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Crab Apples Delivery or Pickup
The Instacart guide to crab apples
About crab apples
Crab apples are wild species of apple trees, and they grow all over the world. Like apples, people have been enjoying them for thousands of years. The fruits are smaller than apples, and many people keep them in their gardens primarily as decorative trees. You may see dried blossoms or fruits in wreaths or other arrangements. Crab apples have attractive white or pink flowers, and some people use them as bonsai trees. They also have beautiful red, orange, yellow, and purple leaves in fall.
Crab apples are very sour, and some have a bitter taste. The term crab apple appeared in the early 15th century, and it may reference these apples' strong flavors.
With the convenient Instacart app, you can choose your favorite crab apples or crab apple products and have them delivered straight to your office or home in as little as 2 hours! You can also decide to pick up your order at a store nearby instead.
How to pick out crab apples
Crab apples are usually ready for harvest in late summer or fall, but you can order these fruits through Instacart at any time of year! They're smaller than apples, around 0.25 to 2 inches wide, and they have yellowish-green, green, red, or pink skin. Some look just like cherries, but they have small cores with seeds inside them, similar to larger apples. They should feel relatively firm and have shiny skin and dark brown seeds. Like other types of apples, crab apples have white flesh that turns brown when exposed to air.
Rinse your crab apples off in a colander before you eat or prepare them, and avoid crab apples with soft spots or blemishes. Mold or mildew often looks light gray, and a fungus called apple scab is usually greenish-brown. You can keep unripe crab apples on your counter at room temperature for a day or two, and you can store crab apples for a few days in your refrigerator after they're ripe. However, they won't last as long there as other apples. After cooking, they'll stay fresh for a long time in your freezer.
Types of crab apples
There are more than 1,000 different varieties of crab apples, and they all have unique characteristics. Butterball crab apples have pink blossoms and yellow fruit, and they taste like limes. Centennial crab apples are reddish-orange, and they're sweet and juicy. Hopa crab apples taste similar, but the fruits are bright red. Chestnut is yellow with a red blush and a sweet, slightly nutty flavor. Red Vein crab apples have a pleasant, tart flavor, and the fruit can be crimson, red, pink, or golden. The flesh has red and magenta striations running through it that look like veins.
Crab Apples Near Me
Buy your favorite Crab Apples online with Instacart. Order Crab Apples from local and national retailers near you and enjoy on-demand, contactless delivery or pickup within 2 hours.
FAQs about crab apples
Most varieties of crab apples are sour, but some taste very sweet, just like domestic apples. Others have slightly woody or smoky notes. You can use them for any dish where you would normally add apples, like pies, tarts, scones, green salads, and fruit salads. Since their small sizes make chopping them tedious, they're most popular for crab apple sauce, crab apple cider or juice, and crab apple jelly or jam. You can remove the seeds after cooking, pureeing, or juicing.
Crab apple preserves have a complex, slightly spicy flavor, and adding a small percentage of crab apples to apple cider will make the taste more pleasant. You can make crab apple butter by including cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg in crab apple sauce. In Southeast Asia, people often use crab apples to make condiments like sweet and sour sauce. You can pickle your crab apples or make crab apple cider vinegar as well.
Crab apples have low calories, high fiber, and lots of nutrients. They have more pectin than apples, and this substance can increase the health of beneficial gut bacteria, encourage weight loss, and prevent diarrhea. Crab apples also have vitamin A, vitamin C, antioxidants, potassium, iron, and phosphorous. Phosphorous helps maintain your bone density, and vitamin A prevents vision problems. Your immune system needs vitamin C, and antioxidants can help prevent heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, dementia, and many other health issues.
Like other apples, you shouldn't eat crab apple seeds because they contain small amounts of cyanogenic glycoside, a natural poison. However, you would need to eat a huge amount of crab apple seeds to jeopardize your health.
After you placing your order for crab apples through Instacart, a trained Instacart shopper will bring your fruit to you on the same day! With Instacart, you can help save precious time and make your life a bit less stressful. That way, you can take a break and spend some time with friends and family members.