The apple is considered the favorite fruit of the Germans - every year each of us eats 19 kilos of them, on average. "ZDFzoom" reports on the trend towards the apple as a lifestyle product on Wednesday, January 24 2018, at 10:45 pm, in "The True Cost of the Perfect Apple".
"ZDFzoom" takes a look at the concept of so-called club varieties: A breeder brings a certain apple to the market and ensures the variety and the brand name are protected. This product is then promoted with million-dollar campaigns and sold at a high price.
Will this natural product become a designer product? "ZDFzoom" reporter Norman Laryea got this impression at "Fruit Attraction", the fruit and vegetable trade fair in Madrid. Impeccable apples are advertised and staged there, such as the red-fleshed apple with the brand name "Kissabel". Its insides are more reminiscent of a melon, but it actually tastes like an apple. The so-called club varieties now have a market share of 14 percent in Germany -and they are growing rapidly. And ever more new creations are arriving on the highly competitive apple market, like the snack apple "Rockit". Apples, barely as big as table-tennis balls, are packed in plastic tubes to be sold at gas stations and kiosks as snacks on the go.
How healthy are these new breeds? According to the experts, there are up to four million apple allergy sufferers in Germany. The symptoms mainly appear when eating varieties from the supermarkets. Others, so-called "old varieties", are often much better tolerated, according to medical studies. But in the supermarket you will hardly find these apples anymore.
"ZDFzoom" has tested new and old varieties in the laboratory. The result: the "old varieties" contain more polyphenols - ingredients that not only protect against allergies, but also strengthen the immune system and even help against chronic diseases such as rheumatism.
Source: ZDF.de
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