Apples

Apples were one of the first fruit crops cultivated by man. They are an extremely popular and versatile fruit with many varieties suited to growing conditions in various climates. Apples can be cooked or eaten raw. They contain useful amounts of dietary fibre and Vitamin C. Like most fruits, apples contain more energy than vegetables. When eaten raw they make a delicious low calorie snack or dessert.

Types, Varieties and Availability of Irish Produce

There are many varieties available, some of the most common varieties grown in Ireland are as follows:

Type	Name
Culinary	Bramley’s Seeding
Dessert	Discovery, Elstar, Gala, Jonagold, Jonagored, Katy

Name	Description
Bramley’s Seedling	Is the best known and most widely grown cooking apple. It is available, all year round either directly from the tree or from storage. The skin is pale yellowish green, flushed and striped with light brownish red. The white flesh is juicy with a characteristic acid flavour.
Discovery	An attractive apple, pale greenish-yellow, half to three-quarters flushed with bright red. The fruit has a hard crisp flesh and is a good flavour when ripe.
Elstar	A yellow skinned variety flushed with red. Its creamy white flesh is always firm and crisp but juicy, with a good flavour.
Gala	Almost completely flushed and flecked with bright scarlet red over pale white-green background. Its flesh is crispy white or pinkish in colour with an excellent taste and flavour.
Jonagold	This most popular variety has yellow skin tinged with green and bright red mottles or stripes. The creamy white flesh is crisp and juicy and has a very appealing taste.
Jonagored	This apple has many of the characteristics and appearance traits of its relative Jonagold – it is however more fully flushed.
Katy	An attractive variety with pale green skin flushed with bright scarlet and dark red flecks. Its crispy white flesh has a good flavour.

Variety	J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Bramley’s Seedling
Discovery
Elstar
Gala
Jonagold
Jonagored
Katy

Nutritional Value

Nutrient		Raw Eating Apple	Per Average sized eating Apple	Stewed Cooking Apple (No Sugar)	Apple Juice (No Added Sugar)
Energy	kJ	199	259	138	164
	Kcal	47	61	33	38
Protein	g	0.4	0.5	0.3	0.1
Carbohydrate	g	11.8	15.3	8.1	9.9
Fat	g	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1

A good source of…

Nutrient	Raw Eating Apple	Per Average sized eating apple	Stewed cooking apple (no sugar)	Apple Juice (No added sugar)
Fibre
Vitamin C

For more information on nutrition and the details given above, check out our nutrition page.

Preparing and Using

Culinary and dessert apples can be cooked or eaten raw, they just need to be washed in potable water before serving. Both types can be stuffed and baked, stewed and shallow fried.Dessert apples can be dipped in batter and deep-fried, dipped in toffee/chocolate or used in a wide variety of dishes.

For breakfast, apples can be used to fill pancakes or added to breakfast cereals. They can be added to fruit salad or made into juice. At other times of the day they can be used in a wide range of starters, salads, soups, main courses and desserts.

Apples can be used to garnish dishes and buffets and as part of a cheese board but are usually dipped in lemon juice first to prevent browning. They can be ingredients in chutneys,relishes and sauces for both sweet and savoury dishes and are used in stuffings,puddings, cakes, ice cream and sorbets.

Apple juice can be drunk on its own or mixed with other fruit or vegetable juices such as blackberry, carrot or celery. It can be used as the juice in a smoothie mixed with other berry fruits. Apples can also be used to make jellies and jam.

There are many classic dishes containing apples including strudel, tarte tatine, apple crumble, apple charlotte, and apple pie. Apples complement other ingredients such as pork, duck, cheese, yoghurt, creme fraiche, fromage frais, cream, celery, cloves, cinnamon,allspice, currants, sultanas, blackberries and as they are used to make drinks such as cider and Calvados go well in dishes where these are ingredients.

Recipes

For some apple recipes, visit the Bord Bia website here

Apple and Bacon Salad with Farmhouse Cheese Dressing

This is a recipe from the New Irish Cuisine Collection.

Click here for more

Black Pudding on a bed of Potatoes and Apples

A quality black pudding, like Clonakilty, is essential for this dish

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