Manzana Criolla

Out of hand; the pretty imported apples are for gifts, the criollas are for eating.

Occasionally juiced with lulo or blackberry.

Ignore cosmetics; choose firm and fragrant. The blemishes are the point.

Generally cheaper than imported apples — a few thousand pesos per pound. Typical market price.

Here's the trick: apples evolved to need winter — hundreds of hours of chill — before they'll flower. The tropics have no winter, so Colombian growers (around highland towns like La Ceja and in Boyacá) use low-chill varieties like Anna, plus pruning and defoliation tricks that simulate winter. The result: smaller, streakier, tarter apples that can fruit almost year-round — a little agricultural magic trick most visitors never notice.

The low-chill "Anna" apple that makes tropical apple-growing possible was bred in Israel in the 1950s specifically so apples could fruit in warm climates like Colombia's. The Anna apple is practically self-sterile and is almost always planted next to another low-chill Israeli variety, like "Dorsett Golden" or "Ein Shemer," as its pollen partner.