Keeping things simple is one of the most important lessons I’ve learned in the 10 years I’ve been working in the food service industry. A complicated dish is often less likely to win accolades than the simple sliced heirloom tomato you salted and served paired on the side. This principle rings true for what is, in many conscious eaters’ opinions, one of the tastiest, common and overlooked fruits available on the market today—the apple.
School aged children everywhere overlook their apples daily. Even after mom put the extra effort in to slice and de-seed the fruit, kids can be found throwing their apples away.
We start impressing our eating habits on our children as soon as they’re conceived, at a young age we teach them this now classic lesson, “apples are healthy and candy is bad.” And when kids beg for sweets, we respond with, “have an apple” or “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.”
Harping on these small sayings can lead to contempt in children and may cause them to . . . (gasp) throw their precious energy gifts in the trash, leaving them grumpy that their lunch didn’t include a chocolate bar or other sugar-based sweet.
If you’re trying to get your kids on the apple train, let this writer suggest that we not scare them with nutritional information and numbers, or the importance of apples to their daily diet. Let’s first start the kids off on a sweet variety of apple such as local Golden or Red Delicious.
Buy firm, bright and organic apples. These choices will provide the best overall look, taste and crunch. My professional suggestion is to choose each apple individually instead of by the bag. Taking the extra time in the produce section to choose your gems for the family personally may not seem like a huge deal, but placing those hand-picked Ambrosia apples (or other variety) in the fruit basket at home will feel so much more rewarding. Looking at your treasures gleaming in the basket will make them even more desirable and leaving a pile of apples on the counter makes it easy for those in your household to grab one on the go. Eating a room temperature apple is not only scientifically easier for your body to digest, it also brings out their varied flavours better.
Try not to pre-slice or peel the apples, whole foods are better for us as the vitamins and minerals contained within the fruit are trapped inside until the moment you bite in to them. Teach your kids to enjoy their foods whole in the way that nature created them, but make sure to scrub your fruit to remove any unwanted pesticide, wax or preservative coating that may have been applied before your point of purchase.
Now, there are well over 1,000 recipes that use this amazing Canadian diet staple, but in the name of keeping it simple, might I suggest a fine bottle of Pinot Grigio, a small wheel of brie cheese, an upcoming fine autumn evening, a friend or lover, and some fresh, uniform slices of harvest season B.C. apples. Buy organic, eat local, and stay fresh.
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