Apple

Apple (Malus domestica) is a small deciduous tree of the rose family (Rosaceae), 2–10 m tall with a rounded crown and finely hairy young shoots. Leaves are ovate, serrate and alternate. Flowers open in spring with the leaves, with five white to pink petals and a sweet scent; they are bisexual but mostly need cross-pollination by bees, so several cultivars are often interplanted. The fruit is a pome, 5–10 cm across, with green, yellow or red skin and crisp sweet flesh, divided into five seed cavities. The species originated in Central Asia (Tian Shan, Kazakhstan), domesticated 4,000–10,000 years ago; today there are thousands of cultivars differing in colour, flavour and ripening season.

Apple is one of the most consumed temperate fruits worldwide. Fruit is eaten fresh, in salads, juiced, made into jam and apple pie, or fermented into cider and vinegar; apple pectin is used as a gelling agent in food. Being rich in the soluble fibre pectin and antioxidants (quercetin, catechin), apples help lower cholesterol, steady blood sugar and aid digestion. In Vietnam apples are mostly imported (New Zealand, USA, China); the tree is only trialled in cold uplands such as Sa Pa and Moc Chau, where insufficient winter chill limits yield and quality.