57 Juicy Granny Smith Apples Facts That Will Make This Apple A Hero

Granny Smith is a completely green apple fruit with a spherical shape.

It is a tip-bearing apple cultivar that originated in Australia in 1868. It is often described as a green apple or sour apple.

It is anointed after Maria Smith, who produced the variety from a chance seedling. The fruit bears light green skin and juicy, crisp flesh and is hard and firm. The taste is sour and acidic. When cooked, Granny Smith apples retain their firmness, making them one of the best apples for usage in pies, where they can be sweetened. When an apple becomes overripe, it changes color from green to yellow. The Granny Smith apple was the third most popular apple in the US in 2019, according to the US Apple Association.

The Granny Smith apple tree was found in a compost pile in Sydney, Australia, about 100 years before it was introduced to North America in the 1970s. Apples from Granny Smith trees can be found in grocery shops and marketplaces all around the nation. Home gardeners can grow Granny Smith apples in their own backyard or orchard.

If you want to read some fun facts about Granny Smith apples, their apple variety, apple-growing regions, skin nutritional value, and its juicy flesh, you should read further to know about it in detail. There is a lot of such information available on this topic, along with crab apples, french crab apples, and other apple varieties. You could also check out our other fun facts articles on various other topics like Gala apple tree facts and blueberry facts.

Granny Smith Apples' Classification

Granny Smith Apples have the following scientific classification:

• Their genus is Malus.
• Their class is Magnoliopsida.
• Their phylum is Magnoliophyta. 
• Their order is Rosales.
• Their kingdom is Plantae.
• Their family is Rosaceae.

The Granny Smith Apples' tree is assumed to be a cross-mixture between the European wild apple (Malus sylvestris) and Malus Domestica, the domesticated apple.

Granny Smith Apples' Origin

Discover facts about the origin of this apple.

• In 1868, the Granny Smith apple variety originated in New South Wales's Eastwood (today a suburb of Sydney).
• Maria Ann Smith, who discovered it, moved to the region with her husband Thomas in 1839 from Beckley, East Sussex.
• From 1855-1856, they bought a small apple orchard throughout the region and started farming this light green fruit, for which the place became well-known in colonial Australia.
• Smith was a significant character in the community and had eight children, gaining the moniker 'Granny' Smith in her latter years.
• Until 1924, the first accounts of the original Smith tree and the Granny Smith apple's origins were published.
• The narrative of a local chronicler who had interviewed two individuals who had known Smith was published in 'Farmer and Settler' that year.
• One of the people questioned remembered being brought to Smith's farm in 1868 with his father to check a random seedling that had sprouted near a brook. Granny Smith had put the leftovers of French crab apples cultivated in Tasmania among the ferns.
• According to another account, Smith experimented with French crab apples for cooking and discovered the new apple cultivars under her kitchen windowsill after tossing the apple cores out the window while she worked.
• In any event, Smith took it upon herself to cultivate the new apple variety on her land, finding the apples to be suitable for both cooking and general eating.
• They had 'all the looks of a cooked apple,' but were 'sweet and crisp to eat,' rather than acidic. She set a shop in the George Street market of Sydney, where the apples sold extremely well and became popular.
• Smith died just a few years after this discovery (in 1870), but other apple growers recognized her effort in the area. One such planter was Edward Gallard, who had a large number of Granny Smith trees planted on his land and purchased the Smith farm after Thomas died in 1876.
• Although Gallard successfully promoted the apple locally, it was not widely known until 1890.
• The following year, it earned a prize for cooking apples at the Castle Hill Agricultural and Horticultural Show under the name 'Granny Smith's Seedling.
• The apple was so popular that many people began showing Granny Smith apples at gardening exhibitions the following year.
• In 1895, the Department of Agriculture at New South Wales recognized this green apple and began cultivating smith apple trees at the Government Experimental Station, suggesting its features as a late-picking cooking apple for prospective sale to the Gazette.
• The government heavily marketed the apple in the years that followed, resulting in broad acceptance. It gained international acclaim because of the fact that it could be plucked in March and kept until November.
• In the 1890s and 1900s, enterprising fruit merchants experimented with ways for transporting other apples internationally in cold storage.
• The Granny Smith could be sent vast distances and at any time of year, owing to its extended shelf life, at a period when Australian food exports were soaring due to increased worldwide demand.
• After WWI, Granny Smiths were shipped in huge numbers, and by 1975, Granny Smiths accounted for 40% of Australia's apple harvest.
• It was also being cultivated extensively in the Southern Hemisphere, as well as in France and South America, during this time.
• The Granny Smith Festival, which takes place every year in Eastwood, commemorates the invention of the Granny Smith apple trees and their yummy fruit.

