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Old Apple Varieties: That’s Why They’re Healthier

Old apple varieties were long forgotten, but now they are experiencing a renaissance. Because they not only provide more taste variety and biodiversity, but are also healthier – especially for allergy sufferers.

What are old apple varieties?

Pink Lady, Golden Delicious, Gala: These three apple varieties are among the “usual suspects” in supermarket fruit displays. There you will find just a small fraction of the estimated 2,000 apple varieties that exist in Germany. Only about 20 varieties are grown in economically significant quantities. The other varieties can only be found in certain regions, for example, in the gardens of hobby gardeners and self-sufficient people or on meadow orchards. These include many so-called “old apple varieties”, such as Berlepsch, Boskoop, Cox Orange or the Gravensteiner.

Old apple varieties have been cultivated in this country for a long time, sometimes for centuries. However, they have not been overbred like many of the most popular apple varieties in the supermarket. In particular, conventional apples are bred in such a way that they are resistant to plant diseases or are easy to store and transport. These breeds are often at the expense of the ingredients and the variety of tastes. Old varieties, on the other hand, have retained their unique taste.

What makes old apple varieties particularly healthy?

In addition to their special aroma, old apple varieties are also interesting because of their health benefits. These were mainly due to the high polyphenol content in old apple varieties.

Polyphenols are aromatic compounds that are mostly found in or just under the apple skin. There is research by the BUND Group Lemgo in cooperation with the allergy center of the Charité Berlin on the polyphenol content in old apple varieties. They have shown that the high amount of polyphenols apparently contributes to the fact that many apple allergy sufferers can tolerate old apple varieties without any problems. And that’s not all: the studies also showed that people who were allergic to apples had fewer problems with hay fever if they regularly consumed the well-tolerated varieties. In adults, hay fever often occurs in combination with an apple allergy.

Polyphenols are found in much larger amounts in old apple varieties because they were bred from new varieties. According to the NDR, polyphenols normally ensure that the pulp turns brown after the apple has been cut. Such breeds no longer have the alleged problem of an unappetizing appearance, but they also lack the health-promoting effect of the polyphenols in the apple.

In addition to positive effects for apple allergy sufferers, polyphenols have also been shown to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and blood pressure-regulating properties.

Why old apple varieties are important

Breeding and crossing of different apple varieties have been taking place for centuries. Over time, a large variety of varieties, flavors, shapes and colors has emerged. But there is not much left of this diversity today. The modern, global economic system focuses on maximizing yield and year-round availability of apples. As a result, apples are mainly only grown in such a way that they are easy to transport, store and resistant.

So far, old apple varieties have not been able to assert themselves against the mass of optimized supermarket apples. But thanks to the increasing interest in sustainability and organic farming, many old apple varieties are being rediscovered. Efforts are being made to conserve or revive these varieties so they don’t die out completely. This promotes variety.

The environment and regional agriculture also benefit from the growing interest in old apple varieties. Some of these strains only thrive in certain regions. Local farmers have less work with apple varieties that are perfectly adapted to the environment. And consumers can be sure that they are shopping in a more environmentally friendly way if they choose seasonal and regional apples.

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Make Apple Chips Yourself

Hardly any calories, low in fat and rich in vitamins when made correctly – homemade apple chips are a delicious snack for in between. We’ll tell you how you can make chips from apples yourself.

If you want to make apple chips yourself, you can use old apples, even if they have become a bit soft and shriveled. In addition, homemade apple chips are guaranteed free of sulfur dioxide or other preservatives compared to the supermarket version. In principle, you can use any variety, but Elstar and Boskop taste best (make sure they are organic!).

Air dry homemade apple chips

Ingredients:

apples of your choice

Directions:

Wash the apples, core them (an apple corer is helpful) and cut or slice them into slices about 2 to 3 millimeters thick.
Spread the apple rings individually on a baking sheet or rack. Alternatively, you can also hang up the apple rings with string to dry.
Set them outside in the warm sun to dry. But you can also let the apple rings dry in warm, dry places such as the attic or by the fireplace. With this method you do not need any additional energy.
Cover everything with fly screens, thin curtains or similar to protect the apple chip ships from flies and wasps.
After about two to three weeks, your apples will be dry.
The apple chips can be kept dry for several weeks in a well-closable container. Storage boxes made of glass or stainless steel are best.

