An apple a day keeps the ... well, you know

It’s almost boring to talk about the health benefits of apples. There are so many and the list gets so long. It’s like enumerating the points of beauty of some fabulous icon of gloriousness (Catherine Zeta Jones, perhaps, or Jude Law).The only way you could possibly not realize that apples are good for you (honestly) is if you just never give any thought to the health benefits of your food.Nonetheless, this is a health column, so here goes. Apples (and especially their peels) have loads of cancer-fighting antioxidants, including the most powerful one of all, vitamin C. They are high in fiber so they not only can help you lose weight by making you feel full without taking in a lot of calories, they also help regulate your digestion and your blood sugar levels. The pectin in apples is supposed to lower the unhealthy cholesterol in your blood and increase the healthy cholesterol. Eating apples while you’re pregnant is believed to help protect your baby from asthma.Apples have something in them called boron which is supposed to strengthen your bones and help prevent osteoporosis. And if you smoke, eating lots of apples is supposed to reduce the risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).You can also drink your apple nutrients. In case you’re not clear on this (haha that’s a pun) apple juice is strained and pasteurized and is clear; apple cider is unfiltered or lightly filtered and it tends to be dark brown and cloudy. Cider is also sometimes sold unpasteurized, which leads to the possibility of food-borne illnesses. Salmonella has been found on apples, for example; and apples that have fallen on the ground can sometimes pick up bacteria from the, um, waste products left behind by deer that come to nibble on the sweet fallen fruit. Windfall apples have also sometimes been contaminated with cryptosporidium, which (when made into apple cider) gives people a lengthy bout of diarrhea. Anytime you eat apples, especially fresh ones, you should wash the skin (not just to take off any sprays or chemicals or wax but also to protect yourself against those food-borne illnesses). Interesting note: Washing produce before you store it can actually encourage the growth of bacteria. It’s apparently better to wait and wash just before you eat. Make sure your hands are clean before you handle fruit so you don’t contaminate what you’re eating with something you’ve just touched. And in a perfect world, you’ll thoroughly clean any knife you use to cut or peel your apples (the ideal cleanser is a drop of bleach in a bunch of water). Keep in mind that if there is any bacteria on your knife (for example, if you used it to cut the chicken for dinner last night) you can contaminate your apple as you are peeling and slicing it. Now I feel like one of those horrible journalists who takes down a shining star of a celebrity by pointing out his or her flaws (take that, apple world version of Britney Spears!). So, to take this back to where we began, apples are delicious, beautiful to look at, fun to pick and immensely and enormously good for you. And on the sillier side, they make a wonderful crunching noise when you eat them whole.There doesn’t seem to be any literature available to indicate whether cooked apples have more or fewer health benefits. It is very clear, however, that eating the peel is very beneficial; most of us discard the peel when we cook, so that seems to be an argument in favor of eating raw. It can, however, get a little tedious to eat apples everyday. I’ve been finding lately that apple sauce and peeled and roasted apples make a good base for lots of other foods. You can add roasted apples to any kind of stew and they will melt into the sauce. You can cook apples and onions on the side and serve them as a side dish with any roasted meats. You can add roasted apples to a winter fruit compote (again, they’ll probably melt down to nothing but will enrich the flavor and texture of the finished product). This week, I experimented with a lazy-chef’s version of apples and custard by making a big pot of apple sauce in my slow cooker; making a little pot of tapioca on the stovetop; and whipping up some fresh cream. I ate all three together. It was fantastic. I’ve run this recipe before but it’s so useful, here it is again. I use a slow cooker, which I bought for $30 at a dollar store (you can also buy them at big box stores such as K-Mart). I peel and core a bunch of apples, put them in the cooker on high for an hour or two and then reduce the heat to low for another hour or so. When I borrowed my friend’s more deluxe slow cooker, the apples actually burned in the early high-heat phase. I kind of liked the result, which was a more browned, caramelized apple. If you’re looking for a smoother finish, stick to the low heat setting (or use an inexpensive cooker such as mine). I don’t add any sugar to my apple sauce. Sometimes I’ll add a few drops of vanilla toward the end; often I’ll throw in a handful of frozen berries. I often cook the sauce with one or two cinn­amon sticks. I try not to make too much at one time, since it does go bad after a week or so. You can freeze and defrost it but it becomes very watery. It’s still fine to eat on its own or in a cobbler, crisp, pie or compote.