APPLE A DAY
Even though they are attractive, nutritious and tasty, Canadians aren’t getting enough
Even though they are attractive, nutritious and tasty, Canadians aren’t getting enough, says columnist
Who can turn down an apple? The story of Adam and Eve revolves around the temptation of Adam with a fruit purported to be an apple. There are other tales, including one in Greek mythology, in which Paris gave a golden apple to Aphrodite, ultimately setting off the Trojan War, and, more recently, the Brothers Grimm fairy tale in which Snow White’s wicked stepmother poisons her with a shiny, poisoned apple.
Apples have made their way into idioms in the English language — upset the apple cart, the apple of my eye, apple pie order, as well as into Cockney rhyming slang, “apples and pears” is code for stairs.
The extent to which apples have been woven into mythologies and language shows that they have been around for a long time. They originated in Europe or West Asia before the Stone Age and came to North America in the 17th century. There were at least 22 apple varieties in Roman times, and more than 5,000 varieties have existed in total.
Apples are portable, less perishable than most fruit and not too messy to eat out of hand. They lend themselves to many preparations, both cooked and uncooked. They’re attractive, nutritious and tasty. How could they not be popular?
Still, we Canadians don’t come close to consuming the proverbial “apple a day” to keep the doctor away; according to foodshare.net, we eat an average of 86 apples per year.
There wasn’t much left of my grandpa’s apple orchard when I was a child, but even as an old man, he ate apples. He didn’t bite into them — I realize now that probably his teeth didn’t permit
that. He carved a wedge from the apple with his pocketknife, ate it and repeated until the apple was gone. It seemed like a ceremony, and watching him was a lesson in appreciating everyday abundance.
Apples lend themselves to use in many baked goods, but there are other ways to eat the fruit that don’t require anyone to spend time baking: try adding chopped apples, dipped in lemon juice to protect the colour, to a tossed salad or chicken salad; thin apple slices in peanut butter or cheese sandwiches; diced apple and raisins in oatmeal porridge; apple wedges with a dip of almond butter, Greek-style yogurt or even toffee sauce on the side; apple pancakes made by arranging slices in the batter as soon as it’s ladled into the frying pan; chopped peeled apple in curried chicken or pork; a dessert or appetizer tray of sliced apples and pears, crostini spread with goat cheese, walnut halves and blue cheese; chopped apple stirred into yogurt or a layer of cream cheese or peanut butter sandwiched between two crosswise slices of apples.
If you feel like taking advantage of apples on baking day, here are some muffins to try.
These muffins are made moist with applesauce, molasses and chopped apple. They’re good for breakfast or snacks and provide both soluble and insoluble fibre. Keep them fresh by freezing in an airtight bag and warming as needed on the microwave defrost setting for onr minute.