Apple Love

If there is one type of food in this world that I know I will never ever get sick of is the wonderfully perfect fruit, known as the Apple,

and I have decided to dedicate this post to this lovely pomaceous fruit. I eat at least one apple a day and have been known to eat 2 or 3 if the mood strikes me. Apples are one of my staples around here so I tend to get a bit twitchy when there are none in the house, or if we get really low. I have an abundance of apples right now since I went picking with a couple friends on Saturday afternoon, so having a couple every day is just my way of contributing to the prevention of them going bad before they all get used up!

What makes the apple such a great food is that it is incredibly versatile. First of all, there are thousands of known varieties and just think of everything that we can do with them! An easy crunchy snack, applesauce, ciders, stuffed and baked, pies, cobblers, crisps, pastries, cakes, jellies, apple butters, paired with meat (think applesauce and pork roast or stuffed into a tenderloin), salsas, cut up and tossed in salads or grilled in a panini with some brie. YUM! I made an apple danish this morning which I think is my #1 favourite dessert. When I would find out that mom was making danish, my day became better by about 500%.

Tip of the Day: Did you know that adding sliced apple can soak up excess salt in your soup? Adding salt is easy but removing it is nearly impossible. Add some apple slices to your pot and allow to cook for 10-15 minutes to draw in the excess salt away from the soup.

Next, think of all of the historical apple reference made in the last few hundred (even thousands of) years.

Adam and Eve got into a lot of trouble just from sharing one in Eden. Sir Issac Newton discovered gravity by watching an apple fall from a tree (aka, the Apple Analogy). There have been apple remains found in the tombs of many famous people all over the world (Iran, Greece, Egypt) which are thousands of years old. The apple must be a pretty important choice of food to want to spend eternity with it.

Now I would be a terrible nutrition graduate if I did not include the wonderful health benefits associated with the apple. I mean, there's got to be reasons why they told us that eating one a day would keep the doctor away, right? It is packed full of vitamins and minerals like potassium, phosphorus, vitamin A and vitamin C. The regular consumption of apples have been proven to reduce the risk of developing some major diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. The skin especially contains amazing antioxidant and other cancer fighting compounds. It also holds a lot of the fiber, so don't peel and discard this highly nutritional part of the fruit since fiber helps to promote healthy bowel movements and lower cholesterol levels. Apples can also help to prevent diabetes and even combat weight gain and asthma as well. Lastly, it seems that if a pregnant woman consumes apples regularly throughout her pregnancy then she can inhibit tumour growth in the fetus. Miracle fruit? I think so!


Boyer, J., & Liu, R. H. (2004). Apple phytochemicals and their health benefit. Nutrition Journal, 3(5), Retrieved from http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1475-2891-3-5.pdf