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Apples, with skin (edible parts)
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 50 kcal 220 kJ
Carbohydrates 13.81 g
- Sugars 10.39 g
- Dietary fiber 2.4 g
Fat 0.17 g
Protein 0.26 g
Vitamin A equiv. 3 µg 0%
Thiamin (Vit. B1) 0.017 mg 1%
Riboflavin (Vit. B2) 0.026 mg 2%
Niacin (Vit. B3) 0.091 mg 1%
Pantothenic acid (B5) 0.061 mg 1%
Vitamin B6 0.041 mg 3%
Folate (Vit. B9) 3 µg 1%
Vitamin C 4.6 mg 8%
Calcium 6 mg 1%
Iron 0.12 mg 1%
Magnesium 5 mg 1%
Phosphorus 11 mg 2%
Potassium 107 mg 2%
Zinc 0.04 mg 0%
Esistono più di 2000 varietà di mele,
coltivate e consumate in tutto il mondo. Alcune delle più note:
Mela Annurca: frutto di piccole dimensioni, di forma rotondeggiante con epidermide rossa striata. La polpa è bianca, compatta, croccante, succosa, dolce, gradevolmente acidula, di eccezionale sapore.
Braeburn: buccia colore rosso scuro o scarlatto, polpa compatta e croccante, sapore dolce-acidulo;
Fuji: forma tondeggiante, buccia colore rosso-rosato, polpa croccante e succosa, sapore dolce, ricca di fruttosio;
Golden Delicious: forma tondeggiante, buccia colore giallo, polpa croccante e compatta, sapore dolce leggermente acidulo, varietà di origine americana;
Granny Smith: buccia verde intenso, polpa croccante, particolarmente ricca di magnesio;
Renetta: forma irregolare, buccia rossa e verde;
Renetta Grigia: prodotto tipico della zona di Barge, forma schiacciata, buccia ruvida e rugginosa, polpa grossolana dal colore bianco-crema, sapore dolce-acidulo;
Royal Gala: buccia rosso intenso con venature giallo chiaro, polpa soda e croccante, sapore dolce leggermente aspro;
Stark Delicious: buccia rossa, polpa fine e croccante, sapore aromatico, particolarmente ricca di carotene e retinolo;
Stayman Winesap: buccia ruvida di colore giallo-verde punteggiata di rosso, polpa soda e croccante, sapore agrodolce;
I paesi produttori
Dati FAO giugno 2008 (tonnellate)
Repubblica Popolare Cinese
27.507.000
Stati Uniti
4.237.730
Iran
2.660.000
Turchia
2.266.437
Russia
2.211.000
Italia
2.072.500
India
2.001.400
Francia
1.800.000
Cile
1.390.000
Argentina
1.300.000
Produzione mondiale 64.255.520, pari a circa
640.000.000.000 seicentoquaranta miliardi di pezzi, cioè 8-9
mele all'anno a testa
"Brita as Iduna" (1901) by Carl Larsson.In Norse mythology, the goddess Iðunn is portrayed in the Prose Edda (written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson) as providing apples to the gods that give them eternal youthfulness. English scholar H. R. Ellis Davidson links apples to religious practices in Germanic paganism, from which Norse paganism developed. She points out that buckets of apples were found in the Oseberg ship burial site in Norway and that fruit and nuts
(Iðunn having been described as being transformed into a nut in Skáldskaparmál) have been found in the early graves of the Germanic peoples in England and elsewhere on the continent of Europe which may have had a symbolic meaning, and that nuts are still a recognized symbol of fertility in Southwest
England.
Davidson notes a connection between apples and the Vanir, a tribe of gods associated with fertility in Norse mythology, citing an instance of eleven "golden apples" being given to woo the beautiful Gerðr by Skírnir, who was acting as messenger for the major Vanir god Freyr in stanzas 19 and 20 of Skírnismál. Davidson also notes a further connection between fertility and apples in Norse mythology in chapter 2 of the Völsunga saga when the major goddess Frigg sends King Rerir an apple after he prays to Odin for a child, Frigg's messenger (in the guise of a crow) drops the apple in his lap as he sits atop a mound.[10] Rerir's wife's consumption of the apple results in a six-year pregnancy and the caesarean section birth of their son - the hero Völsung.
Further, Davidson points out the "strange" phrase "Apples of Hel" used in an 11th-century poem by the skald Thorbiorn Brúnarson, she states this may imply that the apple was thought of by the skald as the food of the dead. Further, Davidson notes that the potentially Germanic goddess Nehalennia is sometimes depicted with apples and that parallels exist in early Irish stories. Davidson asserts that while cultivation of the apple in Northern Europe extends back to at least the time of the Roman Empire and came to Europe from the Near East, the native varieties of apple trees growing in Northern Europe are small and bitter. Davidson concludes that in the figure of Iðunn "we must have a dim reflection of an old symbol: that of the guardian goddess of the life-giving fruit of the other
world." |
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Classificazione
scientifica
Regno: Plantae
Divisione: Magnoliophyta
Classe: Magnoliopsida
Ordine: Rosales
Famiglia: Rosaceae
Genere: Malus communis
Specie: Ibrida |
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Greek
mythology
Heracles with the apple of HesperidesApples appear in many
religious traditions, often as a mystical or forbidden fruit.
One of the problems identifying apples in religion, mythology
and folktales is that the word "apple" was used as a
generic term for all (foreign) fruit, other than berries but
including nuts, as late as the 17th century. For instance, in
Greek mythology, the Greek hero Heracles, as a part of his
Twelve Labours, was required to travel to the Garden of the
Hesperides and pick the golden apples off the Tree of Life
growing at its center.
The Greek goddess of discord, Eris, became disgruntled after she
was excluded from the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. In
retaliation, she tossed a golden apple inscribed
Καλλιστή (Kalliste,
sometimes transliterated Kallisti, 'For the most beautiful one'),
into the wedding party. Three goddesses claimed the apple: Hera,
Athena, and Aphrodite. Paris of Troy was appointed to select the
recipient. After being bribed by both Hera and Athena, Aphrodite
tempted him with the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen of
Sparta. He awarded the apple to Aphrodite, thus indirectly
causing the Trojan War.
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