What types of apples are popular in France and what kinds are best for eating or baking/cooking. Includes a familiar French expression and our favourite heathy apple recipes, all with reduced sugar.
- Apple Season
- Are Apples Good for You?
- Types of French Apples
- What are the Top Apples in France?
- Fun French Expression Using Apples
- What are the Best Eating Apples?
- French Cidre
- Calvados - Apple Brandy
- How to Best Choose and Store Apples
- What Apple Types are Best for Cooking or Baking?
- Savoury Apple Recipes
- French Desserts with Apples
Apple Season
Although apples are easy to find at any time of year and preserve well, high season is in Autumn and Winter in France, from October to May.
Are Apples Good for You?
According to Aprifel for the French Ministry of Agriculture, apples are a good source of potassium, fiber and polyphenols.
Polyphenols may help to reduce the risk of heart disease, improve digestion and reduce blood sugar levels. Other polyphenol rich fruits are flaxseed, almonds, hazelnuts, pecans and chestnuts.
Polyphenols are concentrated in the skin so, to get their benefits, it's best not to peel them - as long as they are organic and not treated with chemicals.
Types of French Apples
Apples are the most popular fruit variety in France and are the most cultivated fruit in the world.
There are about 50 varieties (cultivar) of apple available in France - compared to about 2000 in the world.
What are the Top Apples in France?
According to Statista 2021, most popular varieties in France are: Golden (20%), Granny, Reine de Reinettes, Pink Lady, Gala, Canada, Boskoop, and Fuji (3%).
In Versailles at the Potager du Roi (under King Louis XIV's reign in the 17th century), they grew pommes d’Api, de Reinette, Calvilles, Fenouillet. Pommes d'Api even has a French song that most French kids learn at school (it's so cute!)
In 2019, according to the French Ministry of Agriculture, France was the 9th biggest global producer of apples with 1519 million tons produced from France's orchards.
La pomme du Limousin is the only apple to have quality status of Appellation d'origine protégée since 2005 - known as le grand cru de la pomme! Every Tuesday and Thursday in July and August, it's possible to visit the orchard.
Fun French Expression Using Apples
Elle est tombée dans les pommes"
Familiar French expression
means she fainted. Literally translated, she fell in the apples.
What are the Best Eating Apples?
The best eating apples which are crunchy and not too sweet:
Pink Lady, Honeycrisp, Braeburn, Jonagold, Fuji, Opal, Chantecler, Pixies and Cox's Orange. Chantecler is a cross between Golden Delicious and Reinette.
These eating apples are great for biting into or served sliced with cheese and walnuts.
French Cidre
Unlike American apple cider which doesn't contain alcohol, French apples are fermented to make French sparkling Cider (Cidre). Normally it contains between 2 to 8% alcohol, and comes in either brut (dry) or doux (sweet).
Served chilled traditionally in bowls (bolés), French cidre accompanies savoury galettes (buckwheat pancakes) and/or sweet crêpes from Brittany and Normandy in traditional crêperies. Serve it also with chocolate crêpes and the traditional Galette des Rois for Epiphany in January.
Calvados - Apple Brandy
Calvados, the French apple Brandy (40-60% alcohol) from Normandy is double distilled from Cidre. Normally served at room temperature in small glasses but also perfect for cooking.
Add to dishes containing apples for that extra kick. Try this Calvados cream recipe for apple tarts or make a Calvados ice cream, following this no-churn liqueur ice cream recipe.
While Calvados is from Normandy, the Bretons have their own version of apple Brandy. In Brittany, you'll find it as Lambig or Fine de Bretagne; I used it in this French apple cake.
How to Best Choose and Store Apples
To choose the best apples: avoid over shiny apples as these are often polished with wax!
How to best store: for the utmost flavour, keep apples in a cool, dark place and avoid the fridge if possible as chilling them dulls their full flavour.
Like bananas, apples release ethylene, a natural gas (plant hormone) that helps fruit ripen. So ripen avocados or pears faster by placing them together in a bag, although this doesn't work below 5°C, so do it out of the fridge.
Top storage tip: keep apples away from other fruits (or store in a separate paper bag) as they naturally contain a substance which matures nearby fruits quicker.
What Apple Types are Best for Cooking or Baking?
The following types are best suited for particular cooking, including tart apples for baking:
- Golden - best for most cooking and patisserie, especially as keeps its shape after baking. Not acidic, crunchy, naturally sweet but lacking in flavour. Great for apple tarts, pies, crumbles, tarte tatin. Pommes flambées: roast at 220°C in a little butter and sugar then flambé in Calvados. Also exists as Golden Rosé.
- Opal - a cross between Golden Delicious and Topaz, good for apple tarts etc - just like for Golden.
