Apple

Description

About Apple

Delicious and crunchy, apple fruit is one of the most popular and favorite fruits among the health conscious, fitness lovers who firmly believe in the concept of “health is wealth.” This wonderful fruit indeed packed with rich phytonutrients that in the real sense indispensable for optimal health and wellness. Certain antioxidants in apples have health promoting and disease prevention properties, and thereby, truly justifying the adage, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.”

Apple fruit features oval or pear shape. Its outer peel appears in different hues and colors depending upon the cultivar type. Internally, it’s crispy, juicy pulp is off-white to cream in color, and has a mix of mildly sweet and tart flavor. Its seeds are bitter in taste, and therefore, inedible.

The apples produced in Iran have various shapes and colors. They have a round shape with a cavity at the top; some of them are closely rounded and the others have a conic shape. Moreover, some of Iranian apple fruits have knob-like lobes at the bottom of the calyx. The other characteristic of these apples is that they have a firm flesh with red, white or yellowish-white color. The skin of these apples is not harsh and is shiny. The skin color may be yellow, green, red, dark red, or the mixture of these colors.

Crab apples still exist and can be found in jungles placed in north of Iran. The apple trees are mostly planted in Urmia, Mashhad, and Shemiran, and Azerbaijan province. Moreover, in Iran the harvest seasons for apples are winter and summer.

There are various types of apple trees in this region (Iran). By considering the rootstock type (standard, semi-dwarf, dwarf), these trees may range in height from 0.6 to 3 meter. The leaves of these apple trees are dark to light green with toothed margins. The underneath of these leaves have a silver color.

Health benefits of apple

1. Delicious and crunchy apple fruit is notable for its impressive list of phtytonutrients, and antioxidants. Studies suggest that its components are essential for optimal growth, development, and overall wellness.

2. Apples are low in calories; 100 g of fresh fruit slices provide just 50 calories. They, however, contain no saturated fats or cholesterol. Nonetheless, the fruit is rich in dietary fiber, which helps prevent absorption of dietary-LDL or bad cholesterol in the gut. The fiber also saves the colon mucous membrane from exposure to toxic substances by binding to cancer-causing chemicals inside the colon.

3. Apples are rich in antioxidant phytonutrients flavonoids and polyphenolics. The total measured antioxidant strength (ORAC value) of 100 g apple fruit is 5900 TE. Some of the important flavonoids in apples are quercetin, epicatechin, and procyanidin B2.

4. Additionally, they are also good in tartaric acid that gives tart flavor to them. Altogether, these compounds help the body protect from harmful effects of free radicals.

5. Apple fruit contains good quantities of vitamin-C and β-carotene. Vitamin C is a powerful natural antioxidant. Consumption of foods rich in vitamin-C helps the body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful, pro-inflammatory free radicals from the body.

6. Further, apple fruit is an ideal source of B-complex vitamins such as riboflavin, thiamin, and pyridoxine (vitamin B-6). Together, these vitamins help as co-factors for enzymes in metabolism as well as in various synthetic functions inside the human body.

7. Apples also carry small quantities of minerals like potassium, phosphorus, and calcium. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure; thus, counters the bad influences of sodium.

Selection and Storage

Fresh apples can be readily available in the stores all around the season. Choose fresh, bright, firm textured apples with a pleasnt flavor. Avoid fruits with pressure marks over their surface as they indicate underlying mottled pulp. Fresh apples can be kept at room temperature for few days and stored in the refrigerator for up to two to three weeks.