Apples in all their varieties are a marker of the fall season. Their interesting history, health benefits and taste were recently explored by some of our youngest and oldest students in our community.
It’s an annual tradition in the Sea Otter class to do an apple tasting. We tasted four apples; Ambrosia, Cameo, Golden Delicious, Spartan. A yummy experience for sure. Students are now extending this work to drawing and labeling pictures of the apples they tasted.
Also this week the MAC Audio Stories elective students listened to Michael Pollan read about the history of apples from The Botany of Desire. Next, they learned about how much time and work goes into developing new apple varieties by listening to a podcast episode called “A New Apple is Born” from The Sporkful. Finally, students tasted a variety of apples to experience some of the amazing diversity that exists in the world of apples!
Ready to do your own tasting? Here’s some student impressions to guide you.
- Tango: sweet, crunchy, flavor is literally pouring out of it.
- Ambrosia: very soft with lots of flavor, bitter, crunchy
- Swiss gourmet: soft, sour, sweetish
- Liberty: tough with lots of flavor, crunchy, sweet, sour
- Pinova: sweet, tart, crunchy, pretty tough without any flavor
- Sonata: a bit tough and exploding with flavor, crunchy, sweet

