- Type
- Trees & Vines
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Season
- Fall
- Sowing
- Plant a sapling
Crabapple
Malus asiatica
Anthocyanins and pectin in a small-fruited apple
Neunggeum is an old Korean name for the small-fruited apples, and the tree that carries the name is Malus asiatica. The classical texts pair it with Chinese-character names such as naeja and imgeum, though which name lands on which modern species differs from record to record. The Donguibogam's fruit section preserves a line saying that eating a lot of naeja leaves one bloated. The name has long been used loosely for the ornamental crabapples as well. The fruit is tart and astringent enough that it goes into syrups and jams rather than being eaten raw. It flowers densely along every branch in spring and holds red fruit well into autumn, which makes it a tree whose four seasons are easy to follow in a pot.
Year-Round Calendar
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Where It Grows
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Main producer
In northern and northwestern China (Shanxi, Gansu, and Liaoning), it is still grown under the names shaguo and huahong. This is virtually the only country where this lineage survives commercially. Harvest August, September
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- Historic source It was once widely planted, centered on Daegu and North Gyeongsang, but after Western apples arrived in the early 20th century it was pushed aside; today only a few scattered trees remain.
- Historic source It was grown under the name waringo, and small plantings now remain in Nagano and a few other places.
The crabapple (Malus asiatica) is a cultivated lineage long grown across East Asia, from northern China to the Korean Peninsula — it is not a wild ancestral species. The apple found in today's orchards is a different species (Malus domestica), native to the Tian Shan region of Central Asia, and as that apple spread, most crabapple-growing areas disappeared. The flowering crabapples planted as ornamentals are yet other species, so they are not counted on the same map.
- Optimum
- 15~22℃
- Range
- 5~30℃
- Hardiness
- Hardy
A deciduous fruit tree of the northern temperate zone. It must go through a certain period of winter cold below 7℃ for its flower buds to open evenly the following year, and it needs cool nights as the fruit ripens for the skin to turn red. Even within the apple genus, it is on the cold-hardy side.
Harvested 3–5 years after planting. A sapling takes three to five years after planting to bear fruit. The month it is planted and the month of the first harvest do not fall in the same year.
In Korea Nationwide except Jeju
Because it needs winter cold before it will bloom, it does poorly on Jeju, where winters are warm. Its historic growing areas are Daegu, North Gyeongsang, and the North Chungcheong region.
How to grow
- Light
- Five or more hours of direct sun. Flower and fruit color deepen in proportion to the light.
- Soil and depth
- Free-draining loam at pH 6.0-6.5. In a pot, mix 20-30% coarse grit into potting soil.
- Spacing
- Three to four meters in open ground. One tree per pot of 40 cm or more, repotted every two or three years as roots fill it.
- Watering
- Water thoroughly whenever the surface dries. Do not let it go dry from June through August, while the fruit is sizing.
- Feeding
- Compost in March and a little slow-release fertilizer in June after flowering. Stop feeding in autumn so the winter buds harden off.
- Harvest
- Pick in September or October once the skin has colored evenly. Left on the tree the fruit hangs into winter, so you can leave some for the look of it.
What makes the difference. Crabapples are also used as pollinators for other apple trees, so it is worth having one nearby if you grow apples. In a pot, cut back about a third of the previous year's growth in winter to hold the height and get an even bloom.
Why this one is harder. Left unpruned it reaches 4-6 m. In a pot it needs annual pruning to stay in bounds, and in exchange the fruit comes small and numerous.
Common problems
- Aphids You will see Curled new shoots with ants working the branches What to do Wash them off with water and break the ant trails
- Cedar apple rust You will see Orange spots on the leaves and early leaf drop What to do Avoid planting near juniper and gather up and destroy infected leaves
- Peach fruit moth You will see Holes in the small fruit with sap weeping out What to do Never leave fallen fruit lying, and bag the fruit in June
This page describes how a crop is grown and used. It does not claim health effects for any food, nor is it intended to prevent or treat disease. Component and study notes are references only and do not mean the same result occurs in people. Consult a medical professional about health concerns.
Health Benefits
What the old text says. The Donguibogam's fruit section carries a fruit under the name naeja, with a line noting that eating a lot of it leaves one bloated. This is a record from a seventeenth-century medical text, not a modern medical judgement. Which modern species the old names naeja and imgeum each point to differs from source to source, so the record cannot be tied straight to this tree.
Anthocyanin research. Test-tube studies have reported antioxidant activity measured for the anthocyanins in the red skin. Human research on this species specifically is hard to find, so what can be said today goes no further than composition.
Nutrition
- Pectin (Enough to set a jam) — Jam sets without help
- Anthocyanins (The pigment of the red skin) — Brightens in acid
- Malic and citric acid (Organic acids) — The sharp sourness
- Tannins (In skin and flesh) — The astringency
Pectin Small, sharply sour apples carry enough pectin that jam and jelly set without any added, and they are often mixed into low-pectin fruit jams to make them set. Boiling the cores along with the fruit and then straining extracts even more of it. Take the seeds out first, though: the amygdalin in apple-family seeds is water-soluble and stays in the juice.
Anthocyanins The red of the skin comes from anthocyanin pigments. They sharpen in acid, so a squeeze of lemon during cooking keeps the jam a clear, bright red. Several studies have reported measurements of their antioxidant activity.
Organic acids and tannins Malic and citric acid are high enough to make you wince if you bite into one raw. Add the tannin astringency and it is essentially not an eating apple. Paired with sugar, though, that same acidity is what makes it excel once cooked.
Pairings
○ Sugar and lemon — Cored and cooked with an equal weight of sugar, it sets into jam with no added pectin. A tablespoon of lemon juice brightens the color and helps it keep. Cook it with the skins on to get all of the color and pectin.
○ Sauce for roast meat — Crabapple jam mixed with soy sauce and pepper becomes a sauce for grilled or roasted meat. The strong acidity cuts through the fat. It suits roast pork and duck particularly well.
○ Vinegar and cider — In Europe, tart crabapples go into cider and fruit vinegar. Their low sugar means you have to add some, but the acidity keeps the ferment stable. Sort out any insect-damaged fruit before you start.
△ The seeds — Apple-family seeds contain amygdalin, a cyanogenic glycoside. The fruit is small enough that it is tempting to blend it whole, so core it first or strain the seeds out after cooking. Avoid chewing through a number of seeds.
△ Eating a lot of it raw — The original text said plainly that eating much of it leaves you bloated. High acid and tannin mean several raw fruit can leave you feeling heavy with acid reflux. Cooked or preserved is the better form.
△ Sprayed ornamental trees — Crabapples planted as street or landscape trees are not managed with edible fruit in mind, and may have been sprayed with insecticide. Do not pick and eat from roadside trees. If you want the fruit, grow your own or buy fruit sold for eating.
Varieties
- Flowering crabapple (Sapling) — The cultivated ornamental commonly planted. Fruit about 2 cm across.
- Siberian crabapple (Sapling) — A wild relative. Bean-sized fruit, strongly sour.
- Manchurian crabapple (Sapling) — A wild relative with white flowers, used as rootstock.
- Western crabapple (Sapling) — Bred for jam and cider. Slightly larger fruit.
Source: Donguibogam, Fruit Section (柰子) · Korea National Arboretum, National Species Knowledge Information System