Everything You Need to Know About Buying and Cooking with Apples

updated May 4, 2022
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(Image credit: Julia Metkalova)

What’s not to love about apples? They’re colorful and sturdy enough to carry around all day. They’re a healthy snack, and delicious raw, baked, or even cooked into sauce. We’ve gathered together our best tips on shopping, storing, and cooking the popular fruit that always graces our fruit basket!

(Image credit: Christine Gallary)

Shopping for Apples

With so many varieties of apples out there, knowing what you want to do with the apples will help you pick the right variety. If you’re baking with apples, you’ll want ones that stay firm during the baking process, but if you want to turn apples into applesauce or apple butter, you’ll want ones that fall apart quickly. And the best ones to munch on? Crisp, juicy ones of course!

(Image credit: Faith Durand)

Storing Apples

Lucky for us, apples are such hardy fruit that they can be kept for months at a time if stored properly. Apples like cold temperatures, but since they emit a lot of ethylene gas, keep them away from fruits and vegetables that are sensitive to ethylene gas and immediately remove apples that are starting to go bad.

Coring and Peeling Apples

Whether you use a knife, vegetable peeler, or special gadget, prepping apples is an easy task since they’re thin-skinned, small, and easy to cut through. If you find yourself with a pile of apples to deal with for apple pie or applesauce, though, here are some tips help you peel and core efficiently!

And if you’re left with a pile of apple peels, don’t throw them away, here are some good ways to use them up!

(Image credit: Christine Gallary)

Apple Cider and Apple Juice

Apple season also means the arrival of delicious fresh apple cider and apple juice. While the lines are a bit blurred between what is designated apple cider and apple juice, apple cider is generally unfiltered, sometimes unpasteurized, apple juice, while apple juice is filtered apple juice.

(Image credit: Christine Gallary)

Dealing with Apples You Don’t Love

Sometimes we forget about the big bag of apples picked at the orchard last month or buy the wrong variety and end up with a lot of mealy ones, but these less-than-perfect apples can still be used! Turn them into unexpected treats like dehydrated apple rings instead.

(Image credit: Coco Morante)

Delicious Apple Recipes