KISSABEL APPLE

I discovered this apple two years ago, by chance: it is described as “a red-fleshed apple with an unusual yellow skin with a pink undertone”.

The one I first tasted had dark yellow skin but, when cut, the bright, fuchsia pink flesh was extraordinary! The flavour is redolent of fresh strawberries in combination with pear and apple. But the colour was why I decided to paint them. 

Two decades ago, a team of passionate French scientists started to cross wild, red-fleshed apples with high-quality varieties. Their quest was to grow beautiful apples with a distinctively sweet but tangy flavour. ‘Kissabel’ is now a registered trademark and is cultivated widely.

Apples originated in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and north western China. They were symbols of fertility and desire in ancient Greece and have long had religious and mythological significance. 

In Christianity, the Bible does not specify the apple as being the forbidden fruit but John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost (1667) says that the apple is the fruit of the tree of knowledge.

Unusually for such an old word, it is widely different in various languages. The English word apple is Old English from the Old High German apfel. In contrast, the French word pomme derives from the Latin pomum for apple or fruit, while the Spanish manzana is from mattiana, shortened from Latin malum matianum, meaning apple of Matius, who was a friend of Caesar’s.