by Tonia Hooper

Created on: July 07, 2010

An apple a day keeps the doctor away! Do you remember this popular saying from your childhood? As we all know, apples are delicious and good for you as well, in fact in order to sample all the different apple varieties you would have to eat a different kind every day for years before you tasted them all. Apples are easy to enjoy year-round in your favorite recipes by either canning or freezing your fresh apples.

 This natural fruit, grown worldwide, comes in over 7,500 varieties. Here we will look at some of the more common apple varieties, and their basic characteristics.

 Red Delicious- a large deep red variety- great for eating, but not recommended for baking;

Rome Beauty- deep red skin- with some yellow speckling, good variety for cooking and baking; Golden Delicious- yellow to yellow-green, sweet and juicy, good all-purpose variety; Granny Smith- bright green skin, sweetly tart, great for both hand-eating and cooking; Jonathan- a spicy & fragrant, sweet-tart all-purpose variety; Baldwin- red-skinned, mildly sweet all-purpose variety; Gala- rosy red skin, firm, crisp and sweet flavor, good for hand-eating and baking; McIntosh- medium-size, tart-sweet, bright red, good all-purpose variety (but does not hold up well to lengthy cooking); Northern Spy- large, tart-sweet red-skinned, good all-purpose variety; Winesap- juicy, tart, deep red skin, good all-purpose variety; York Imperial- medium to large, firm flesh, tart-sweet, red-skinned with yellowish streaks; great for cooking; Lady- small in size, ranges from bright red to yellow, sweetly-tart, good all-purpose variety, also good for canning.

 There are also many varieties of hybrid apples, created by crossbreeding two different varieties. Crossbreeding became popular over the years by experimenting with different varieties while trying to capture some of the better qualities of individual kinds of apples to create varieties that combine the best of both varieties. Here are some examples of hybrid apples:

Kendall- a cross between a McIntosh and a Zusoff; Jondel- cross between a Jonathan and a Red Delicious; Belmac- late season breed, cross between a Spartan and McIntosh; Empire- cross between a McIntosh and Red Delicious; Fuji- created in Japan of a cross between Rall's Genet and Delicious.

 These are but just a few of the thousands of apple varieties out there, so the next time you are in your grocery store’s produce section, stroll through and look at the apples, take a few of the different varieties and compare the flavors- you may find a new favorite! For those people who live near apple orchards, visit an orchard- take a tour and see the apple growing process, and don’t forget to take some of those locally grown apples home for your family to enjoy.

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