We were tickled by this note tacked up above the fresh apples at a Virginia farmers market last weekend: This is what apples really look like. We didn't try any, since we just went apple-picking (report coming soon!) but we bet they were juicy and delicious.
Farmers markets are great places for eaters and cooks to learn more about fresh fruits and vegetables, direct from the ground. Sometimes they look a little different than the waxed and airbrushed produce we expect in the grocery store, and farmers like this are doing a good job of reconnecting us with the realities of local food.
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I dunno, at first it grosses me out, and then I think that some of 'em look pretty cool--check out that heavily-spotted one on the right side of the sign, it looks like it's in jungle camo!
view Jim of ChewOnThat's profile
That sign is awesome. They should launch a website about organic produce and the difference pesticides make in the look of food.
view Lady J's profile
Is that for real? Do ALL apples look like that? Are they sprayed with chemicals or coloring or both to make them look like the grocery store ones? Forgive me my ignorance, but I've only seen a few apples in my life that looked like that.
view Monkeyme's profile
Wowza. They are so beautiful in their own way, too.
view Maryam in Marrakesh's profile
Not all organic, pesticide-free apples look like that. I believe excessive rain can make them look that way due to harmless fungal growth or mildew.
And some apple varieties are just naturally spotty. :)
view verily's profile
If the markings wash off, it's either fungus or mildew (as verily says) or dirt. It's not that REAL apples look like that -- it's that DIRTY apples look like that.
(Monkeyme, we grew all sorts of fruits and nuts at home when I was a child... it looked pretty much like the fruit in the stores. Tasted better, because we grew varieties that didn't have to pack well for the long trip from Chile...)
view wende in phoenix's profile
Most commercial apples are spayed for any of a million different fungi, pests, etc. Apparently only about 5% of apples on any given tree are naturally pretty the rest will develop some sort of blemish, now the particular type of blemish or infestation depends on the growth conditions so not all apples will have this particular disease but they will get something nasty looking.
http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/factsheets/ecogardening/hgapples.html
view sally599's profile