Apple the fruit seeds

Cyanide, Arsenic, and Other Toxins in Fruit: Apple Seeds, Peach Pits, Cherry Pits, etc.: Facts, Mythes and Old Wive’s Tales. Find Out ther Truth!

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Cyanide, Arsenic, and Other Toxins in Fruit: Apple Seeds, Peach Pits, Cherry Pits, etc.: Facts, Mythes and Old Wive’s Tales. Find Out ther Truth!

With the popularity of juicers and food grinders, some people seem to think that grinding up entire fruit (skin, seeds, pits, stems and all) is somehow healthier than tradition methods. This is not always the case. Some parts of some fruit are not only unpleasant to eat, they can even be dangerous. Here are the facts about toxic parts of fruit.

Cyanide in Apple Seeds, Cherry Pits, Peach Pits and Apricot Pits

Apple and crabapple seeds (and seeds of some other fruits, like cherries, peaches, apricots) contain amygdalin, an organic cyanide and sugar compound that degrades into hydrogen cyanide (HCN) when metabolized. Cyanide itself is a poison that kills by denying blood the ability to carry oxygen and thereby causes its victims to die. It’s not an urban legend that apple seeds contain cyanide; even Snopes.com has an article about it. «The Dr. Oz Show» did an episode in which they talked about the amount of arsenic in children’s apple juice.

Apple seeds also have a tough protective coating seals the amygdalin inside, unless the seeds are crushed, chewed or otherwise ground up. Whole apple seeds have hard, durable shells that allow them to pass intact through the digestive systems of people and animals.

The National Institute of Health says:

«The edible portions of dietary plant species commonly used in the United States contain relatively low levels of cyanogen glycosides, although some pits and seeds of common fruits, apple, apricot, peach, contain significantly higher concentrations.»

The Bottom Line

Don’t worry: It would take a bushel’s worth of ground up apple’s seeds (about 1 cup of seeds) to create enough cyanide to poison someone. Grinding apples and pressing them for apple juice or apple cider wouldn’t release enough cyanide to be a problem. Neither does cooking apples and straining them to make a sauce. Richard E. Barrans Jr., Ph.D. Assistant Director PG Research Foundation in Darien, Illinois says «About the only way you can actually run into a problem with the toxicity of apple seeds is if you save the seeds from about a bushel of apples, grind them and eat them all at once.»

Still, I don’t think I would intentionally group up the seeds and include them in foods. When we make homemade applesauce or juice, the seeds are exclude in the process and most are not even broken nor ground.

Cyanide Toxicity in Fruit Seeds

Cyanide toxicity is experienced by humans at doses of around 0.5-3.5 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. Symptoms of cyanide poisoning include stomach cramps, headache, nausea and vomiting, and can culminate in cardiac arrest, respiratory failure, coma and death. A fatal dose for humans can be as low as 1.5 milligrams per kilogram of body weight.

Cherry, peach, and apricot pits, on the other hand, also contain amygdalin, a form of cyanide. Peach and apricot have it in potentially harmful amounts. Of course, few people intentionally swallow or chew them. This NY Times article explains more.

Amygdalin in other fruits, in mg/g of seeds:

• Greengage: 17.5
• Apricot: 14.4
• Red cherries: 3.9
• Black cherries: 2.7
• Peaches: 2.2
• Plums: 2.2
• Pears: 1.3
• Nectarines: 0.1

Why is cyanide present in these fruit seeds?

Organic and inorganic forms of arsenic can be found in soil, both naturally occurring and due to the use of cyanide-containing pesticides prior to the 1970’s. As a result, small amounts may taken up by the plants and become found in certain food and beverage products. The FDA article was here — BUT THEY HAVE REMOVED IT IN 2020.

So, is organic juice better?

Logically, yes. But there are not yet credible and objective, independently conducted studies to prove this. And a certain amount of cyanide is normally present in the seeds anyway, as discussed in the first paragraph. You could argue that homemade applesauce and apple juice is safer, because you can ensure the seeds are excluded and not ground up.

Regulation

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has conducted their own research and proposed a maximum limit for arsenic levels in apple juice. The FDA proposal limits the level of inorganic arsenic to 10 parts per billion. That is the same level as is allowable in drinking water under the Environmental Protection Agency rules. This is the first time the FDA has set limits for arsenic levels in commercial food or drinks.

For more information on the FDA’s current draft guidance to industry on action levels for inorganic arsenic in apple juice and related documents, please see:

More detail:

Compounds that release cyanide are naturally present in plants. The amounts are usually low in the edible portion but are higher in cassava. Pits and seeds of common fruits, such as apricots, apples, and peaches, may have substantial amounts of cyanide-releasing chemicals, so people should avoid eating these pits and seeds to prevent accidental cyanide poisoning. Parents should teach their children not eat fruit pits and seeds. People should be aware that taking high levels of vitamin C may increase the danger of cyanide poisoning from fruit pits, because more cyanide is released from the pits.

Questions and Answers

1. A visitor writes on September 04, 2017: «Hi, with regards to the toxicity of apple seeds — can you tell me if this reduces with cooking? I forage for wild apples then cook them whole, crush them and extract the juice to create pectin for jam making. I then use the pulp, crushed bits of seed included, to make an apple paste — this involves cooking with sugar to a temperature of at least 104%c. I\’ve eaten the results — very nice — but I\’m worried about passing samples to others in case there might be some risk from the seed content. Thanks. Cheryl»

No, arsenic is inorganic, so ordinary cooking would not destroy it. Crushing, if it results in the seeds being broken, would likely increase the amount of arsenic. I use an apple slicer/corer, the kind you just push down over the apple, that has a circle that avoids the core; that way the seeds are unlikely to be broken. Of course, the question is really, how much risk does this pose? It might still be trivial, or not. With out testing your product, it would remain unknown.

