples and the use of plastic bags and paper bags is prohibited. After a specified date, apples may no longer be released for circulation as Pomme du Limousin AOP. This is determined on the basis of the colour of the apples and varies from 1 June to 1 August.

Reference: The European Commission

How much does one cup of apples weigh?

Estimated US cup to weight equivalents:

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