Make apple chips in the oven

Ingredients:

apples of your choice

Directions:

Wash the apples, core them (an apple corer is helpful) and cut or slice them into slices about 2 to 3 millimeters thick.
Arrange the apple rings on baking sheets or racks. It makes sense if you borrow several baking trays or racks in order to use the energy of the oven optimally.
Put the apples in the oven at around 70 degrees for three to four hours to dry. Leave the oven door ajar with a wooden spoon. This allows the moisture to escape. It is best if you can use some of the residual heat from other dishes or cakes. This is how you save energy. Because this form of drying is very energy-intensive.
The homemade apple chips will keep for several weeks in an airtight container.

Dry apple chips in the dehydrator

If you make apple chips more often or also dry other fruit, it could be worth buying a dehydrator. The method is more effective than drying in the oven and more reliable than drying the apple chips in the air.

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Cooking Tips

Apple Varieties: Old and New Apples and What They are Good For

Apple varieties: You should know these old and new apple varieties

Depending on where you shop, you probably know a handful of apple varieties and can identify them. But how do they actually differ? This image gallery introduces you to important apple varieties and shows when and how to use them.

The apple variety Boskop

The Boskop apple variety produces particularly large apples and is usually red-green in colour, only the “red Boskop” is red. Taste & Use: The Boskop tastes tart and sour and is considered an intense apple that some find too sour – ideal for applesauce and baked apples, for cooking and baking. Sustainability: This apple variety originally comes from Boskoop in the Netherlands, but is now also native to Germany. The season lasts from late September to mid-October, then from storage to March. Worth knowing: The apple contains few apple allergens.

The Topaz: often organic

Topaz is a young apple variety that was bred in the Czech Republic in the mid-1980s. The basic color of the apple is pastel yellow with red stripes, speckles or red colored areas. Taste & Use: The firm, tangy flesh makes the Topaz an all-rounder – it can be used for cooking and baking and tastes fresh and lemony. Sustainability: Because the Topaz is considered to be robust and not very susceptible to diseases, it is often used in organic fruit cultivation. Although the Topaz apple comes from the Czech Republic, it is grown throughout Central Europe. Season from the end of September, until March still from storage. Worth knowing: The allergy potential of Topaz is comparatively low.

Berlepsch: old apple variety with lots of vitamin C

The old apple variety Goldrenette Freiherr von Berlepsch was bred in 1880 on the Lower Rhine. It is flat round with a brown-red base color and light brown spots. Taste & use: The Berlepsch is highly aromatic with balanced acidity and, with its very crisp and juicy flesh, is a great table apple. Sustainability: The apple variety likes mild and moist soils, such as those on the Lower Rhine, where it is also cultivated a lot. The Berlepsch is freshly harvested from mid-September and is available as a good storage apple until the end of March.

Apple variety Santana: for allergy sufferers

The apple variety Santana has been on the market since 1996. The Santana is large, spherical and often has a greasy skin. On the sunny side it is bright red, otherwise yellow. Taste & use: The apple tastes slightly sour with a delicate tropical aroma and is suitable as a table apple, for cooking and baking. Sustainability: Once bred in the Netherlands, the Santana is now grown throughout Central Europe. The harvest begins in September. It can only be stored for a limited time (see: Storing apples): its quality decreases from January and you should avoid it then.

Summer apple: Gravensteiner

The Gravensteiner is a very old apple variety and has been known since 1669. The often crooked apples with a very oily, waxy skin come in color variations from green to red with yellow. Taste & use: The strong, spicy apple smells very intense and can be used for all preparation purposes. Sustainability: The Gravensteiner is grown in the north of the world, in Europe mainly in Scandinavia. This apple variety is a summer apple: it is harvested from August. Due to its poor storability, it is rarely offered until the winter months.

Apple variety that always tastes good: Rubinette

The Rubinette was not bred, but happened by chance in Switzerland in the mid-1960s. The yellow-orange-red coloring of the Rubinette Rossa can also be very red. Taste & use: The Rubinette apple variety has an intense fragrance and a very balanced apple aroma and is mainly consumed as a table apple. Sustainability: The apples grow up to medium altitudes and are therefore often grown in regions that are not typical for apples. Rubinette is harvested in mid-September, but does not store well, so sales usually end in December.

