Benefits & Uses Of Apples

BENEFITS A fresh apple is the ideal, healthy snack – easy to carry, filling, juicy and refreshing. Some varieties are a good source of vitamin C, which is an antioxidant and helps to maintain the immune system.

Apples are also relatively low in calories and contain a high level of fructose. This simple sugar, which is sweeter than sucrose (main component of cane sugar) is metabolized slowly and so helps to control blood sugar levels.

OTHER USES In herbal medicine, ripe, uncooked apples have traditionally been given to treat constipation, while the stewed fruit can be eaten for diarrhoea and gastroenteritis.

Apples are also used in poultices for skin inflammations.

Dried apples are eaten as a snack. Apple slices are exposed to the fumes of burning sulphur to prevent them from browning, then dried in the sun on wire trays. As moisture is lost, natural sugars become concentrated, which is why athletes value dried apples as a source of carbohydrate that is quickly converted to energy.

Dried apples contain six times more calories than fresh ones. They are high in fibre and moderate source of iron. But lost their vitamin C during drying process.

Apple also helps other fruits eg apricots to ripen by leaving them together in a paper bag for two to four days.

CHOOSING APPLES

* Firm to the touch

* No brown bruises

* Large apples more likely to be overripe

* Out of season apples will have to be stored in a cool environment where oxygen balance has been chemically lowered. This halts the natural maturing processes, so they can be kept for several months without going soft. When the fruit is again exposed to normal temperatures and oxygen levels – on the supermarket shelves, it continues to mature and may quickly go soft.

By Laura Ng | Posted on 2007-07-10 07:12:49

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Find out how to keep your health in tip-top condition at http://www.ionehealth.com

Definition:

The apple is a tree and its pomaceous fruit, of the species Malus domestica in the rose family Rosaceae. It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits. It is a small deciduous tree reaching 5-12 m tall, with a broad, often densely twiggy crown. The leaves are alternately arranged, simple oval with an acute tip and serrated margin, slightly downy below, 5-12 cm long and 3-6 cm broad on a 2-5 cm petiole. The flowers are produced in spring with the leaves, white, usually tinged pink at first, 2.5-3.5 cm diameter, with five petals. The fruit matures in autumn, and is typically 5-9 cm diameter (rarely up to 15 cm). The centre of the fruit contains five carpels arranged star-like, each carpel containing one or two (rarely three) seeds.

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