Api Etoile Apple

If you cut open an apple a certain way, the core appears as a tiny star. For Api Etoile apples, however, the star is on the outside. These gleaming red-yellow fruits are curiously flattened, and often they grow out into five points, giving them the shape of rounded stars.

These special apples originated in France in the 1600s, and over the centuries, growers commented on their otherworldly look. In one Victorian orchidist’s catalog, the author describes the Api Etoile as “a great beauty” with “the exact appearance of a star.” But appearance aside, they were also cultivated for their stellar taste: sweet, crisp, and complex. These days, they’re grown at the occasional orchard in Europe and the United States.