Elstar: classic among the varieties

Elstar is an apple variety bred in the Netherlands in 1955 from Golden Delicious and Ingrid Marie. Its fruits are spherical and bright orange-red with yellow. Taste & use: Elstar is a sweet apple variety with a slight acidity and intensely spicy aroma with citrus and banana notes and is a good all-rounder for all types of preparation. Sustainability: Elstar is the apple most grown in Germany. The harvest takes place in September. It can only be stored to a limited extent and is therefore available until February at the latest.

Pinova: Apple variety from Dresden

The Pinova was bred in Dresden from the apple varieties Clivia and Golden Delicious. The medium-sized apples, tapering downwards, are golden yellow with partly large areas of orange-red. Taste & use: The rather coarse but firm flesh is slightly reminiscent of quince. Pinova apples are ideal for eating raw. Sustainability: The Pinova apple variety likes it warm and sunny and grows, for example, in the Rhineland, in the Old Country and around its “birthplace” Dresden. The Pinova is in season from the end of September. It can be stored until May, but then it becomes increasingly sweet and dry in taste.

Jona Gold: Central Europe’s most apple variety

The ball-sized, yellow to strawberry-red Jonagold apples were bred in the USA from Golden Delicious and Jonathan. Taste & Use: The flesh is yellowish and juicy and becomes soft after prolonged storage. Jonagold apples have a full-bodied sweet taste with a fine acidity and balanced aroma. Jonagold is equally suitable as a table apple as it is for baking and cooking. Sustainability: Although the Jonagold originally comes from the USA, it is now the most cultivated apple variety in Central Europe. In northern Germany, the Jonagored variant matures better. Jonagold is harvested from October and can be stored extremely well, so it can still be on sale until June.

Granny Smith – not a ‘green’ apple?

The light green Granny Smith is one of the best-known apple varieties. Discovered in Australia in 1868 by “Granny” Maria Ann Smith, it conquered the global fruit market thanks to its good transport properties. Taste & Use: Because of its pronounced acidity, Granny Smith is well suited for baking and cooking. Sustainability: This apple variety cannot be grown in Germany and comes at least from South Tyrol, but mostly from Chile, New Zealand or Australia in our fruit basket. From southern Europe he comes to us from October. In the southern hemisphere, Granny Smith is harvested in our spring and is therefore available “fresh” from April – with a corresponding ecological footprint.

Golden Delicious: cooking and baking apple

The Golden Delicious apple variety is an old apple variety from the USA. The apples are greenish to creamy yellow and uniform in shape. Taste & use: Good, sweet-aromatic table apple that does not disintegrate much when heated and is therefore also suitable for cooking and baking. Sustainability: The Golden Delicious is rarely grown in Germany and mainly comes to our stores from Italy, Austria or Switzerland. The season starts in mid-September. Thanks to its good shelf life, Golden Delicious can be offered until June, but the long refrigeration then increases its ecological footprint. Worth knowing: In the GDR, the Golden Delicious was grown excessively as a “yellow delicious”.

Gala Royal: Take a close look at the origin of the apple!

The Gala Royal apple is a variety of the Gala apple variety that was bred in 1970 and comes from New Zealand. The well-formed fruits are orange-red with yellow and only medium-sized. Taste & Use: The pale yellow flesh is very sweet and juicy and can be used in both cold and warm dishes. Sustainability: The Gala Royal is mainly grown in southern Germany and Switzerland, but for the European market it mostly comes from New Zealand and Chile and has correspondingly long transport routes behind it. European fruits of this apple variety are harvested in September and can only be stored until the end of winter. Gala Royal apples, which we offer in spring, are guaranteed to come from growing countries in the southern hemisphere.

Cox Orange: in spring from New Zealand

The Cox Orange already has its coloring in its name. The orange-red apple variety was discovered in England in 1825. Taste & Use: Like many old apple varieties, the Cox Orange has a distinctive, very balanced aroma with an intense smell and pleasant acidity. It is ideal for all types of preparation. Sustainability: Cox Orange likes a maritime climate and is rarely grown in Germany. He is mainly from England and New Zealand. If the Cox Orange comes from Germany or neighboring countries, it is in season from September. Apples that are sold from April mostly come from New Zealand. Worth knowing: The apple variety is highly allergenic and not suitable for apple allergy sufferers.

Determine apple varieties

Determining apple varieties is not that easy. In any case, only five to fifteen varieties are usual in the trade and as a consumer you have to go to special suppliers in order to be able to enjoy other and particularly old apple varieties.

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Freezing and Defrosting Apples: You Have to Pay Attention to This

Freezing apples is a good way to make your harvest last longer. However, there are a few things to keep in mind so that the apples still taste good after defrosting.

