While the apple season is not yet upon us, one office fruit box fan has written a tribute to his favourite healthy snack.

Writing in the Guardian, Rick Peters notes that the apple tree is the most widely cultivated fruit tree on the planet.

This has resulted in a very diverse family of fruits. "There are now 35 species in the genus," Mr Peters writes, "and, it’s reckoned, as many as 15,000 varieties of apple worldwide."

He adds that Britain boasts "some of the best flavoured fruits" including the "delightfully named" Cox’s Orange Pippin and Egremont Russet.

Other popular modern varieties of apple come from all over the world. For example, Golden Delicious comes from West Virginia, Braeburn from New Zealand, the Granny Smith from Sydney and Pink Lady from Western Australia.

Apples are a powerful source of antioxidants and vitamin C, as well as a good source of fibre, and potassium.

In addition, the antioxidant content of apples has been linked to the prevention of lung cancer and type 2 diabetes.

 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 at 2:06 pm and is filed under Fruit health benefits and fruit facts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.