Family, you must try baked apples in winter!

Who invented this way of eating... It's so delicious! Baked apples sound warm and perfect for the cold winter! You must try baked apples in winter!!!

Recently, the trend of baked apples has been gaining momentum on various social media. Winter is cold, and fruits are even cooler, so baking fruits seems to be a good choice. So how do baked apples taste? Are they more nutritious? How can baked apples be made healthier and more delicious?

Image source: Xiaohongshu

What do baked apples taste like?

Among the thousands of videos promoting "baked apples" on a certain social media platform, most used descriptions such as "absolutely delicious", "super tasty", and "amazing", but few people could clearly tell what it tasted like.

In fact, if you want to know the taste, you can know it by trying it. Let's take a look at the baked apple method recommended by major bloggers.

Some people follow the method in Ueno Chizuko's book: hollow out the apple core, stuff it with sugar and butter, and slowly bake it over medium heat (about half an hour) until the butter and sugar melt and the apple skin becomes wrinkled and golden. It is said that the baked apples have a strong aroma and soft flesh.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

Some people choose not to add anything, and just slowly bake the original apples over low heat for a long time until the skin is slightly brown and the flesh inside is soft, then sprinkle a layer of cinnamon powder on it for a little aroma.

There is also a method that is said to be a "state banquet dessert", in which butter is replaced with various chopped nuts, using the aroma of nuts to replace the milky aroma of butter. It is said that the taste is more refreshing.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

There are also people who think that baking apples takes too long, so they just cut the apples into pieces and bake them into dried apples. Let’s not talk about that for now.

As for the taste of the finished product, I can only say that it has mixed reviews.

To put it bluntly, the reason why some people think it tastes good is mainly because the "Maillard reaction" occurs during the baking process of apples - the protein and sugar in the food react at high temperatures, giving the food a unique flavor and color. This is the chemical reaction that gives the surface of toast a caramel color and a rich aroma.

The sugar and butter added when baking apples not only increase the sweetness and milky flavor of the finished product, but also provide sugar and protein respectively. Under long-term high-temperature baking, the Maillard reaction occurs fully, making the baked apples present an attractive caramel color and the fragrance fills the house.

Baked apples taste better if you bake them this way!

But if the delicious taste is brought about by the Maillard reaction, why do some people think baked apples are delicious while others think they are just average? What is the difference between delicious and average?

1

Differences in baking time

Apples are different from traditional roasted tea fruits such as oranges, bananas, and persimmons. Apples do not have as much water content as oranges, and their flesh is denser and has a harder texture than the above fruits. Therefore, if you want to roast apples until they are soft and sweet, you naturally need to roast them for a longer time.

For example, the "State Banquet" baked apples mentioned above took as long as an hour to bake.

2

Differences in baking temperatures

Temperature affects the speed and extent of the Maillard reaction. Generally, the higher the temperature, the faster the reaction and the more aromatic substances produced. Therefore, we found that those who concluded that "baked apples are irresistible" tended to have higher baking temperatures, usually reaching more than 200 degrees.

3

Variety of apples

Different varieties of apples have different sweetness, hardness, and water content, so the taste will naturally be different when baked at the same temperature and time.

A blogger has tried different varieties of apples and concluded that apples with low water content, sweeter taste and softer texture are softer, more flavorful and sweeter when baked. This is not difficult to understand, as apples are sweet and soft, so they are easier to bake.

But this is not absolute. On the one hand, personal taste preferences vary. Some people like baked apples with relatively high moisture content and a sweet and sour taste. On the other hand, too low moisture content will also cause the Maillard reaction rate to decrease, affecting the color and aroma of the finished product.

Therefore, it is recommended that you try more to find out which type of apple tastes better when baked.

4

Differences in baking details

Roasting details may also affect the taste of the finished product.

For example, whether or not to wrap apples in tin foil will also affect the taste of baked apples. I saw an interesting phenomenon: on a social platform, people who said baked apples were not delicious often used tin foil to wrap apples in their pictures. This may be because the isolation of oxygen will affect the speed of the Maillard reaction.

In general, if you want to make the baked apples delicious, you can increase the baking temperature appropriately (according to the temper of your own oven) and extend the baking time appropriately to obtain a better flavor. At the same time, you can adjust the amount of white sugar and butter added according to your own taste.

For those who are worried about the increase in fat intake due to butter, you can try the method of white sugar + cinnamon powder, or you can try the combination of white sugar + glutinous rice wine recommended by a netizen, which may also have a different flavor.

Baked apples vs. raw apples, which is more nutritious?

Are baked apples really that magical? Are they really more healthy and nutritious?

First of all, we have to admit that baked apples are much softer and more juicy than raw ones. For those who don't like to chew fruits, or have poor gastrointestinal digestion and are unwilling to eat raw, cold and hard food, baked apples are easier to chew and digest, and can supplement a certain amount of water and dietary fiber, which is an advantage.

Secondly, we all know that heating will destroy those heat-sensitive vitamins in fruits, such as vitamin C. Fortunately, the vitamin C content in apples is very low, less than 10mg/100g, so there is no need to worry about further loss due to heating, and the dietary fiber and minerals in apples are basically not affected by high temperatures. Therefore, from the perspective of nutrients such as vitamins, dietary fiber, and minerals, baked apples are basically equivalent to or slightly affected by fresh apples.

In addition, apples also contain some plant active substances with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory functions, but the content is relatively small and mainly concentrated in the colored peel. These substances are generally afraid of heat and their content tends to decrease after heating. In this respect, baked apples are slightly inferior to fresh apples.

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In short, if you want to eat delicious, fresh and easy to digest apples, you can choose to bake apples, but for health reasons, you should pay attention to the amount of sugar and butter. Apples baked directly without sugar and butter are also delicious. If you want to pursue health and wellness, there is no need to follow the trend of baking apples. Eating natural, diverse, and coarse and fine apples is more beneficial to health.

Moreover, this is not only true for baked apples. When baking any kind of fruit, you don’t have to expect much health benefits. You just need to consider whether it tastes good after baking.

This winter, friends who want to taste grilled fruits, in addition to grilled apples and oranges, can also try grilled pears (both frozen and grilled pears are delicious), grilled bananas (softer and more glutinous), grilled pineapples (not prickly in the mouth after grilling), grilled sugarcane (softer and sweeter), and so on.

By the way, one last thing, if you are afraid of making mistakes, you can try heating the fruit in the microwave first. Not only does it save time, but the nutrients in the fruit are also better preserved than in the oven.

Planning and production

This article is a work of Science Popularization China-Starry Sky Project

Produced by: Science Popularization Department of China Association for Science and Technology

Producer｜China Science and Technology Press Co., Ltd., Beijing Zhongke Xinghe Culture Media Co., Ltd.

Author: Wang Lu, registered dietitian

Review | Zhong Kai, Researcher at the National Food Safety Risk Assessment Center