Freezing apples – what should I watch out for?

Freezing is one way of preserving food. But when it comes to apples, this method has its limits. The reason: Apples have a high water content and the apple loses its taste when it freezes due to the large amount of water. In addition, the cold destroys the cell structure and the apple loses its consistency. But if you want to bake or cook with the apples, you can freeze them without hesitation. We show a good method with which the apples can be easily processed later.

Freeze apples – but without plastic

If you want to freeze apples and thaw them again, use stainless steel cans or old jam and preserving jars, for example. It is important that the containers can be sealed airtight (more on the subject here: Freezing without plastic).

Note: We recommend that you use apples of the best organic quality from the region or from your own garden. Orchards are also a good way to get apples from the region. In this way you avoid long transport routes, which cause high CO2 emissions. In addition, the apples then contain no residues from chemical sprays. This is good for your health, as well as for bees and other insects.

Freeze apples in small portions

It is best to freeze apples the way you want to use them later. For baking and cooking you usually need apple slices. If you prefer larger pieces, quarter the apples. However, you cannot freeze it as a whole, as it takes too long to freeze through.

The best way to process the apple pieces is to blanch them briefly before freezing:

Cut the apples into small wedges.
Place the apple slices in a saucepan of boiling water and add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.
Cook the apple slices for four to five minutes.
Take the apple slices out of the water with a sieve and rinse them with cold water.
Now you can put the apple slices in a container, seal it airtight and put it in the freezer. You should use them within six months.

Thaw and use apples

To ensure that the apples do not lose their taste, you should defrost them gently:

The fridge is best for this. Let them thaw there for about 4 hours and then another 2 hours at room temperature. Because they only develop their full aroma from around 16 degrees.
If you plan to use the apples for pie toppings or to make compotes, you don’t need to thaw them. You can use them directly.
You can preserve apples by freezing them. But home-made applesauce or boiling apples is more energy-efficient and delicious. If you store apples properly, you can enjoy them well into the winter without freezing or preserving them.

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Cooking Tips

Utilize Apple Juice: How to Use It

If you want to use apple juice, you have numerous uses for it. We give you tips and tell you a simple recipe for vegan apple juice pudding.

If you’ve ever taken apples to a cider factory, you may be familiar with this – it can come out with more apple juice than you expected. Depending on the manufacturing process, it has a shorter or longer shelf life. It is often difficult to drink all of the apple juice in time. It would be a shame if you had to dispose of it. Even if you received apple juice as a gift and don’t really like drinking it straight, you can be in this situation. But there are many good ideas on how to use apple juice.

If you buy apple juice or other ingredients, make sure that they are organic if possible. In this way you avoid residues of chemical-synthetic pesticides and support ecological agriculture.

Use apple juice: tips

In the article Apple jelly: easy recipe to make yourself, you can skip steps one to six. From step seven you can start making a delicious spread from your apple juice.
In the cold season, a freshly made apple punch is a great alternative to mulled wine. For example, try this non-alcoholic apple punch recipe.
Another special drink for cold days: glow gin.
You can also use some of your apple juice in smoothies, like a healthy celery smoothie or a wintry beetroot smoothie. With apple juice as a smoothie basis, you can create a wide variety of variations yourself.
Even if you can’t use large amounts of it, baking with apple juice is definitely worth a try. For example, you need apple juice for this vegan recipe: Strawberry Cake without Sugar: So easy and delicious. You use the apple juice here as an alternative to refined sugar.
A great surprise for children: homemade gummy bears. You can use any fruit juice for this treat. You can use your leftover apple juice to make apple-flavored gummy bears.

Recipe for using apple juice: apple juice pudding

Apple juice pudding is a light, quick dessert that does not require any milk at all. This means that the dessert contains less fat and is well suited for vegans. You can enjoy the apple juice pudding warm or cold and make children happy too.

Tip: You can easily make the pudding powder for the recipe yourself. This saves you money and packaging waste.

