Many fruits and vegetables turn brown when cut or otherwise damaged. Among these are apples, potatoes, pears, bananas, avocados, peaches, eggplants, apricots, and mushrooms (not a fruit or vegeatable). This process, which you can read more about here and here is called enzymatic browning. It occurs due to reactions between oxygen in the air and compounds in the exposed plant cells that cause an oxidative reaction to occur that results in brown melanin pigments. Perhaps the most common food that annoys us by turning brown is apples. It turns out that not all varieties of apples quickly turn brown when peeled or cut. What types of apples are they?
Apple Varieties That Do Not Quickly Turn Brown When Cut
You probably already realize that not all fruits turn brown when cut or damaged. For instance, citrus fruits and tomatoes do not, because they contain a lot fewer of the enzymes responsible. It turns out that not all varieties of apples have the same levels of these enzymes either, so not all apples brown at the same rate. Apples subject to quick browning will turn brown within an hour. Other varieties can take longer, sometimes a whole lot longer, to brown. Apple varieties that are better at holding their color once cut and do not turn brown as quickly are:
- Cortland
- Empire
- Golden Russet
- Hubbardston Nonesuch
- Maiden’s Blush
- Paula Red
- Sandow
- Spartan
- Spitzenberg
- Sweet Sixteen
- Tydeman’s Red
Of course, you will probably not be able to find most of these exotic varieties of apples in your supermarket, except perhaps for Cortlands. However, Fuji and Gala apples, two tender-sweet apples that are common in supermarkets, also do not brown too quickly and can be good for fresh apple dishes such as salads.