Why does the bottom of an apple always taste sweeter than the top? Does the sugar sink to the bottom?
Thanks,
Oodle
I’m sure there’s not any actual sinking and floating going on - the internal structure of an apple isn’t really conducive to such things - but it’s a fascinating question…
I think we should start by asking “does the bottom of an apple always taste sweeter than the top?” - does it? Really? I’ve eaten a lot of apples, and have never noticed this - however a lot of things escape my notice (don’t ask me what they are though), so that doesn’t mean it isn’t true…
I have long been inverting my pineapples after being told that the sugars will settle at one end. Since doing this (and it appears a relatively widespread phenomena) I believe I can tell the difference between a non-turned and turned pineapple. The turned has an even sweetness if turned about 12-24 hours before eating.
I’ve not yet found a scientific proof of this but I would expect a pineapple to be more conducive to sugar migration than a densely packed apple.
tim
But how come the tangyness and the sourness of the pineapple doesn’t move around with the sugar?
???
ARE apples sweeter on the bottom?
I’ve been eating apples since I was a kid (there were orchards in the next town over), and have never noticed this. Apples, to me, are sweet all over.
Why is my lemonade sweeter at the bottom?
I suppose it could be that apples ripen unevenly - beginning at the blossom end - or that when placed in a container such as one of those greengrocer trays with the indentations, they ripen faster in the parts cupped by the indentations, and this usually happens to be the blossom end, or something like that.
But I can’t help wondering if it could also be a perceptual thing - if you’ve always eaten apples the same way - starting at one end and working to the other, it could be that your taste buds are getting fatigued as you progress, or that they’re getting more stimulated as you progress.
Clearly some blind tasting trials are required here.
You’re not stirring it enough. Undissolved sugar at the bottom of a glass is quite an easily-explained phenomenon, but not necessarily analogous to whatever is happening in a ripening apple. Sugar solution is certainly denser than water, but if you start with a solution of evenly-dissolved sugar, I’m not sure it will become more concentrated at the bottom (chemists/physicists?)
Dude.
I haven’t noticed apples being sweeter at the bottom. The side facing the sun reddens first and is the area to become edible first when dealing with early growing fruit. The red area seems to have less tartness. They have a long way to go until they are mature. They one thing that does make an apple sweet is staying on the tree to ripen longer. As the temperature drops the apples fill up with sugar, and on some varieties the flesh turn pink inside. The flesh becomes so saturated with sugar sometimes that the flesh is semitransparent like a candied fruit (fruit cake fruit). Maybe the phenomenon you are describing is a store bought apple problem, because they pick them so early. They are not even sweet when you buy them, have little flavor and over time they are edible as the tartness leaves the apple. Perhaps you experiencing the bottom has less tartness than the top, and not a sweetness thing at all. I think it’s important to know if these are apples picked early for market or if you are talking about something off your own tree. I’m sure you experienced the sugar made candy that is sour enough to pucker your lips. You don’t notice the sweetness because of the sour component.
Please feel free to correct this if you know different as it’s just a thought. One thing with apples they are a high pectin fruit which with sugar ties up water in the structure. The pectin in apples decreases as it ripens. I think this is one reason they taste sweeter and are juicier as they ripen. Less pectin should free up the sugar and water in the apple.
I don’t have an answer to the OP’s question, but I will back her (him?) up and say it’s not just her. Some varieties have more variance than others, though. Fujis are pretty uniform. Galas can be downright watery near the stem. But I have noticed and wondered why most apples *are *sweeter near the blossom end, no matter where I eat first. (I usually bite out the middle, then one edge at random, then the other edge, then more middle, and so on, so I’m not eating all of one end before the other and tiring out my taste buds.)
Only if you spilled soda on your computer desk.
'Cause apple bottoms are sweet!
-Astroboy, certified ass-man.
Curses, foiled again!
Thanks for all the answers! I tried it again today - I always eat from the top to the bottom - on an NZ Rose apple which are in saeson now and probably not stored long or shipped far. It was definitely sweeter at the bottom.
I’ve noticed the same thing, sweeter at the bottom. I eat mostly macintosh apples, if that matters.
Of course, while I’d noticed this, I never wondered why until I saw this thread.
Now I simply must know, dammit.
OK, I know nothing about this subject, but I did graduate from UC Davis and had tons of friends who were farmers. This fact has nothing to do with this out of left field speculation. I’ve heard that the gas ethylene enhances the ripening of fruit, especially apples, pears and bananas. This gas is given off naturally by the fruit and in fact causes the simultaneous ripening of all the fruit in an enclosed space. Now according to this website, dry air has a molecular weight of 28.97g/mol. Ethylene has a molecular weight of 28.05 g/mol. However water vapor is 18 g/mol. This may mean that the Ethylene is sinking relative to moist air and thus causing the bottom apples to ripen faster.
Crap, now I notice that you are talking about the bottom of the apple, not the apples at the bottom of the box. I’m not sure if my theory still stands. In the future I’m sure I will note which end of the apple is sweeter.
Ethylene messes with seed germination and other plant life processes. It forces reddening but doesn’t increase sugar in apples that are stored in a warehouse.