Ingredients:

500 ml apple juice
4 tablespoons brown sugar
1 pack(s)custard powder 1apples

Directions:

Take 6 tablespoons of the apple juice and pour it into a bowl or measuring cup. Add the sugar and custard powder and mix with a whisk until smooth.
Finely grate the apple and set aside. You can decide whether you want to grate it with its skin or peel it first.
Heat the remaining apple juice in a saucepan until boiling, then remove from the heat.
Now add the grated apple and stir it in. Immediately afterwards, stir the powder mixture into the still hot apple juice with a whisk.
Place the pot back on the stove and boil the apple juice again until it thickens. You should stir the pudding steadily until you remove it from the stovetop.
Fill the pudding into small bowls and enjoy it warm or let it cool down first. Tip: You can enjoy your pudding on its own or refine it with seasonal fruits, nuts or cinnamon, for example. Chocolate pudding powder can also be used instead of vanilla.

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Pak Choi Salad with Apple: Recipe with lots of vegetables

You can process pak choi into a crunchy salad. Here you get the right recipe for the wholesome variety of cabbage, which has a light mustard aroma.

Crisp, a mild spiciness reminiscent of mustard and easily digestible: These characteristics make Pak Choi an ideal basis for salads.

Pak Choi, also known as Chinese cabbage, is a cabbage vegetable that is widespread in Asian cuisine. But you can also find Pak Choi more and more often in local vegetable displays. It not only tastes great fried, steamed or blanched, but also as a pak choi salad.

Due to the high fiber content, most people often do not tolerate raw brassicas well and suffer from stomach and intestinal problems after eating them. However, since pak choi has a little less fiber and is therefore more digestible than other cabbage, you can also eat it raw.

Pak Choi Salad: A recipe with lots of vegetables

Ingredients:

250 g pak choi
1 large carrot
1cucumber
6radishes
1big apple
2spring onions
0.5 bunch of chives
1 tsp sweet mustard
4 tbsp walnut oil
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
salt and pepper

Directions:

Clean and cut the pak choi into small pieces. You can find tips on how to do this under Preparing Pak Choi: How to make Chinese cabbage.
Wash the vegetables and the apple. Cut the carrot, cucumber and radishes into sticks and the apple into small pieces. Cut the spring onions and chives into fine rings. Toss the pak choi salad in a large bowl.
For the dressing, mix the mustard, walnut oil, and apple cider vinegar together. If necessary, add a little water if the dressing is too thick. Season the dressing with salt and pepper.
Pour the dressing over the pak choi salad and mix well.

Additional tips for cooking

However, similar to chard, which is often confused with pak choi, the stalks of the vegetable can sometimes be a bit firm. You should therefore cut the pak choi for salads as small as possible.
Nutty components such as sesame oil or walnut oil in the dressing go well with the light mustard aroma of the crunchy sticks.
A fruity note balances the tart taste of the green leaves. Pomegranate seeds or pieces of apple, for example, are therefore suitable as toppings.
Make sure your ingredients are organic. Seals such as Bioland, Naturland or Demeter identify products that come from environmentally friendly cultivation. Among other things, you can be sure that they are free of chemical-synthetic pesticides.
If you shop seasonally and regionally, you can also save on CO2 emissions. This is particularly important with pak choi, as it often comes from Thailand.
If you don’t like it raw, you can also add fried pak choi to the salad.

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Apple Punch: Delicious Recipe Without Alcohol

An apple punch warms you up from the inside after a walk on cold winter days. Because this apple punch recipe does not contain any alcohol, it is also suitable for children.

Apple punch is a fruity alternative to classic eggnog or mulled wine at Christmas time. Boiled and filled into pretty glass bottles, it also makes a good gift.

We’ll show you a simple recipe that doesn’t contain any alcohol – so it’s also perfect for Dry January. You will also learn how you can vary your apple punch.

You need these ingredients for apple punch

For two liters of apple punch you need the following ingredients:

1 liter of water
6 tsp fruit tea
2 organic oranges
5 cloves
2 sticks of cinnamon
1 liter of apple juice
Sugar or honey to taste
To cook the apple punch, you need a large saucepan with a lid.

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Cinnamon is indispensable in the winter time. However, by the time it ends up on our shelves, it has had to travel long distances. Buy organic spices and also look for fair trade cinnamon. This is how you can support fair working conditions.

Also make sure that the other ingredients for your apple punch are organic and of regional origin. Products from the region have shorter transport routes and are therefore better for the climate.

