Fuji apples

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In season from April to October, Fuji apples have a crisp texture and super-sweet taste.

Fuji apples are perfect for winter bakes, such as apple pies. They’re originally from Japan and share all the health benefits that the apple family boasts – they’re a good source of dietary fibre, vitamin C and are high in anti-oxidants. Buy Fuji apples that are firm, with even-coloured skin. Store in the crisper or in a sealed plastic bag in the fridge for up to four weeks. Use fresh in salads, cook to use in desserts, or grate and combine with cinnamon for a fruit toast topping.

Fuji Apples

Fuji apples are aromatic, sweet, juicy and crisp with
a firm texture. The Fuji's appearance varies from yellow-green with red highlights to mostly red. The Fuji's spicy, crisp sweetness gives it exceptional eating quality.

Fujis were developed at the Tohuku Research Station in Morioka, Japan in 1939. Production began in Japan in 1958. As a recent arrival in the United States, the Fuji has developed a loyal following.

Fuji Apple Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This delicious and moist cake from Bon Appetit, October, 2009, uses Fuji apples as well as applesauce. The only change I made in the recipe was to substitute raisins for the walnuts. I garnished with candy corn pumpkins. Try it for a wonderful fall dessert.

Mentos Fuji Apple

Santos returned to LA with some wonderful new Mentos for me to try! (See more of her lovely gifts to Los Angeles bloggers at Franklin Avenue.)

Today I’m sampling the fantabulous and refreshing Mentos Fuji Apple.

The Green Apple Mentos that are pretty easy to find domestically (sometimes they’re labeled for Canadian sale and say Pomme Vert), but they’re definitely not the same thing. The Green Apple Mentos taste like that wonderful artificial green apple. Kind of plastic but puckeringly pleasant.

The Fuji Apple Mentos are a lovely off white color, like the inside of a freshly sliced apple.

Fuji Apple, well, is awesome. It replicates that crisp apple flavor so well. A little bit of the apple skin and a lot of the tart tingly flavor of real apples. They say they have “nature identical flavors” in there on the ingredients, for whatever that’s worth. If you’re a candy swapper or planning a visit to Asia and looking for something inexpensive to bring home for your pet-sitter, this might be the thing.

This candy was made in China and labeled for the Philippine market.

The Mentos USA website says they have a “Flavors of the World” store, but they are sadly lacking in the really great flavors they do offer overseas. Oh, how I wish that they did carry the true global varieties. Japan, Philippines and China all carry this flavor and it’s possible you can pick them up in Australia easily. I haven’t seen them in the Asian markets in Los Angeles (but I haven’t looked very hard since Santos always hooks me up).

Note: these Mentos have no gelatin in them as the American and European ones do but contain something called Gellan Gum instead as a thickening agent. They are not certified Halal or Kosher though (I have some others that I’ll post about that are Halal). Maybe some vegans can weigh in on whether Gellan Gum (derived from bacterial cultures) is on the approved list.

Fuji apple

Malus domestica

A very attractive modern apple, crisp, sweet-flavoured, and keeps well.

Parentage:
Origin: Japan
Introduced:
Season:
Apple cultivar ID: 112700

Fuji is surely one of the more attractive modern apple varieties. Its main characteristic is the lovely pink speckled flush over a yellow-green background. It is also crisp and juicy, with dull white flesh which snaps cleanly. The flavour is predominantly sweet, very refreshing (especially if slightly chilled), but not particularly outstanding.

As you might expect, Fuji comes from Japan, where it was developed in the 1940s, but its parentage is all-american. Fuji is a cross between the widely grown Red Delicious, and Ralls Janet, which is much less well known but is probably the reason for Fuji's attractive pink flush.

Fuji apples are quite widely grown, the main northern hemisphere production comes from Japan, China and the USA. Fuji is a late-ripening apple variety, and becomes available in November/December northern hemisphere orchards) and May/June (southern hemisphere orchards). Fuji apples need lots of sunshine to ripen properly so it is not grown commercially in the UK.

In some ways it is surprising that Fuji is not a more popular variety, given its excellent appearance. The obvious comparison is with Pink Lady, and in many respects Fuji has the better appearance - the pink flush has a lighter background and the skin texture feels clean and dry compared to the sheen of Pink Lady. Of course Fuji, being an older variety, does not have the trademark controls of Pink Lady, and is therefore less amenable to the tightly controlled marketing which has supported the rise of Pink Lady. Also, it has to be said that the colour variation of Fuji is quite wide, ranging from from light pink to crimson pink. Pink Lady is much more uniform because apples which do not exhibit the required standard are sold separately as Cripps Pink.

For most of the 20th century the USA dominated world apple production (mainly with Golden Delicious and Red Delicious), but China is now the biggest single apple growing region. Fuji accounts for more than 70% of apple production in China.