You Can Eat the Whole Apple, Core and Stem Included
Eating Fruit Skins
This summer I learned that every part of an apple is edible, including the core and stem. I used to discard the core, but after trying it, I now eat the whole fruit. I also discovered that strawberry stems are considered medicine in my community and that kiwi skins are edible. A footnote notes that apple seeds contain cyanide but pose little risk in normal consumption.
Turns out, you can eat the whole thing.
- bastawhiz
> Alex rightly points out that apple seeds do contain cyanide. Turns out, it’s not a huge risk for normal apple consumption.
You don't have to eat them. There's no benefit to eating them. They don't taste good. They provide a negligible amount of nutrition, if any, and harm you very mildly. The stem of an apple is edible, but for what? A gram of extra fiber after you manage to gnaw through it?
You can eat banana peels, but you probably wouldn't want to. It's a terrible texture and flavor. They decompose well, so there's no meaningful environmental benefit. Yes, they have nutrients. You can eat a second piece of fruit instead.
And this is not universally good advice. The seeds, leaves, and stem of the pawpaw is filled with toxins—enough that folks have died from it.
I don't think the author is trying to make a point, but rather to show that we do things because we were told them. But it's important to also realize that the cultural reasons are sometimes backed up with hard-earned lessons or to save us from having to learn for ourselves that watermelon rind isn't pleasant to eat without preparing it in other ways.
- dvh
I had a college who would meticulously cut that black thing at the bottom of the apple and also quite a bit of actual apple flesh, like 1cm or even more around it. When I asked him why he cut so much, he said that the black thing is remnant of apple flower and when apple tree is in the bloom it is the most sensitive so they apply most pesticides then and the concentration is highest around that black part. By cutting it away with little bit of flesh he removes most of the pesticides that are in the apple. It didn't help, few years later he died of cancer.
- RALaBarge
I ate Kiwis for years before someone told me most people DO NOT eat the skins. I looked at my bag of kiwis, and the even the damn monkey mascot was holding a spoon...mocking me...
- motionlessveloc
Grapes are commonly peeled in Japan, and people will look at you strangely if you eat them skin on. However, Japanese grapes are huge and have a thick, astringent skin that peels off easily.
Likewise, when Japanese people go overseas and start peeling grapes, people look at them strangely. Eventually they figure out that Western grapes are small, hard to peel and the skins are thin and nearly tasteless, so they adopt our barbarian habits too.
Updated to add: Japanese grapes like Kyoho are actually hybrid cultivars of Western grapes (Vitis vinifera) and Concord grapes (Vitis labrusca), which is why they're so different.
- RyJones
I eat the whole orange, grapefruit, lemon or lime.
I like the bitter to offset the sweetness.
- sho_hn
When I realized you can just eat kiwi with the skin on (if it's a very hairy one, brush them off under running water) and in no time it actually tastes better (adds some lovely contrast), it became my favorite zero-ennui fruit. It almost feels like a cheat code for something so tasty and large to require so little effort!
Now, I never thought that kiwi skins are not edible of course, but I just assumed they're somehow unpleasant because everyone seems to peel or spoon them.
- niemandhier
If you eat enough kiwis with skin, tarantula abdomens start to look like something tasty.
I read that online, I trained myself to eat whole Kiwis and lo and behold: It is true!
Our brains are so wonderfully strange!
- jeltz
I eat whole cherries, I am too lazy to spit out the pits do I swallow them whole. So far it has not been any issue at all and I eat a lot of cherries.