Apple punch: the preparation

The apple punch is quick and easy to make. Follow this guide step by step:

Boil the water for the non-alcoholic apple punch in a kettle or saucepan. Put the fruit tea in a teapot and pour the boiling water over the tea. Let the tea steep for eight to ten minutes.
Wash and slice an orange. Stud the slices with some cloves as shown in the picture above. With this trick you can easily remove the cloves from the finished apple punch.
Squeeze the second orange and pour the orange juice into a large saucepan.
Add the apple juice, spices and some sugar. Stir the liquid well to dissolve the sugar.
Warm the apple juice gently, it must not boil.
Pour the finished tea through a sieve into the apple juice.
Season the apple punch with sugar or honey and stir well until the sugar has dissolved.
Heat the apple punch to just before boiling point without boiling it.
Let the apple punch stand for five to ten minutes so that the aroma can develop fully.

Apple punch: possible variations

This is how your apple punch tastes a little different:

Use two organic lemons as well. Slice one lemon and squeeze the second.
Cut an apple into small pieces and put a few pieces directly into the cup. It looks nice and the apple pieces quickly cool the apple posh down to drinking temperature.
The color of the apple punch depends on the type of tea. Use apple peel tea for a light apple punch. Fruit tea with hibiscus or rosehip gives the apple punch a reddish colour.
Add 2-3 slices of ginger root to the apple punch. The fiery taste of ginger also warms you up.
Two to three pieces of star anise add variety to the taste of your apple punch.
Try to reduce or eliminate the sugar altogether. Apple juice is naturally sweet. Alternatively, you can also cook a few raisins, as they sweeten the apple punch slightly.

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Cinnamon Apple: Origin, Use and Regional Alternatives

The cinnamon apple is a tropical fruit. We will tell you more about the taste, appearance, origin and sustainability of the sweet and spicy cherimoya fruit variety.

Other names for the cinnamon apple are cream apple, sweet sack or cherimoya. In the botanical name Annona squamosa, squamosa means “scaly” and thus describes the appearance of the tropical fruit well: it is usually green on the outside with a coarsely scaly structure and white on the inside. However, there are also externally yellow-green or purple cinnamon apples.

This is how the cinnamon apple grows

The tree or shrub of the cinnamon apple can grow up to six meters high. It is a very popular and widespread fruit tree in tropical and subtropical countries. The cinnamon apple originally comes from South America, but it also grows in Egypt and China.

A cinnamon apple needs a relatively large amount of water to grow, but it is also able to survive longer periods of drought. In return, he discards his leaves.

Harvest time for the cinnamon apple is from June to November. The fruits of the cinnamon apple are five to ten centimeters in diameter. When fully ripe, the flesh is very soft and juicy with a sweet taste. In most varieties there are many black-brown seeds in the cinnamon apple.

How is the cinnamon apple eaten?

To eat, you simply break open a ripe cinnamon apple and scoop it out of the skin, for example, similar to a kiwi. You should not eat the skin and especially the seeds. The latter are poisonous if you chew them. If you ever swallow a core whole, that’s no problem.

If you don’t want to eat the cinnamon apple on its own, you can also use it to make ice cream, mix it with water to make a delicious drink, or add it to a homemade milkshake.

If the cinnamon apple is not yet soft and ripe, it is best to store it at room temperature. So he can mature. Once it’s soft, you should put it in the fridge and eat it soon. The taste of the cinnamon apple is very sweet, fruity and somewhat creamy and tastes slightly of cinnamon and vanilla.

The cinnamon apple does not feel comfortable in Germany. That’s why you can only buy it as an imported product, but even as such it is not very common. The long transport unfortunately makes the custard apple problematic from an ecological point of view. The fruit therefore has a correspondingly poor ecological balance. If you have a green thumb, you can try growing the custard apple yourself. Otherwise, enjoy it in moderation.

Unfortunately, there are no local fruit varieties that are similar in taste and consistency to the cinnamon apple. Only a (vegan) vanilla ice cream with a pinch of cinnamon could mimic the flavor.

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Apple Juice in the Dough: Why Only Naturally Cloudy Direct Juice Performs Well

Stiftung Warentest tested apple juice – with mixed results. Not-from-concentrate juices perform best, most juices are mediocre. The test method misses a major problem.

After orange juice, apple juice is the second most popular juice in Germany: we drink around six and a half liters of it per capita a year – not including apple spritzer. The selection of products in the supermarket is correspondingly large.

Stiftung Warentest has now tasted 26 apple juices and examined them in the laboratory. The result: only six juices – all naturally cloudy not-from-concentrate juices – scored “good”. Most juices are satisfactory, three are fair, and one fails with poor.

