I had a delicious experience on a recent visit to the States. No, I am not referring to my mother's tasty home cooking nor to any restaurant. Note: it was an apple! A juicy red Courtland apple! By the way, this experience took place in Minneapolis, also known as Minneapple. The Courtland is not available in Israel, so it was a special treat.
[Since the apple is not one of the Seven Species, we will forgive Rikva for touting diasporan apples. Israeli ones are quite alright.]
Apples in honey, apples for charoses, apples in the lunch bag; we are all familiar with the green or red or yellow; sweet and/or sweet-and-sour cool, crunchy apple. But maybe we take them for granted, even as we make their prescribed blessing. We forget that few other fruits match the apple's qualities: low in calories, high in fiber, convenient to eat and sweet and crispy.
The apple tree originated in an area between the Caspian and the Black Sea. (The tapuach of the Tanach is generally not accepted to be the apple as we know it today.) Bearing the official name of Malus pumila, the apple is a member of the rose family.
Here are a few statistics: Americans eat 19.6 pounds of fresh apples per capita every year. Europeans, however, can top that statistic: they eat about 46 pounds of apples annually.
100 varieties of apples are grown commercially in the United States, in all 50 states. You can find apples growing in many different climates all over the U.S. -- in deserts, mountains, flatlands, river valleys, and along the Great Lakes.
Chenango Strawberry, Winter Banana, Pitmaston Pineapple, Kid's Orange Red, Ashmead's Kernel, Ben Davis, Holstein, Summer Rambo, Liberty and Hawaii are just a few of the many names of apples. Thousands of other apple variety names have been recorded in horticultural journals throughout history.
60% of United States apples are eaten as fresh fruit. 39% of apples are processed into apple products; 21% of this is for juice and cider. Washington is the top apple producing state. Apples harvested from an average tree can fill 20 boxes that weigh 42 pounds each. And most of these apples are harvested by hand, in the fall.
Red Delicious is the most popular variety in the world. It came from the obscurity of a non-apple region -- central Iowa. A farmer named Jesse Hiatt discovered the chance seedling on his farm near Peru, Iowa, and twice tried to chop it out. When it sprouted a third time, he gave it a reprieve and let it grow. Later, he discovered qualities in it he liked. He displayed it as the Hawkeye variety at an 1893 fruit show in Louisiana, Missouri, sponsored by Stark Brothers Nurseries & Orchards Co., which purchased propagating rights in 1894. Stark Brothers renamed it Delicious, still its official name although it is popularly known as Red Delicious to distinguish it from Golden Delicious. It is a glossy red apple with a distinctive `typey' five pointed elongated shape. It is best eaten fresh rather than cooked and offers a juicy and crunchy texture and a sweet flavor.
The Jonathan variety of apple was discovered in Woodstock, New York, as a chance seedling in the 1820s. It received its name from the man who first promoted it. Michigan is the leading producer of this dual-purpose variety suitable both for fresh eating and for processing. This crimson apple, with touches of green, has a spicy tang that blends well with other varieties in sauces and cider. It is available in Israel, too.
An Apple a Day May Keep More Than the Doctor Away
The apple is known as an amazingly versatile ingredient, and a low-fat, high-fiber snack and lunch box staple. I, personally, got through 6 years of junior high and high school with a tuna sandwich and an apple in my brown bag every day! But it may be more than that.
A study reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology linked apple consumption with a reduced risk for lung cancer. Researchers studied 9,858 subjects and found those who ate apples were less likely to develop lung cancer than those who ate fewer apples. Apples are rich in flavonoids, plant compounds that function as antioxidants. Researchers were able to isolate Quercetin, a flavonoid found most in apples, as the source of the anti-cancer effect (A. J. Epidemiology, 146 (3): 223-230).
The apple is an amazingly versatile ingredient in pasta and main dishes, filling for your pies and numerous other uses.
Fun for the little ones: Cut an apple in half across the core and you'll see a star shape. Make your own caramel apples for a special treat.
Lots of extra apples at low prices? Try frozen apples: core, peel and slice apples; dunk slices in lemon juice; pack closely in container and freeze.
A huge batch of applesauce will take care of a lot of low priced or bruised apples: freeze in small containers. Frozen applesauce is a delightful, refreshing dessert with a fraction of the calories of ice cream.
Apple pie is, of course, considered to be the quintessinal American dish. But other combinations of pastry- plus-dough abound: apple strudel (no one can stretch it like your grandmother did!); open-face apple tart; apple cobbler and apple slump are all delicious apple-mezonos combos.
THE MICHIGAN APPLE COMMITTEE PRESENTS:
CARAMEL APPLES AND CARROTS
Low fat, No Cholesterol, Low Sodium
3 cups sliced, peeled apples
1 1/2 cups peeled baby carrots
1/2 cup water
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons margarine
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup dried tart cherries (optional)
1. Place apples, carrots, water and salt in a 3 quart saucepan. Cover and cook over medium heat until water starts to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 3 minutes. Drain.
2. Add remaining ingredients, tossing gently until combined. Cook over medium heat 3 minutes longer or until sugar is dissolved and apples are glazed. Serve hot. Yield: 6 servings
THE WASHINGTON APPLE COMMISSION OFFERS:
APPLE PIE IN A BAG
Ingredients:
8 cups Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon orange juice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup all purpose flour (sifted, divided)
1/3 cup sugar (divided)
1 9-inch pie shell
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter or margarine
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
Instructions:
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Toss apples with orange juice, cinnamon, and 2 tablespoons each flour and sugar.
2. Fill pie shell with apple mixture, mounding in the center.
3. In small bowl, combine remaining flour and sugar; with pastry blender or fork, cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in orange zest.
4. Gather mixture together to form a soft dough. Flatten small pieces of dough between fingers and arrange on top of apple filling. (Dough will not completely cover filling.)
5. Wrap pie in a 30 by 15 inch piece of parchment paper, folding parchment over top of pie, making sure it does not touch pie. Staple ends of parchment to seal.
6. Set on rack in center of oven and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Carefully open parchment and allow steam to escape. Remove pie from parchment and cool on wire rack. Yield: 10 servings.
