Wellness Encyclopaedia | Apples

Apples are often eaten raw.
The whole fruit including the skin is suitable for human consumption except for the seeds, which may affect some consumers.
The core is often not eaten and is discarded.
Varieties bred for raw consumption are termed dessert or table apples.
Apples can be canned or juiced.
They are milled or pressed to produce apple juice, which may be drunk unfiltered (called apple cider in North America), or filtered.

The juice can be fermented to make cider (called hard cider in North America), ciderkin, and vinegar. Through distillation, various alcoholic beverages can be produced, such as applejack, Calvados, and apfelwein.

Apple seed oil and pectin may also be produced.


Popular uses Apples are an important ingredient in many desserts, such as 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 reconstituted (soaked in water, alcohol or some other liquid) for later use. When cooked, some apple varieties easily form a puree 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 U.S. are candy apples (coated in a hard shell of crystallized 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.[61] Farms with apple orchards may open them to the public, so consumers may themselves pick the apples they will purchase.[61] Sliced apples turn brown with exposure to air due to the conversion of natural phenolic substances into melanin upon exposure to oxygen.[63] Different cultivars vary in their propensity to brown after slicing[64] and the genetically engineered Arctic Apples do not brown. Sliced fruit can be treated with acidulated water to prevent this effect.[63] Sliced apple consumption tripled in the US from 2004 to 2014 to 500 million apples annually due to its convenience.[65] Organic production Organic apples are commonly produced in the United States.[66] Organic production is difficult in Europe, though a few orchards have done so with commercial success,[66] using disease-resistant cultivars. A light coating of kaolin, which forms a physical barrier to some pests, also helps prevent apple sun scalding.[50][66] Phytochemicals Apples are a rich source of various phytochemicals including flavonoids (e.g., catechins, flavanols, and quercetin) and other phenolic compounds (e.g., epicatechin and procyanidins)[67] found in the skin, core, and pulp of the apple;[67] they have unknown health value in humans.[63] Ideain (cyanidin 3-O-galactoside) is an anthocyanin, a type of pigment, which is found in some red apple varieties.[68] Phlorizin is a flavonoid that is found in apple trees, particularly in the leaves, and in only small amounts if at all in other plants, even other species of the Malus genus or related plants such as pear trees.[69] Health effects Preliminary research is investigating whether nutrients and/or phytochemicals in apples may affect the risk of some types of cancer.[67][70] Allergy One form of apple allergy, often found in northern Europe, is called birch-apple syndrome, and is found in people who are also allergic to birch pollen.[71] Allergic reactions are triggered by a protein in apples that is similar to birch pollen, and people affected by this protein can also develop allergies to other fruits, nuts, and vegetables. Reactions, which entail oral allergy syndrome (OAS), generally involve itching and inflammation of the mouth and throat,[71] but in rare cases can also include life-threatening anaphylaxis.[72] This reaction only occurs when raw fruit is consumed—the allergen is neutralized in the cooking process. The variety of apple, maturity and storage conditions can change the amount of allergen present in individual fruits. Long storage times can increase the amount of proteins that cause birch-apple syndrome.[71] Different kinds of apple cultivars in a wholesale food market In other areas, such as the Mediterranean, some individuals have adverse reactions to apples because of their similarity to peaches.[71] This form of apple allergy also includes OAS, but often has more severe symptoms, such as vomiting, abdominal pain and urticaria, and can be life-threatening. Individuals with this form of allergy can also develop reactions to other fruits and nuts. Cooking does not break down the protein causing this particular reaction, so affected individuals can eat neither raw nor cooked apples. Freshly harvested, over-ripe fruits tend to have the highest levels of the protein that causes this reaction.[71] Breeding efforts have yet to produce a hypoallergenic fruit suitable for either of the two forms of apple allergy.[71] Toxicity of seeds The seeds of apples contain small amounts of amygdalin, a sugar and cyanide compound known as a cyanogenic glycoside. Ingesting small amounts of apple seeds will cause no ill effects, but in extremely large doses can cause adverse reactions. There is only one known case of fatal cyanide poisoning from apple seeds; in this case the individual chewed and swallowed one cup of seeds. It may take several hours before the poison takes effect, as cyanogenic glycosides must be hydrolyzed before the cyanide ion is released.[73]