Apple juice: Naturally cloudy direct juice convinces in the test

Of the 26 apple juices in the dough, 16 are not-from-concentrate juices. This is juice that is briefly heated and bottled immediately after the apples have been pressed. In the case of juices made from juice concentrate, on the other hand, the pressed juice is processed into a concentrate using heat, which is later diluted back into juice with water and flavorings.

“The test shows that the naturally cloudy not-from-concentrate juices are superior to the juices made from concentrate, especially in terms of taste,” says project manager Janine Schlenker. Apple juice is naturally cloudy, but it can be clarified by centrifuging and filtering. Sometimes gelatine is also used for filtering, which is why such juices are often considered non-vegan.

According to Stiftung Warentest, naturally cloudy juices are also healthier than clear ones because they contain more effective plant substances (polyphenols). These are mainly found in the cloudy matter. However, apple juice contains hardly any natural vitamin C.

Dough winners and losers

Among the six good juices are two organic juices:

Voelkel Demeter apple 100% direct juice
Van Nahmen organic apple juice from meadow orchards
The conventional naturally cloudy direct juices from Edeka and Lidl also do well.

Both the not-from-concentrate juices from Aldi Nord and popular branded juices – such as from Amecke and Pfanner – are only satisfactory in the test.

Among other things, the naturally cloudy juices from Dm Bio and Granini scored “sufficient”. The testers criticized both for a comparatively low aroma content, and for the granini juice also for unclear declarations on the sugar content and alleged CO2 neutrality.

Of the eight organic apple juices in the test, only the two above did well, four others (Aldi Nord, Edeka, Lidl, Rabenhorst) with satisfactory.

The naturally cloudy Alnatura apple juice was the only juice to score unsatisfactory in the test – the laboratory found a high content of ethanol, volatile acidity and acetoin. According to Stiftung Warentest, this indicates inferior quality apples or improper processing. However, the levels are not harmful to health.

Dough ignores pesticides

What you should know: In contrast to the Oko-Test, the “sensory judgement” (i.e. the taste) is rated the most at Stiftung Warentest. The “chemical quality”, on the other hand, only accounts for 15% of the overall assessment.

The laboratory apparently did not check whether there were any pesticide residues. The use of pesticides in apple cultivation is widespread. In 2020, Oko-Test found traces of pesticides in all conventional juices in the apple juice test – in some even several and some particularly problematic.

No pollutants, but not necessarily healthy

After all, the Stiftung Warentest laboratory did not find any other residues or pollutants that were harmful to health, such as mold toxins or germs, in any juice.

However, nutrition experts repeatedly point out that fruit juices are not suitable thirst quenchers. They contain a lot of fructose.

The German Society for Nutrition (DGE) does not even classify fruit juices as drinks, but as fruit and vegetables – because according to the experts, drinks should be “low-energy”. This applies to water and unsweetened teas, but not to juice. In order to be able to more easily implement the recommendation to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, one portion of fruit can be replaced by 200 milliliters of fruit juice, but not every day.

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19 Must-Know Facts About Apples

Apples are included in the daily diet of many people, being not only a source of vitamins but also just a delicious fruit. However, few people, crunching a juicy red-sided fruit, think about the benefits that it brings to the body.

  1. The average apple has about 80 calories.
  2. According to archaeological finds, people have been growing apple trees since about 8,500 years ago.
  3. Apple peel is high in healthy fiber to aid digestion.
  4. Apple orchards cover an area of ​​about five million hectares on the surface of our planet.
  5. Apples lower blood cholesterol levels.
  6. The apple symbol is very widespread in heraldry; it flaunts on eighty coats of arms.
  7. Apples tone the body no worse than coffee.
  8. If the apple quickly darkened at the cut, then it is good.
  9. There are more than seven thousand varieties of apples in the world, but only about a hundred of them go on sale.
  10. The oldest apple tree in the world grows in the United States, it was planted in 1647, and still bears fruit.
  11. For medieval alchemists, the apple was a symbol of knowledge.
  12. The heaviest apple ever grown weighed about 1.3 kilograms.
  13. The apple is the most frequently mentioned fruit in mythology.
  14. The Russian Queen Elizabeth could not stand apples and forbade her courtiers to eat them.
  15. The homeland of apples is the territory of modern Kazakhstan.
  16. The apple tree was the first tree that humans cultivated.
  17. The world’s first apple-producing country is China.
  18. Apples are a quarter of air, and therefore do not sink in water.
  19. Apples contain a lot of vitamins B and C.
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