Most of us in North America can get apples all year, from as far away as New Zealand and Chile, if necessary. But autumn is the apple-est time of year to get a large variety of more local apples–they are grown in every state.
In 1905, a book entitled Nomenclature of the Apple: A Catalog of the Known Varieties Referred to in American Publications from 1804 to 1904 was published that listed 14,000 different apples grown in this part of the world–now it is down to around 90 that are sold commercially.
Everyone has their individual preference for taste and texture and the versatile apple can be eaten in a number of delicious (and nutritious) ways with an apple for every need.
Grandmammy of Them All
Of all these pippins, macintoshes, golden and red delicious, Cortland, Spartan, pink ladies, and honeycrisp, there is one apple that sits at the top of the list as one that contributes most to weight loss: the Granny Smith.
A recent study at Washington State University found that Granny Smith apples contain more non-digestible compounds than other kinds of apples.
Non-digestible–and that’s a good thing? Yes.
Because fiber and polyphenols (a kind of plant-based antioxidant) aren’t completely broken down by the digestive system, they arrive in the colon intact, doing the things that fiber does and providing nutrition.
In addition, because they haven’t already been broken down, the tiny bits of apple ferment when the good bacteria in the colon get at them. You need these bacteria to digest, absorb nutrition, and therefore nourish you.