Yantai City, a well-known "land of
fruits" in Shandong Province, is China's largest cultivation area of cash
apples. The Yantai apple is famous nationwide for its various breeds, huge
output and high quality.
Yantai has a marine climate, with humid air, ample sunlight
and appropriate rainfall, which is propitious to the growing of apples. Yantai
apple has a cultivation history of over 100 years. In the mid 19th century,
it was the US missionaries that first introduced apples into China, and
began cultivation and popularization in Yantai. This is how Yantai apple came
into being.
After so many years of cultivation and
development, by far, Yantai apple has 100-odd breeds, the most famous of which
are Hongxiangjiao Apple, Guoguang Apple, etc.
About 90% of the villages in Yantai have
apple orchards, and the planting area totals more than 700,000 mu (1 mu = 1/15
hectare), with an annual output of 500 million kilograms.
Yantai apple abounds in nutrition of
fructose, apple acid, vitamins, calcium, phosphorus, and iron etc., and has high
curative value, being especially good for kidney, stomach and heart,
etc.