When is an apple not just an apple?
Did you know that when you’re eating an apple, you may be eating more than you bargained for?
The other day one of my work colleagues was scraping an apple with a knife edge to see thick flakes of wax floating off the skin. Now I don’t know about you, but I’d rather pass on the apple wax in my diet.
Supermarket apples are glossy and shiny not necessarily because they are fresh and healthy, but because they are waxed, buffed and polished more than a Vogue covergirl.
Real fresh fruit and vegetables (that is, the stuff grown organically straight off a tree) may not look as perfect as the veg you find in your supermarket, but you can rest assured you won’t be getting a mouthful of surprises with every bite. In fact, the only surprise you will get is the amazing flavour, which is so much more intense and honest than you find in mass produced fruit and veg.
So even if it might cost a little more up front, try getting some organic produce in your diet. The amazing flavour will be worth the extra few cents.
5 Responses to “ When is an apple not just an apple?”
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Ellie says:
October 23rd, 2006 at 4:56 pm
That is disgusting
We’re lucky to have a small farm nearby which sells us organic and fresh produce - since they sell by bulk we usually only buy the apples and carrots since both are consumed on a daily basis in my household, but the produce is amazingly fresh and it actually works out cheaper than the grocery store or supermarket.
Kate says:
October 23rd, 2006 at 10:36 pm
ugh, that is horrid.
*shivers*
now i don’t want to even look at the apples i bought from the orchard, but maybe i should. hopefully i will be pleasantly surprised to find them….normal.
Ali-K says:
October 24th, 2006 at 11:05 am
A colleague of mine mentioned a current affair program (most likely one of the reputable shows aired on channel 7 or 9) claiming that some apples are frozen if stocks are too high, then defrosted and placed on the shelves. That’s almost as scary as all that wax.
Lady Lunchalot says:
October 24th, 2006 at 12:38 pm
I’ve found a little more info on the apple waxing situation. Apparently (surprise surprise) apples are waxed to keep them fresher longer. http://www.bestapples.com/facts/waxing.html
This article says that the wax is a natural wax, so it’s ok to eat. Ear wax is also natural, but you won’t catch me eating that.
Here commenceth the rant
This is yet another example of the food industry sacrificing the health and flavour of our produce for the sake of mass production.
Sometimes I feel like the only person in the world who believes food is SUPPOSED TO GO BAD! An apple is supposed to be eaten FRESH, within a couple of days of being picked. Not smothered in wax, driven to the other side of the country or flown to the other side of the planet to sit on a supermarket shelf for the next 2 weeks, and then in your fruit bowl for another week or so.
Hmph.
Now how about them apples?
Samantha says:
November 28th, 2006 at 7:14 am
Nice post, great picture, really important topic.
But considering that the apple harvest in Australia takes places between January and May (i.e. mid-summer to late autumn), where would you expect an apple purchased in October to have come from? It MUST have come either from long-term cold storage, or the northern hemisphere.
The economics of supply and demand suggest that consumers who will happily fork out money for apples in spring are at least as much to blame as the food industry. If the demand stopped, so would the supply.