Basic Introduction to Huaniu Apple
Huaniu apple is a specialty of Tianshui City, Gansu Province. It refers to the high-quality varieties of the Yuan Shuai series grown in most areas of the city and is a Chinese national geographical indication product. The fruit has fine, dense, crisp flesh with abundant juice, unique flavor, and a strong aroma. Its taste is excellent and its quality superior. It has been recognized by many domestic and foreign experts and marketers as one of the world's three most famous apple brands, alongside the American Red Delicious and Japanese Fuji. It is the first apple variety from China to receive an official trademark on the international market.
Nutritional Value
Huaniu apples are known as “wisdom fruits” and “memory fruits.” People have long discovered that eating more Huaniu apples can enhance memory and improve cognitive function. In addition to rich sugars, vitamins, and minerals essential for the brain, Huaniu apples are notably high in zinc. Studies show that zinc is a critical component of many important enzymes in the body and is crucial for growth and development. Zinc participates widely in the metabolism of proteins, fats, and sugars through enzymes.
Product Characteristics
The average single fruit weight is around 260g; the content of soluble solids is 12.5-14%; titratable acidity is 0.2-0.36%; the firmness of the peeled flesh is 6.5kg/c㎡. The “Huaniu” apple has a conical shape, is entirely bright red or deep red, with a vibrant color and a striped or solid red appearance. The fruit coloring is 90-100%. The fruit size is uniform, the skin is smooth and glossy, the shape is upright and high-piled with prominent five ridges, and the fruit shape index is 0.9-1.0. The flesh is yellowish-white, fine-grained, dense, crisp, juicy, with a unique flavor, a strong aroma, a good taste, and superior quality.
History and Folklore
The cultivation of Huaniu apples in Tianshui City began in 1925. In 1956, the village of Huaniu in Shitielipu Township, Maiji District, Tianshui City, introduced ten varieties of seedlings including Red Yuan Shuai, Golden Delicious, and National Glory from Xiongyue Town, Liaoning Province. Under the guidance of technical personnel, all these seedlings were successfully cultivated, among which Red Yuan Shuai stood out for its excellent color, shape, and taste. In the autumn of 1965, local farmers carefully selected two boxes of freshly picked apples and sent them to Chairman Mao Zedong as an expression of respect. After tasting the apples, Chairman Mao was very fond of them. When he met with the renowned Tianshui native Deng Baoshan, then governor of Gansu Province, at his residence, he served him Tianshui apples and praised them: “The apples from your hometown Tianshui are delicious!” Following this, the Central Committee Office of the Communist Party of China wrote a special letter on behalf of Chairman Mao to thank the villagers of Huaniu. The village engraved the letter onto a stone monument to commemorate it permanently.
In the same year, the first batch of Red Yuan Shuai apples from Huaniu village was shipped to Hong Kong for trial sales. To facilitate tracking of the trial sales situation, technicians marked each box of apples with the word “Huaniu” in pencil in the upper right corner as an identifier. The Hong Kong office sold the “Huaniu” Red Yuan Shuai apples to British traders, who then resold them to American traders. After several tastings, the “Huaniu” apples made an impressive debut, causing a sensation. At the time, Hong Kong newspapers reported that there was a “Huaniu Kingdom” in Northwest China, producing the highest-quality “Huaniu” apples, which surpassed the top American brand, the Red Delicious, in terms of fruit shape, flesh texture, sugar content, and other indicators. They even outperformed renowned apple varieties from around the world. Based on market evaluations in Hong Kong, Chinese “Huaniu” apples won the title of the world's top brand. Traders from around the world signed three-year contracts with China's export offices to purchase “Huaniu” apples. In the article “Preliminary Opinions on the Regionalization of New Red Star Apple Planting Areas in Our Country,” the Fruit Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (New Red Star Development Group) stated: The “Huaniu” apples produced in Tianshui command high prices in the Hong Kong international market and are the most reputable and most exported Chinese apple variety. Later, China officially registered “Huaniu” as an apple trademark and exported them in large quantities. In 1974, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and the Forestry Department officially designated Tianshui as one of the six major apple export production bases.
Awards and Honors for Huaniu Apples
Tianshui “Huaniu” apples have been recognized by many domestic and foreign experts and marketers as one of the world's three most famous apple brands, alongside American Red Delicious and Japanese Fuji. In 1974, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and the Forestry Department formally designated Tianshui as one of the six major apple export production bases. In virtually every book about the geography of Tianshui, there is almost always a mention of “Huaniu” apples: “Huaniu” apples are abundant in the Wei River Basin and have won first place multiple times in national apple competitions. This apple is the first variety from China to receive an official trademark on the international market. In December 1989, it received the “Certificate for Quality Agricultural Products” from the Ministry of Agriculture. In December 1993, it won a gold medal at the “93 China High-Quality Agricultural Products and Scientific Achievements Exhibition” held in Bangkok, Thailand. In October 1994, it was awarded a gold medal at the National Forestry Famous, Special, Superior, and New Products Expo. At the SFT, the first China (Shenzhen) International Fruit and Technology Exhibition in 2004, it won four major awards, including “Fruit Scholar.” In September 2006, during the “Beijing Olympic Recommended Fruits and Chinese Famous Fruits Selection Activity,” four varieties of Tianshui Huaniu apples (Cultivation No. 2, As, Supershu, and Tian Wang No. 1) won first prizes for Beijing Olympic recommended fruits and also received the title of “Chinese Famous Fruit.” In October 2007, at the national high-quality apple selection event held in Qixia, Shandong, Huaniu apples once again won six major awards: “Huaniu” branded apples won the award for a famous brand of Chinese apples, and four apple varieties (Russian Dwarf No. 2, Shouhong, New Red Star, and Wa Li Short Branch) won the gold medal for high-quality Chinese apples, while Tian Wang No. 1 won the award for new and superior varieties of Chinese apples.