A cooking apple or culinary apple is an apple that is used primarily for cooking, as opposed to a dessert apple, which is eaten raw. Cooking apples are generally larger, and can be tarter than dessert varieties. Some varieties have a firm flesh that does not break down much when cooked. Culinary varieties with a high acid content produce froth when cooked, which is desirable for some recipes. Britain grows a large range of apples specifically for cooking. Worldwide, dual-purpose varieties (for both cooking and eating raw) are more widely grown.
There are many apples that have been cultivated to have the firmness and tartness desired for cooking. Yet each variety of apple has unique qualities, and categories such as "cooking" or "eating" are suggestive, rather than exact.
How an apple will perform once cooked is tested by simmering a half inch wedge in water until tender, then prodding to see if its shape is intact. The apple can then be tasted to see how its flavour has been maintained and if sugar should be added.
Apples can be cooked down into sauce, apple butter, or fruit preserves. They can be baked in an oven and served with custard, and made into pies or apple crumble. In the UK roast pork is commonly served with cold apple sauce made from boiled and mashed apples.
A baked apple is baked in an oven until it has become soft. The core is usually removed before baking and the resulting cavity stuffed with fruits, brown sugar, raisins, or cinnamon, and sometimes a liquor such as brandy. An apple dumpling adds a pastry crust.
John Claudius Loudon wrote in 1842:
History Popular cooking apples in US, in the late 19th century:
Tart varieties:
Duchess of Oldenburg Fallawater Gravenstein Horse Keswick Codlin Red Astrachan Rhode Island Greening Tetofsky
Sweet varieties:
Golden Sweet Maverack Sweet Peach Pound Sweet Tolman Sweet Willis Sweet
Popular cooking apples in early 20th century England:
Alfriston Beauty of Kent Bismark Bramley Cox Pomona Dumelow Ecklinville Emneth Early Golden Noble Grenadier Lord Grosvenor Lord Derby Newton Wonder Stirling Castle Warner's King
Cooking apple cultivars
D = Dual purpose (table + cooking); Cooking result: P = puree, K = keeps shape
Alfriston P Allington K Annie Elizabeth K Antonovka P Arthur Turner P Baldwin Ballyfatten Bancroft Baron Ward Beacon Beauty of Kent P Belle de Boskoop K Bismarck apple P Black Amish D Black Twig D Blenheim Orange P - K Bloody Ploughman Bountiful Braeburn K Bramley P Crab apple (primarily for jelly) Burr Knot P Byflett Seedling P Byford Wonder K Calville Blanc d'hiver K Calville Rouge d´automne K Calville Rouge d´hiver P Campanino Carlisle Codlin P Carolina Red June Carter's Blue Catshead P Cellini P Charles Ross K Chelmsford Wonder P Cockle Pippin P Colloggett Pippin P - K 'Cortland' D Coul Blush Cox Pomona P - K Custard Danziger Kantapfel K Duchess of Oldenburg Dudley Winter Dumelow's Seedling P Edward VII P Tom Brady Esopus Spitzenburg D Fallawater Flower of Kent Galloway K Gennet Moyle George Neal Glockenapfel Ginger Gold Golden Noble Golden Pippin Golden Reinette P - K Golden Sweet Gragg Gravenstein Granny Smith D Greenup´s Pippin P Grenadier Hambledon Deux Ans P - K Harrison Cider Apple Hawthornden P Howgate Wonder K Irish Peach Isaac Newton James Grieve D Jonathan D Jumbo Keswick Codlin P King of the Pippins K D Landsberger Reinette Lane's Prince Albert P Lodi Lord Derby P Lowell Maiden Blush Malinda McIntosh D My Jewel Newell-Kimzey (aka Airlie Red Flesh) Newton Wonder P Nickajack Norfolk Biffin K Northern greening Northern Spy Oldenburg Paulared D Peasgood's Nonsuch P - K Pink Lady D Pinova Porter's Pott's Seedling Pumpkin Sweet apple Queen P Red Astrachan Red Prince Reverend W. Wilks P Rhode Island Greening Rome Beauty Sandow Scotch Bridget Scotch Dumpling Schoolmaster P Stirling Castle P Smokehouse Snow apple (aka Fameuse) Spartan Stayman Stirling Castle P Surprise K Tetofsky Tickled Pink Tolman Sweet Tom Putt Topaz Transparante de Croncels K Twenty Ounce K Wagener Warner's King P Wealthy D White Melrose White Transparent Winesap K D Wolf River K York Imperial D
See also
Apple pie List of apple cultivars List of apple dishes
References