Other references:

• Centers for Disease Control — Facts about Cyanide
• AMA Handbook of Poisonous & Injurious Plants by Dr. K. F. Lampe & M. A. McCann, Chicago, IL 1985.
• FDA website
• NIH
• Nutrition Facts Label..
• CNN did a news story about cyanide in apple juice in 2014
• Richard E. Barrans Jr., Ph.D. Assistant Director PG Research Foundation in Darien, Illinois www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/bot00/bot00208.htm (page is now gone)

Picking Tips

[General picking tips and a guide to each fruit and vegetable] [How much do I need to pick? (Yields — how much raw makes how much cooked or frozen)] [Selecting the right varieties to pick] [All about apple varieties — which to pick and why!] [Picking tips for Vegetables] [ Strawberry picking tips] [ Blueberries picking tips]

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How to Grow Apple Trees From Seed

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Apple seeds are easy to grow at home with the proper preparation, and seedlings are often more vigorous than their grafted nursery counterparts. Give an apple tree seedling 3-4 years and it’ll catch up to and pass a potted transplant in size. From there, you have a tree that may bear for centuries.

The main reason apples aren’t grown from seed is that they don’t “come true to seed.” Just like humans, the offspring may have some resemblance to their parents, but with their own flavor and habits. Humans tend to want predictability, and for that reason, apple trees are cloned by grafting rather than starting from seed.

The thing is…all the tastiest apple varieties were a seedling at some point in history. Planting an apple from seed is like playing the lottery, and since you’re likely going to compost that apple core anyway, you’ve got nothing to lose.

A few hundred years ago settlers carried with them apple seeds and started seedling orchards all over the Northeast, and those same orchards became the parents of many of the heirloom varieties I now treasure. Those that were less tasty eaten out of hand went into hard cider, which requires a certain percentage of high tannin or high acid apples to brew properly.

One year we bought more than 30 apple varieties from a local heirloom apple orchard and did a big apple taste test. Since all the trees were in an heirloom orchard, there’s no telling who the second parent tree was…but it’s less likely that the father tree was a wild crab apple and more likely that it was another tasty heirloom. This improves the chances that any given seed will bear offspring with good characteristics.

Since a seedling tree will have some of the characteristics of its parents, we chose the seeds from our very favorite varieties to plant. There’s a good chance many of them will be best suited for hard cider or to please the deer as windfalls, but even then they’ll still feed the bees with abundant blossoms and nectar in the spring. And at the very least they’ll help pollinate our other tastier trees, so it’s a win either way.

Preparing Apple Seeds for Planting

Apple seeds need cold stratification to break dormancy. The seeds need to be kept under moist refrigeration for at least 6 weeks before they’re planted. Place apple seeds in a moist paper towel, and then put that paper towel inside a plastic bag, leaving it open just a crack for air exchange. Store it in the back of the refrigerator, checking on the towel every week or so to make sure it’s moist.

At the end of 6 weeks, some of the seeds may have started to sprout already. That’s a good thing since apple seeds have a very low germination rate. Some sources say as low as 30%, though I’d guess ours were more like 60% at least, so clearly, it’s variable.

If you buy local apples late in the season, months after harvest, they’ve already been kept under refrigeration for many months. It’s a good idea to cold stratify those seeds in a moist paper towel too because extra stratification won’t hurt them, but not enough cold hours means no apple seedlings. When you cut long stored local apples open, there’s a chance that some of the seeds may have already started to germinate inside the apple…

An apple seed that had already started to germinate inside an apple from cold storage.

How to Plant Apple Seeds

After a minimum of 6 weeks in a moist paper towel in the refrigerator, you can plant apple seeds just as you would any other seed. They can be direct seeded outdoors if it’s after last spring frost and the soil can be worked. Since germination rates are low, and predation from squirrels, mice, and voles can be an issue early on, we generally sprout them in pots.

I place about a dozen seeds in a recycled one-gallon nursery pot along with a bit of seed starting potting mix. Keep the soil warm and moist, as you would any other spring planted seed start (ie. tomatoes).

How Long Do Apple Seeds Take to Germinate?

After 6 weeks of cold stratification, apple seeds actually germinate fairly quickly. Many of the seeds will already be germinating on the paper towel in your refrigerator, and those will emerge from the soil quickest after planting. Assuming soil temperatures are fairly warm (about 75 degrees F) the seeds should emerge from the soil in 1-2 weeks.

From there, we tend the apple seedlings in pots until the young trees are at least 4-6 inches tall. That means we’re less likely to lose them where they’re planted, but staking them is also a great idea because one casual step can mean the end of a young tree at this stage.

Transplanting Apple Seedlings

If you’d like to get them into the ground sooner rather than later, just wait until nighttime temperatures are consistently above 50 degrees in the spring (or early summer here in the north country).

Once the apple seedlings are in the ground, they’ll begin the work of growing into a full-sized tree. Since they’re not grafted on dwarfing rootstock that handicaps them and limits their nutrients, seedling apples will grow strong and healthy, but also large. Good pruning can keep apple trees smaller, but full-sized apples should still be planted at least 20 feet apart.

How Long Does It Take Apple Seedlings to Bear Fruit?

Surprisingly, not really any longer than an expensive grafted nursery tree. Nursery bought apple trees generally bear about 8 years after planting. They may have been in the pot for some time, which caused them to become a bit root-bound and stunted. Even in the best of cases, large 6” tall nursery trees don’t take transplanting well and it takes them some time to recover and begin to grow vigorously again.

After three years in the dirt, our apple seedlings are now actually taller than our grafted nursery trees. We’re expecting them to come to bare alongside our other standard apple varieties in about 5 more years, but time will tell.

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