Apple Varieties and Their Uses

As you will be getting ready to watch the leaves turn golden, you can almost taste, the crisp tarty apple on your taste buds. Apples are one of the popular fruit varieties and everyone enjoys taking a bite from a big, red apple. There are different apple varieties and their uses vary accordingly. There are a great many different types of apples that differ in their colors, sizes and taste. All apples contain soluble and insoluble fibers. The soluble fibers, like pectin, are very useful in controlling cholesterol levels in the blood. This helps in keeping heart diseases and atherosclerosis at bay. The insoluble fibers on the other hand, hold water in the intestine and hence, help clean them. These insoluble fibers also help in moving food around the digestive system. In this article, we shall cover some information that is related to apple varieties and their uses.

Apple Varieties and Their Uses
There are many apple varieties and their uses can confuse anybody. When you visit your local grocery store, you will surely be overwhelmed by the different apple varieties. It becomes quite a task, trying to pick the right apple variety for pies, sauces, salads and sometimes just to eat them fresh and raw. You may even come across different apple recipes and this may further confuse you as to which apple will suit your recipe best. The apple variety list also differs not only according to their uses, but also according to their taste, texture and flavor. The table given below contains some of the most popular apple varieties and their uses.

Variety	Fresh and Salads	Pie	Sauce	Baking (Whole)
Cortland	Excellent	Fair	Good	Fair
Crispin (Mutsu)	Excellent	Good	Good	Good
Criterion	Very Good	Good	Good	Good
Empire	Excellent	Good	Good	Fair
Gala	Excellent	Good	Good	Good
Ginger Gold	Excellent	Good	Good	Good
Golden Delicious	Excellent	Good	Good	Good
Granny Smith	Very Good	Very Good	Very Good	Fair
Gravenstein	Very Good	Very Good	Excellent	Fair
Idared	Good	Good	Good	Good
Jonagold	Very Good	Very Good	Good	Very Good
JonaMac	Excellent	Fair	Fair	Good
Jonathan	Very Good	Very Good	Very Good	Good
Liberty	Good	Good	Good	Fair
Macoun	Very Good	Poor	Fair	Fair
McIntosh	Good	Fair	Fair	Poor
Newtown Pippin	Very Good	Excellent	Very Good	Good
Northern Spy	Excellent	Excellent	Good	Excellent
Paulared	Good	Excellent	Excellent	Good
Red Delicious	Excellent	Fair	Fair	Poor
Rome Beauty	Good	Good	Good	Excellent
Sansa	Excellent	Fair	Good	Good
Winesap	Very Good	Very Good	Good	Good

Recipe for Apple Butter
There are different apple recipes for homemade applesauce, homemade apple cider recipe, etc. One very common mouth-watering use of apple is in the preparation of apple butter. Apple butter is one of the popular uses of apple that is nothing but a highly concentrated form of apple sauce. Apple butter contains no dairy products and is named apple butter due to its thick and soft consistency. Also, apple butter is commonly used as a bread spread. For many families in the South, preparation of apple butter is a family event. The following homemade apple butter recipe is a simple and easy one that you can try cooking with your fresh apples.

Ingredients

• 10 pints apples (peeled and sliced)
• 4 cups raw sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 quart water
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves

Method of Preparation

You need to take a large kettle and place the apples and water in it. Then boil the water and allow it to simmer, covered. Continue to let it simmer till the apples are soft. Then you need to pass the soften apples through a food mill. This strained applesauce needs to be mixed with the remaining ingredients in another clean kettle. Once again, bring the applesauce to boil and continue to stir till the sugar gets completely dissolved. You need to cook gently, uncovered, till the applesauce mixture becomes thick enough. You need to cook the apple sauce for at least two and a half hours and be sure to keep stirring often. Once you are done, you need to pour the apple butter into hot sterilized jars and seal it. This recipe is suitable for making about 2 quarts of apple butter.

This was some information regarding apple varieties and their uses. The apple variety list is very long and these are just a few of the popular ones mentioned in this article. There are many health benefits of apples that gives rise to the old adage 'An Apple a Day, Keeps the Doctor Away'. I hope this article on apple variety list has helped you get some idea regarding their types and uses.