Apple of summer's eye

KEEPING THE DOCTOR AWAY: It's apple season.

Relevant offers

Food

Clever combos The vegetarian lunchbox Cafe Chat: February 1 The vegetarian: Herby lentil pancakes Cheese-stuffed courgette flowers Eating out: Meshino Here's to an ice-cold summer Cafe Chat: December 21 Taking tea with a Twining Christmas favourite

Apple season has me wondering if there has ever been any follow-up of the claim made in 1904 by "fruit specialist" J T Stinson that "an apple a day keeps the doctor away"?

Are GPs worried about a drop in income? Do A&E departments hope business will drop off? Are the free apples handed out in primary schools many years ago responsible for the good health and long life of today's over-70s? Without extensive analysis of flow charts, growth charts and anti-discrimination laws, there are no sure answers. A vague response on an internet site informs that although apples contain useful amounts of vitamins A, B and C, "different varieties offer differing nutritional values". So let us eat our daily new-season's apple for taste, juice, crunch and bite, and enjoy it as good food rather than a health food.

This year's apple harvest began in early February and the apple varieties instore now include NZ beauty, royal gala and some early red delicious. All are crisp and juicy, and all the comments are similar. "Aren't this year's apples good!"

To buy: Rather than purchasing by the case, buy only what will fit in your fruit/vegetable crisper. Apples too long in store become dry and soft.

Check those pesky stickers on store-bought apples. They contain a lot of information, including the season. Look for 2010. To discover heirloom and/or new apple varieties, take a trip to an apple- growing area. Marshland Rd, in Christchurch, is a good starting point.

To store: Apples keep ripening after picking so keep refrigerated in the crisper. Those with their own apple trees will do well to follow the habits of small orchardists who store apples on pallets or in shallow wooden boxes in cool, dry sheds.

To eat: Some apples are best eaten raw, some are best cooked and others are multi-purpose. The difference between a cooker and a dessert (eating) apple is the differing acid levels. Eve is best eaten raw - probably partnered with a wedge of cheddar; granny smith and golden delicious are eaters and cookers; a bramley is only a cooker.

Apples are good companions with onions, potatoes, celeriac, fennel, parsnips, blackberries, plums, pears, quince, raspberries, cheese, mayonnaise, salmon, bacon, rabbit, chicken, pork, brandy, cider, sherry, maple syrup, honey, brown sugar, cinnamon, mint, thyme and star anise.

Apple galette

1 readymade sheet of frozen sweet short-crust pastry, slightly thawed

2 medium cooking and 2 dessert apples

1 tsp butter

1 Tbsp cold water

1 Tbsp caster sugar

1 egg white

2/3 Tbsp apricot jam, heated until runny

Peel, core and slice the two cookers and cook with butter, cold water and sugar over gentle heat until soft. Push through a sieve or puree in a mouli if the apples haven't cooked to a dry fluff. Put aside to cool completely.

Peel core and cut dessert apples into fine slices. Drop the slices into cold water acidulated with a little lemon juice as you go.

Place the pastry sheet on a greased baking dish or tray, and make a border by cutting into but not through the pastry about half a centimetre in, all round. Brush with the egg white to seal. Pile on the cold apple puree, then drain the sliced apples, pat dry and set out neatly over the puree, slightly overlapping the slices. Brush top gently with the warm jam. Bake at 200deg C on fan bake for 20-30 minutes until pastry is golden brown.

Remove, cool slightly and dust with icing sugar.

- © Fairfax NZ News