Apples For Every Taste

The old saw about an apple a day notwithstanding, an apple only gives you about 10 percent of your daily requirement for vitamin C and a little bit of calcium. But unpeeled apples are high in fiber, low in calories, and delicious - a healthy dessert choice. Grocery stores used to stock just a few apple varieties, but in recent years, tasty hybrids and imports have invaded the apple aisle. The International Apple Institute offers these suggestions:

Variety Appearance Taste Best Uses Availability
Akane bright red crispy, juicy, sweet-tart all-purpose late Aug.-Sept., primarily in Northwest
Cortland red w/green highlights tart, tender snack, salad, baking fall to spring, East to Midwest
Crispin/ Mutsu yellow-green sweet, crisp all purpose year-round, primarily in the East
Criterion yellow sweet, mild snack, salad Oct.-Dec. nationwide
Elstar bright red, orange, and yellow sweet-tart snack, salad, baking Oct.-Dec. nationwide
Empire dark red w/red blush crispy, juicy, mildly tart snack, salad fall to spring, East to Midwest
Gala orange-yellow sweet snacks, salads mid-Aug.-Dec., nationwide
Gingergold yellow, smooth finish sweet, crisp all-purpose -late July to early Sept. in Virginia
Gravenstein red-striped moderately tart snacks, salad, baking -late summer, early fall, West Coast
Idared red mildly tart, firm, juicy salads, baking, cooking -Sept. to early spring, mainly East to Midwest
Jerseymac bright red juicy, medium-firm all-purpose late summer to early Sept. nationwide
Jonagold bright red over gold sweet, tangy, juicy snacks, salads end Sept.-Oct. nationwide
Jonamac deep red tart snacks, cooking Sept., primarily Northeast
Jonathan light red w/yellow or purple highlights rich, tartish all-purpose fall to spring, Midwest
Lodi (old- time apple) yellowish-green tart all-purpose July to early Aug. nationwide
Macoun red-green crisp, semisweet snacks, salads, applesauce Sept.-Nov. nationwide
Newtown Pippin green mildly tart snacks, salads, cooking Sept.-Feb., mainly West Coast
Paulared mostly red with green highlights mildly tart, firm snacks, salads, cooking early fall, East
Quinte red medium tart to sweet snacks, salads late summer to early Sept. nationwide
Rome Beauty red w/smatter of green tartish to sweet cooking Oct.-July nationwide
Spartan like McIntosh crispy, tartish, aromatic best for snacks and salads fall to winter, Northeast
Stayman purplish-red rich, mildly tart snacks, salads, cooking fall to spring, Midwest and Southeast
Twenty- ounce large, greenish yellow slightly tart, crisp cooking, baking Fall, Western New York
Tydeman Early bright scarlet, fairly large firm, mildly tart dessert summer nationwide
Wealthy bright red slightly tart cooking, baking mid-Sept.-Nov., primarily in Northeast and Michigan
Winesap deep purplish-red tangy, juicy, wine-like flavor all-purpose Oct.-July nationwide
OLD STANDBYS
Golden Delicious yellow tangy, sweet, juicy all-purpose year-round nationwide
Granny Smith green tart all purpose yearround nationwide
McIntosh red and green tart, tender, juicy snacks, salads Sept. through spring, East to Midwest
Red Delicious striped to solid red rich, sweet, mellow snacks, salads late summer to early Sept.

Source: International Apple Institute.


We've started a library of "Living Footnotes" for this section, and welcome your suggestions and your URLs to make it more useful. Use our customized Lycos search to linkthink your way around the web, or feel free to consult the experts about the above topic.

Living Footnotes


Return to the "Healthy Eating" Section


Copyright © Random House,1995. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Online Edition, OBS. All rights reserved.
These pages are designed to be viewed with Netscape!
Updated on April 8, 1996 editor@obs-us.com