From Eve’s biblical breakfast blunder to Isaac Newton’s gravitationally-induced epiphany — even down to that sleek device buzzing away in your pocket — the apple as a cultural symbol has persisted for thousands of years. But while apples may remain symbolically fresh, their physical resilience has traditionally been less reliable. Until now.
Canadian biotech company Okanagan Specialty Fruits has successfully “silenced” the gene responsible for making apples turn brown, The Daily Mail reports. Along with skins that retain their red or green colour indefinitely, these apples stay fresh and white inside for weeks on end, even if they’re sliced up.
The genetically modified apples could be on sale as early as 2014.
The announcement has, expectedly, not gone un-criticized (some have expressed concern that the advent of these super apples will drive the prices of other apples down), but Neal Carter, founder of Okanagan Specialty Fruits, is unperturbed.
“At the end of the day, it’s just a very nice apple that doesn’t go brown,” he told The Daily Mail.
And so there you have it, folks: eternally ripe-looking apples. No word yet on how we’re supposed to tell when the apples have actually gone bad.
