Redlove Apple

It’s a wonder Redlove apples aren’t on every Valentine’s Day gift guide. Their glossy red outer skin reveals nothing of the alluring surprise within: a deep-pink, almost red, inner flesh, with a faint white rim around the core that, when the apple is quartered, resembles the shape of a heart.

The apples were created by Markus Kobelt, a nurseryman in Buchs, Switzerland, in the Rhine Valley overlooking the Alps. Kobelt developed his prized fruit in 2010, allegedly by cross-pollinating Royal Gala and Braeburn apples with some other, secret red-fleshed varieties that weren’t known for their taste. The Redloves are a product of over 20 years of experimentation by Kobelt, and he’s keeping the tree of knowledge to himself, only letting us taste of its fruit. There are several kinds of Redlove apples: Era, Calypso, Circe, Odysso, and Lollipop (the sweetest Redlove), among others. The cultivar was initially marketed by the British nursery Suttons and is a registered trademark. Licensed commercial Redlove growers have since spread all over the world, including central Europe, the United States, and Australia.

Redlove apples are allegedly scab-resistant, they retain the reddish-pink color of their flesh, taste deliciously crisp and tart, and hold up well to cooking. Because of their elevated anthocyanins (the compound that gives fruits their color), they are higher in antioxidants than most other apples and don’t have the concentrated sugar levels of, say, a Golden Delicious. They’re almost, one might say, biblically perfect. Like most apples, Redloves are sweeter a few days after they’re picked.