Eat fresh in hand, salads or platters. Baked whole, pies, tarts, crumbles, sauces, cakes and muffins. Many varieties are available all year round.
Varieties include:
Royal Gala: Range from predominantly pale, golden yellow with slight red blush, to solid brightly blushed. Normally slightly sweeter than Red Delicious.
Jonathan: Skin is half to three-quarters scattered red stripes and blushed. Aromatic, fairly juicy, sweet flavour.
Bonza: Green/cream background colour with
50-60% blush. Sweet flavour.
Golden Delicious: Greenish yellow becoming golden yellow. Sweet, good aromatics.
Red Delicious: Greenish yellow ground colour with red stripes or completely crimson to dark red. Sweet, juicy, highly aromatic.
Granny Smith: Green to greenish yellow. Hard, crisp, tart flavour.
Fuji: Predominantly blushed pink/red. Firm, crisp, juicy and have a distinct sweet flavour. Braeburn: striped red with a red blush over a yellowish ground cover and glossy. Medium to large size, round/conical in shape. Good, sweet, sub-acid and very juicy.
Pink Lady: Background green changing to yellow overlaid with a lovely pink or light red blush. Sweet-tart flavour with crunchy texture.
Sundowner: Mainly green to full red, with prominent lenticel spotting and a little russet around the stalk. Storage improves sugar level and makes sweet and flavoursome.
Lady Williams: Usually deep red. Tart flavour early in season, develops a distinctive sweet flavour and generally improves with storage.
Selection:
Choose firm fruit, avoid bruises and blemishes.
Storage:
To retain crispness and freshness, store under refrigeration in a vented container. Preparation To prevent discolouration brush cut surfaces with any citrus juice.
Cooking:
Tart or medium acid varieties are best for cooking and the sweeter varieties more suited to eating fresh or in fruit salads and platters.
Try these delicious recipes that include apples:
Serving Suggestion:
Add chopped apple to salads, particularly potato salad, coleslaw and red cabbage. Fill steamed, hollowed, golden nugget pumpkins with a mixture of cooked chopped onion, finely chopped apple, baby spinach leaves, feta cheese and pine nuts, bound together with beaten egg. Top with grated reduced-fat cheese and cook 15 minutes at 190ºC till golden brown.