There is a simple, faster way to cut apples that keeps them fresh for much longer than most traditional methods. Most people usually cut apples into quarters and end up with pieces of core left on the slices or try and hack it off haphazardly. This video by Grant Thompson, “The King of Random,” demonstrates the handy technique and offers proof that it’s the smartest way to carve up an apple.
First, turn the apple upside down to stabilize and prevent it from rolling around when you cut it. Imagine a tic-tac-toe pattern, with the center square lining up with the middle core part of the apple, and cut down along the lines holding the apple together as you slice. You end up with 8 edible pieces and 1 core part that can easily be discarded. If you keep the pieces together it will stay fresh longer since none of the flesh is directly exposed to air which turns it brown after awhile. Slap a rubber band around the outside to ensure the slices stay together tight and pack it for lunch or a later snack.
An informal experiment was set up to test if this way is better than others. One apple was cut regularly and left out untreated and two were cut tic-tac-toe style, bound with rubber bands, and one was treated with lemon juice, which is said to keep apples from turning brown. After 9 hours the exposed ones turned brown, the held together one had slightly browned, and the lemon treated one was the freshest. As to timing, the tic-tac-toe method was 5x quicker and left virtually no mess.
Additional apple slicing tricks are also covered in the video that show neat ways to present it when serving at home. Briefly touched on is a way to cut up slices so that they can be rearrange into an apple swan. It is covered in another video but seems like a great way to get young children to eat more fruit, or impress your guests!
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