Watercore, Codling Moth, Bruising, Oh my! Read on to learn about the joys of “Eating Ugly”.

Imperfect Produce & “Ugly” Fruit: Perfectly tasty, but cosmetically ugly fruits & veggies.

In the world of organic growing, there is often a higher percentage of less-than-perfect looking produce. Farmers who grow organically have chosen to accept that a good chunk of the fruit they grow may not be supermarket perfect. This fruit is harder to market, and often requires some time spent on education, but it’s worth it in order to keep damaging fungicides & pesticides out of the mix! This is especially true when it comes to organic orcharding, as apples for example,are top of the list when it comes to fruit that presents ta high rate of cosmetic damage. 

Increasing understanding and acceptance that fresh food does not have to be picture perfect, can help reduce the need for millions of gallons of blemish preventing fungicides to be applied by farmers (organic and conventional) every year. Knowing what that funky spot on your fruit is, and how it happened can also help prevent food waste in your own kitchen. It may be “ugly” but still just as delicious! Now lets dive in and learn how ugly fruit happens and why we shouldn’t be afraid to eat ugly.

How “Ugly Fruit” Happens:

Cosmetic imperfections occur for a number of different reasons:

Environmental stressors like heat, drought, sunburn, early freezing, as well as pests, or common diseases can all leave evidence of their visit.

While some types of blemishes can negatively affect the flavor or integrity of a fruit, a funky shape or cosmetic mark is NOT an indicator that your produce is bad or unsafe to consume.

Of course, no one wants to hear the word “disease” applied to something they are about to eat, but the lucky truth is that the majority of imperfections caused by common diseases do not cause any real trouble and in some cases will even stimulate your fruit to become sweeter!

There is even some evidence that suggests, “scarred apples have a two to five percent higher sugar content than unmarred apples from the same tree”. They also show a higher levels of antioxidants. How exciting!

The Sorting & Grading Process

When fruit is harvested here in the HOEC Community Orchard, we sort each harvest into different categories or “grades” (1, 2, &3) with the help of our awesome volunteers and student learners. Most orchards will do something similar, although their sorting groups may differ.

Our best looking fruits and those with only slight cosmetic imperfections that don’t impact the integrity of the fruit are packed into our Summer Orchard Sampler CSA subscription boxes. 

Slightly more imperfect fruits are distributed among our Volunteer Team, or packed into our Homesteaders Bounty CSA boxes for baking, juicing, drying, or processing.

Extra “leftover” fruit that isn’t claimed is either sold on-site or donated to local food banks. 

The super funky looking fruits or those with more visible damage head on over to the Cider Press where they will be turned into a delicious mix of raw pressed apple (and sometimes pear and quince!) cider. 

Finally the fruit that is too damaged for human consumption heads off to the compost or farm animal feed.

Examples of Unexpected Appearances & Common Cosmetic Blemishes:

Inherently "funny looking” apples!

When the majority of apples you have been exposed to are the ones found in the grocery store, you may be surprised to learn that apples in fact come in a much wider variety of shapes, sizes, colors, and textures! Many lesser known or heirloom varieties for example have bumps and knobs, russeted skin, natural scarring, stripes, or splotches of different colors! Behind these unique exteriors you will often find unique flavors and textures that may be excitingly new to you.  

Watercore

Depending on what you hope to use your apples for, watercore can be either a blessing or a curse. If you are a cider or sauce maker, it  is probably a happy surprise!  If you were hoping to put your apples up for long term storage, not so much. 

Watercore is a physiological condition in which the inside of the apple will appear to have water-soaked flesh. Evidence of watercore is almost never visible on the skin, so it’s only when a fruit is cut open that you will see if damage has occurred. Watercore is a response of certain apple cultivars to adverse environmental conditions and not from any disease-causing organism.

The area of flesh that appears to be saturated with water, is actually filled with sorbitol. Sorbitol is a type of sweet carbohydrate that occurs naturally in many fruits, and makes this condition very desirable to sauce & cider makers.  Some cider makers even grow watercore susceptible varieties on purpose!

The downside to this extra boost of sweetness is that watercore speeds up the deterioration process, so plan to use these fruits sooner than later and pick a different variety for long term cold storage. 

Codling Moth

If you have ever grown apples, pears, or possibly quince using organic methods, then you may already be familiar with this one! The visible mark from Codling Moth is referred to as a “sting” that is left on the skin of the fruit ~ a light red pattern circling the point of entry. You may also see “frass,” protruding from the same point and once cut open there may be a “trail” inside. 

Apples in which codling moth larvae are present or have been feeding are absolutely edible although their visit leaves an unsightly mark. Just carve away the affected tissues and enjoy the untouched parts.

Apple Maggot

Sometimes apple maggot entry into fruit is not visible to the naked eye and other times the “sting” or puncture is visible as a very slight indentation, accompanied by a teeny tiny hole with very slight darkening of the skin around the puncture. In either case, you likely won’t know until after you have cut into your fruit. 

Once cut open, you might see a brownish trail through the flesh.  Often, the trail may be minimal and the  fruit will be  healthy other than a few small areas of light discoloration.  In this case, simply cut out the discolored area and enjoy as usual. Other times, the entire apple may be damaged beyond the point of eating. In this case toss to an animal or throw in the compost.

Scab

Apples, Asian pears, & European pears will show a blotchy brown spot(s) however, the blemish is only skin deep. Different varieties of apples are more or less susceptible and many savvy growers lean towards scab resistant varieties when planning to add to their edible landscape especially in warmer wetter climates, as rain and humidity can increase the appearance of scab. Mild scab does not affect the interior of the apple in any way. Just peel or cut it off and enjoy as usual. 

Bruising

No matter how careful you are during harvest, grading, packing, transportation, unpaking, and storing, there will inevitably be a few bumps in the road! However the bruise occurs, if it is small it won't affect the apple much, but do remove and isolate it from the others so it doesn’t hasten the ripening of the rest of the bunch and plan to use it first.

As much as we love eating ugly, our ultimate goal of course to grow as much beautiful fruit as we can. If you want to learn more about how to prevent pest, disease, and environmental damage to your fruits, please join us in the HOEC Community Orchard for a hands-on workshop, and happy eating and growing to you all!