| When buying apples, look for those that are firm | | | | treating them with calcium while home bakers will |
| and brightly colored. Shiny red for Macintosh, | | | | have to rely on careful timing.To prevent baked |
| Rome and red Delicious. Clear green for Granny | | | | apples from melting into mush, core the apple and |
| Smith and golden yellow for Delicious. Always | | | | fill the center with sugar or raisins to absorb the |
| avoid bruised apples. When an apple is damaged, | | | | moisture released as the apple cooks. Cutting |
| the injured cells release polyphenoloxidase, an | | | | away a circle of peel at the top will allow the fruit |
| enzyme that hastens the oxidation of phenols in | | | | to swell without splitting the skin.Red apple skins |
| the apple, producing brownish pigments that | | | | are colored with red anthocyanin pigments. When |
| darken the fruit. It's easy to check loose apples. If | | | | an apple is cooked, the anthocyanins combine with |
| you buy them packed in a plastic bag, turn the | | | | sugars to form irreversible brownish compounds. |
| bag upside down and examine the fruit.Store | | | | Apples can be process by drying. To keep apple |
| apples in the refrigerator. Cool storage keeps | | | | slices from turning brown as they dry, apples |
| them from losing the natural moisture that makes | | | | may be treated with sulfur compounds but that |
| them crisp. It also keeps them from turning | | | | may cause serious allergic reactions in people |
| brown inside, near the core, a phenomenon that | | | | allergic to sulfites.Besides, apple could also be |
| occurs when apples are stored at warm | | | | made into juice. Clear apple juice has been filtered |
| temperatures. Apples can be stored in a cool, | | | | to remove the pulp. Ninety-eight percent of all |
| dark cabinet with plenty of circulating air.Check | | | | juices, including apple juices, sold in the United |
| the apples from time to time. They store well, | | | | States are pasteurized to stop all natural enzyme |
| but the longer the storage, the greater the | | | | action that would otherwise turn sugars to |
| natural loss of moisture and the more likely the | | | | alcohols, eventually producing the mildly alcohol |
| chance that even the crispest apple will begin to | | | | beverage known as apple cider (non alcoholic cider |
| taste mealy.When preparing apples, do not peel or | | | | is plain apple juice). Pasteurization also protects |
| slice an apple until you are ready to use it. When | | | | juices from potentially harmful bacterial and mold |
| you cut into the apple, you tear its cells, releasing | | | | contamination.Apples also have medical benefits. |
| polyphenoloxidase, an enzyme that darkens the | | | | They are use as an antidiarrheal. The pectin in |
| fruit. Acid inactivates polyphenoloxidase, so you | | | | apple is a natural antidiarrheal that helps solidify |
| can slow the browning (but not stop it | | | | stool. Shaved raw apple is sometimes used as a |
| completely) by dipping raw sliced and/or peeled | | | | folk remedy for diarrhea, and purified pectin is an |
| apples into a solution of lemon juice and water or | | | | ingredient in many over-the-counter |
| vinegar and water or by mixing them with citrus | | | | antidiarrheals.Apples can also be used to lower |
| fruits in a fruit salad. Polyphenoloxidase also works | | | | cholesterol levels. Soluble fiber (pectin) may |
| more slowly in the cold, but storing peeled apples | | | | interfere with the absorption of dietary fats, |
| in the refrigerator is much less effective than | | | | including cholesterol. The exact mechanism by |
| immersing them in an acid bath.When you cook an | | | | which this occurs is still unknown, but one theory |
| unpeeled apple, insoluble cellulose and lignin will hold | | | | is that the pectins in the apple may form a gel in |
| the peel intact through all normal cooking. The | | | | your stomach that sops up fats and cholesterol, |
| flesh of the apple, though, will fall apart as the | | | | carrying them out of your body as waste.Cindy is |
| pectin in its cell walls dissolves and the water | | | | the host of a Free Asian Recipes website |
| inside its cell swells, rupturing the cell walls and | | | | dedicated to all things on Asian Cooking and |
| turning the apples into applesauce. Commercial | | | | Culinary Guide. |
| bakers keep the apples in their apple pies firm by | | | | |