Climate change has modified Fuji apples

The taste and texture of Fuji apples has been modified and climate change would be the responsible.

A team of Japanese scientists have chemically compared actual Fuji apples to preserved samples since the 1970s. They found that their firmness and concentration of malic acid, which corresponds to the intensity of the taste of an apple, had slowly declined over the decades.

The researchers also analyzed the temperatures in the two regions (Nagano, Aomori) where apples were cultivated. They found that during these 40 years, temperatures have progressively increased by about 2 ° C in the two regions. Dates of flowering of apple trees regularly advanced 1 or 2 days per decade.

In conclusion, the scientists believe that it is the climate change, causing a increasingly early proliferation and exposure of apples to higher temperatures, which is responsible for changing the taste and texture of Fuji apples.

source : smithsonian mag com