- Granny - like Golden, but acidic (acidulée) and not sweet. Perfect for most cooking and patisserie (also great mixed with Golden). Great for apple tarts, pies, crumbles, baked apples and for adding to savoury dishes.
- Reine de Reinette & Canada - Acidic, not too sweet. Best for making tarts, Tarte Tatin, pies & baked apples.
- Boskoop - Sweet with just a touch of acidity. Reduces best for compotes and sauces but also good in tarts, pies and charlottes.
- Pink Lady - Slight acidity and crunchy. Ideal for crumbles, pies and compote, as not too sweet and reduces to sauce well.
- Gala - naturally sweet, great for fruit salads as doesn't mask the flavour of other fruits.
- Fuji - doesn't adapt well to cooking so best enjoyed eating on its own. Crunchy but lacking in flavour.
- Jonagold - unlike the others above, they don't keep as well so use quickly, especially for crumbles and pies but also best eaten on its own.
Fun Fact - the Darkest Apple
The cultivar with the darkest skin is the Arkansas Black Apple in the USA. When I first saw them at a Farmers' market in California, I thought they were nectarines! Considered a good storage apple, this is at its crunchiest when freshly picked. The more it's stored, the flesh has a floral aftertaste and is excellent used for cooking in crumbles.
Savoury Apple Recipes
Apples in savoury recipes are often used in main dishes in France: with chicken, pork, and fried in butter to accompany traditional boudin noir and boudin blanc sausages. The following are our favourite savoury apple recipes.
This pork roast recipe is such an easy dish to throw together in advance, cooked in apple cider. Just 20 minutes before the end of cooking, chop up your apples and toss in butter to serve on the side.
We love a crunchy, tart apple added to salad. Perfect in this Roast Beetroot Salad with smoked mackerel. With added orange zest and a wee spice kick, this winter salad is made in just 30 minutes.
Serving smoked salmon and looking for a delicious sauce? Grate a Granny Smith apple, the basis of this easy Apple and Horseradish sauce. Ideal as a festive starter or appetizer. Delicious also paired with cooked cabbage or beetroot.
If you have a little more time, serve the sauce with grated apple in these savoury choux buns with smoked salmon. Great for entertaining dinner parties.
Add a tart apple to this Shrimp Cocktail with Dragon Fruit. Not only does it add extra acidity but great texture too.
By adding tart Granny Smith or sweeter Golden Delicious apples to this German Red Cabbage recipe, there's no need to add any sugar. I use a minimum of 2 big apples, but add 3 or 4 smaller ones. The apples, once cooked, disappear but give a beautiful glaze to this cabbage dish.
French Desserts with Apples
Apples feature in so many classic French desserts. Here are just a few to keep you going with more to come...
Apple Compote or apple sauce is widely used in France for either savoury or sweet dishes. Serve with boudin noir (black pudding), boudin blanc (especially popular at Christmas) or on top of crêpes, our favourite thin French pancakes.
As apples contain pectin, they keep the perfect moisture with coconut when added to coconut macaroons (rochers coco).
This quick French apple tart is so easy and made using ready-made puff pastry. Serve with a calvados cream for the ultimate appley taste.
If you love apples and custard, you need to try this French Apple Custard Tart from Alsace. Together with the vanilla, this is heaven on a plate!
Apple Nougat Tart - this is a real showstopper, particularly during the festive season topped with toasted nuts. As with many of the tarts, serve with a jug of warmed salted caramel sauce (caramel au beurre salé).
A classic French Tarte Tatin is the ultimate apple dessert baked in caramel. Serve a slice with a dollop of real crème fraîche (or Greek yoghurt) or homemade ice cream such as this Whisky ice cream (or replace the Drambuie with Calvados).
Apple Oat Crumble - healthy recipe with reduced sugar and deliciously crispy with toasted oats topped on vanilla tossed apples.
French apple crumble cake is something a bit different. Made in advance, it's served chilled and has a scrumptious, toasted crunch to it.
Mini Apple Rose Tarte Tatins - for that special occasion to show someone they're the apple of your eyes (couldn't resist that one!) Ideal as a Valentine's Day dessert.
Last but certainly not least, is Sticky Toffee Pudding with Apple. This is my favourite treat from Britain (as well as these carrot cake muffins) so no trip back to my parents is the same without it!
I add an apple to this classic pudding. The result means it's extra moist and feels slightly less indulgent.
For that ultimate holiday dessert, this is easy made with leftover pain d'épices (French gingerbread). This gingerbread trifle with apple and caramel is particularly rich in apples, so it feels less wicked.
The ultimate comfort food in winter? This French apple cake. This slightly reduced sugar recipe for gâteau aux pommes is by Joël Robuchon, the most starred chef in the world.
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