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Nut apples?

 
gardener
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Okay, so I had an idea today. Maybe it should be in the "wildest plant-breeding aspirations" thread, but well, here goes.

For whatever reason, I ate an apple seed without the hull. I was struck by the nice consistency, and the similarity in taste to a slightly bitter almond. It felt like it even contained some amount of fat. And my inner mad scientist said, "well, why not breed an apple with super-large seeds and low amygdalin content, then? It'd work as a hardy substitute for almonds, wouldn't it?"

So what do you think? Doable? With graft-accelerated breeding perhaps?
 
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Your topic reminds me of this thread that I posted several years ago:

https://permies.com/t/40/60345/Plum-Nuts

I have read here on the forum that several folks like eating apples seeds though I have read that it is not good to eat too many due to the cyanide that are in the seeds.

To answer your question, it might be done though would that be safe?

https://permies.com/t/50580/Apple-seeds-cyanide
 
Eino Kenttä
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Hence the "low amygdalin content" goal. The seeds of rose-family plants (including almond) don't actually contain free cyanide, but rather the cyanogenic glycoside amygdalin which is converted to cyanide in our bodies. The level of amygdalin is how sweet almonds differ from bitter almonds. I figure if there are almond varieties with low amygdalin content, it should be possible to breed apples with the same trait...
 
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