OK, settle down, this is not about the new Apple Tablet or an IPhone App. We’re talkin’ fruit, the lowercase apple.

It’s that time of the year when every talk show and commentator has a piece on NY’s Resolutions. Somehow the apple, the circular fruit with plenty of maxims about its importance, winds up in numerous discussions. Eat an apple. An apple a day. Make it a small one, no bigger than a tennis ball. Assuming they mean a yellow tennis ball and the apple of your choice! Or is that the apple of your eye?

Is there a season of the year when the apple is completely out of favor? We have to backtrack a little as the apple of yore, I guess that would be a Red Delicious Apple, has been relegated to the back of the bus. Not thrown off, but hardly the darling of the crop anymore. Sure there are plenty of recipes that clearly state use a delicious apple, but the core of the extensive lineup has lots of competition these days, regardless of the season (unless of course you are only eating products within a 100-mile radius). Name a state, and you’ll be able to find an orchard to match your tastes.

There are the basic reds and Golden Delicious, the Macintosh, the once uber-popular, Fuji, and the new darling of the aisle, the Honeycrisp. As there are numerous apples, there are apple prices all over the bag. If you go with the weekly sales, you’re likely to find good buys almost year-round on the apple. If you only eat organics, then you pay the organic premium and have your selection limited by availability. 

What is it about the apple anyway? Is it the fact that it is low in calories, and has no fat? Is it some of the new research that gives it health benefits in staving off Alzheimer’s? Is it its ease of eating as it fits so comfortably into your hand? Yes, to all of these reasons and to its year-round affordability.

So with the emphasis on eating healthy in this new year, and with the reality that flu season has not hit in every part of the country yet, then the best Apple Resolution is from Ben Franklin: An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”

Whaddya got to lose?

Just the core–save it for the compost pile.