Basic Introduction to Yantai Apples
Yantai City is one of the earliest areas in our country for apple cultivation, and it also has the largest area under apple cultivation and the highest yield. Yantai apples are of excellent variety and unique flavor, much loved by people, and are known as the “Queen” of the fruit family in Jiaodong. Yantai apples are sweet, crisp, and nutritious, containing not only abundant sugar but also malic acid, carotene, ascorbic acid, and other substances essential for human health such as calcium, iron, zinc, etc. Therefore, they are highly favored by nutritionists.
Nutritional Value
The nutritional content of Yantai apples is very rich, containing a variety of vitamins and acidic substances. A single apple contains over 30 mg of flavonoids, 15% carbohydrates and pectin, vitamin A, C, E, potassium, and antioxidants. A single apple (154g) contains 5g of dietary fiber, 170mg of potassium, 10mg of calcium, 22g of carbohydrates, 10mg of phosphorus, 7.8g of Vc, and 7.8g of Vb. The calcium content in apples is higher than most other fruits, which helps metabolize excess salt in the body. Malic acid can help metabolize calories and prevent lower body obesity. Soluble fiber pectin can help with constipation. Pectin also promotes the excretion of lead, mercury, and manganese from the gastrointestinal tract, regulates blood sugar levels, and prevents sudden spikes or drops in blood sugar.
Product Characteristics
Yantai apples are large, uniformly shaped, with bright and lustrous colors, smooth and delicate skin, a pleasant balance of sweetness and acidity, and a crisp texture. When you take a bite, they are finely crisp and pure, with a fresh honey-like aroma, and have a high fruit juice content of over 89%, high sugar content, and a total sugar level of 16.4%. They are rich in trace elements beneficial to the human body, such as iron, zinc, manganese, and calcium, and contain a high level of amino acids. Regular consumption can aid digestion, nourish the skin, and have a unique effect. Yantai apples are known as the “Queen of Fruits,” and are loved by many!
History and Folklore
Yantai has had apples since ancient times. Before the Ming Dynasty, they were called “Nai,” and after the Ming Dynasty, they were called “apples.” However, the taste of these apples was not very appealing; the flesh was soft, and there was little juice, so they were also called “soft apples.” The moment that apple blossoms rewrote history occurred in the 1870s. According to historical records, around the early 1870s, on a slope southeast of Yuhuangding (opposite today's Beihai Hotel), an orchard appeared. Above the main gate of the orchard hung a signboard inscribed in both Chinese and English: Guangxing Orchard. The owner of the orchard was Reverend John Neilson, a missionary from the United States. In 1871, when Reverend Neilson returned to Yantai from the United States, this gardening enthusiast brought with him several types of Western apple saplings from his hometown, New York State. Whether this American couple wanted to taste the fruits of their homeland in a foreign land or were following God's will to benefit humanity is unknown, but it is a fact that from then on, the history of grafting Western apples onto local apples began in Yantai and throughout China. Several years later, probably around the mid-to-late 1870s, the apple seedlings brought by the Neilsons bore fruit distinctly different from local apples. These apples were large, thin-skinned, juicy, and crispy, with a pleasant balance of sweetness and acidity. Thus, more and more local residents obtained branches of Western apples through various means and grafted them onto local “soft apples.” Soon, spectacular apple orchards appeared in Zhifu Xishaowan and Nanshan. In the early 20th century, Tang Dian Gong, a young farmer from Shaorui Village in Fukuan County, who often came to Yantai to sell agricultural products, when he passed by Guangxing Orchard and saw the unique apples in the orchard, conceived the idea of grafting Western apples onto his own orchard. One time, while passing by the orchard, he cut several branches without the gardener noticing, and then grafted them into his own orchard. Three years later, sweet fruit emerged, which would later become the famous Yantai Qing Banana apple. Tang Dian Gong then cut branches from his own orchard and gave them to fellow villagers to graft and cultivate. Since then, Qing Banana apples spread in the Shaorui area and became the dominant variety of Yantai apples for a period. The mid-1920s to the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War was a relatively peaceful period and the first heyday of Yantai apples. According to the 1939 report “Survey Report on Fruit Tree Horticulture in Yantai, Shandong, and Weihaiwei” written by Professor Tang Quansheng of National Peking University Agricultural College and Technician Wu Rui, before the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, every third and eighth day of the lunar month, fruit farmers from all over the region carried fruits (mainly apples) to Qishan City in Yantai for trade. At that time, there were thirty-seven merchants and warehouses in Yantai that purchased fruits. After being collected in Yantai, apples were transported by land to various parts of the province and by sea – along the ancient “Maritime Silk Road” – southward and northward, and even through Hong Kong to places like Luzon in the Philippines. According to the 1951 fruit tree resources survey data of Fukuan County: “Before the Anti-Japanese War, Fukuan County had 1.76 million apple trees, producing over 7.36 million catties annually.” It was from this time that Yantai apples began to leave Yantai, spread across the country, and reach the world. War is a machine that destroys all excellent achievements. During the eight-year Anti-Japanese War, under the trampling of Japanese invaders, Yantai apples suffered devastating blows. Using Fukuan County as an example again, by 1945, “only 5,000 mu of apple orchards remained in the county, with 250,000 trees, and the total fruit production was only 12.4% of pre-war levels.” The birth of New China laid a solid foundation for the great development of Yantai apples. Farmers, now owners of their land, replanted hopeful saplings in their own orchards. In the autumn of 1953, Zhang Chengrui, a fruit farmer from Shaorui Village in Fukuan County and a county-level model worker, achieved a high yield of over 10,000 catties per mu in his 1.83 mu apple orchard. During the celebration of the harvest, he and Chen Peitian, another village fruit farmer and county-level model worker, decided together to carefully select a box of “Qing Banana” apples each and mail them to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Chairman Mao Zedong in Beijing, expressing the deep affection of the newly liberated farmers towards the party. Following that, in 1958, 1959, and 1967, and 1968, Shaorui Village sent apples to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Chairman Mao Zedong in the name of the village. Each time, relevant central departments paid for the apples and expressed their gratitude. In 1968, when Shaorui Village received the payment, they also received a letter from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China: “We appreciate your sentiment, please do not send apples in the future.” Perhaps the relevant departments considered that sending apples in this manner was not sustainable. Therefore, in 1972, under the personal arrangement of Premier Zhou Enlai, starting from that year, Fukuan apples were provided as “special supply” to Beijing and central government agencies. Nowadays, various evaluations are plentiful, but in that era when evaluations were not yet popular, “special supply” was not a gold medal, but better than a gold medal. This was the high honor won by Yantai apples based on their quality. From the founding of New China to before the Cultural Revolution, this period marked the second peak of development for Yantai apples. Not only did the area and yield of Yantai apples reach new heights, but they also earned great honors. However, the “ten years of turmoil” that followed