Health Benefits Of Granny Smith Apples

The trees of apples 'Granny Smith' bear fruit that is moderate in size.

• One 5.4 oz (154 g) ripe apple has around 80 calories, all of which come from carbs.
• According to the State Department of Education at Idaho, 'Granny Smith' apples have no fats or salt and give 20% of vitamin C, 0.17 oz (5 g) of fiber, and 2% of vitamin A, calcium, and iron.
• In the home garden, 'Granny Smith' apple trees provide healthy fruit that can be preserved, frozen, or stored in a refrigerator for use in the future.
• They can be eaten directly or used in various types of dishes.

Difference Between Granny Smith Apples And Red Apples

Apples come in many colors and sizes, including green, yellow, and red. The most familiar variety of the green apple is the Granny Smith apple, whereas the most common type of red apple is Red Delicious.

• One of the most noticeable distinctions between red and green apples (Granny Smith) is, of course, their look and flavor. A red apple has a sweet and juicy taste in addition to being red, while green apples (Granny Smith) are sour and green in color.
• Also, because green apples have thicker peals than red apples, they are crisper. When it comes to health advantages and nutritional aspects, various vitamins and minerals are present and a variety of health benefits.
• Green apples are luscious and delicious. Green apples in their raw state may not appeal to everyone, particularly those who find the flavor of green apples unpleasant.
• However, green apples offer several health advantages, including minimal fiber, carbohydrate, and sugar content, which is beneficial in a variety of ways. It also has a number of cosmetic impacts, such as skin and color enhancement.
• Green apples have a tendency to increase your metabolic rate. It's a lot more when you eat a green apple with its skin. In addition, it cleanses the digestive tract and improves liver function.
• Green apples include several micronutrients like vitamin A, vitamin C, and vitamin E in addition to these fundamental calories.
• There is also a lot of calcium and iron. So eating one green apple every day will offer you a significant amount of calories and nutrients. Unfortunately, because red apples are among the most popular apples, green apples are sometimes disregarded.
• Red apples come in various tastes and are quite sweet and juicy. Each type of red apple has a distinct flavor. Red apples come in a variety of tastes, including gala, red delicious, rose, honey crispy, fuji, Braeburn, cameo, Rome, and Mcintosh.
• Red apples are unique in that they are beautiful red; they appear wonderful and brilliant and come in various colors.
• Red apples, like green apples, have several health advantages, including being low in fat and calories, making them suitable for snacking by dieters.
• In addition, red apples are a suitable source of vitamin K and vitamin C, which are important for a variety of bodily processes.
• Red apples are also high in potassium, which aids with blood coagulation. Red apples have been shown to decrease blood cholesterol levels and lessen the risk of diabetes and hypertension.
• In addition, the red apple is beneficial to gastrointestinal health, bone health, and cognitive function. Red apples are high in carbohydrates and water.
• Thus they're high in sugars like sucrose, fructose, and glucose. As a result, red apples have a glycemic index of 29 to 44, making them a good source of energy.
• Red apples are high in fiber, with roughly four grams (or 17 % of the daily value) per serving. A red apple has both types of fiber.
• Insoluble fiber enhances satiety and decreases blood sugar levels, whereas soluble fiber supports intestinal health.
• The potassium in red apples is good for your heart. The apple is frequently claimed to keep a doctor at bay; now you know why.

Did You Know...

Not satisfied? Read some more juicy information about this article.

• After WWI, Granny Smiths were shipped in huge numbers, and by 1975, Granny Smiths accounted for 40% of Australia's apple crop.
• The Granny apple with a pink blush also has a sharp taste and tart flavor. You can tell if they are ripe when they easily come off the tree and have a pink or yellow blush. They will also be roughly around the size of a fist.
• The annual Granny Smith Festival, held in October, honors the life and legacy of Granny Smith, or Maria Ann Smith, one of the district's most renowned residents. They, in 1868, 'accidentally' planted the first batch of miniature green apples that take her name and are now cultivated all over the globe.
• Apples from the Granny Smith variety never turn red. Different pigments in apple varieties let them change color as the season progresses. There are no red pigments produced by Granny Smith. As a result, it is constantly green in color.
• 'Granny Smith' apples are harvested somewhere around October through January or February, depending on the environment.
• Granny Smith peels are thick and acidic, which isn't ideal for an apple crisp. Therefore, it's considered better to peel them.
• Today, many parts of The United States of America, like Washington, California, New England, grow Granny Smith apples.
• To grow a Granny Smith apple tree, you have to plant the Granny Smith seed in well-draining soil where the full-grown tree can receive a minimum of six hours of full sunlight every day.
• The tree can take three to five years to mature and bear fruit. For the Granny Smith apple tree to yield fruit, it must cross-pollinate with other trees.

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