Our Crab Apple Trees

Year 2 pupils have been investigating the Crab Apple varieties on the school site. We have two varieties of Crab Apples Malus ‘Admiration,’ which are the little red ones next to the car park and Malus ‘Butterball’, which are the bigger yellow ones in the Outdoor Classroom. 
The children were amazed to learn that Crab Apples contain a lot of malic acid and tannins which make them very sour and tart. In addition, Crab Apples contain an abundance of natural pectin, making them premier ingredients for making ruby-coloured jellies and jams. The flesh is completely edible when cooked or processed, though the seeds contain compounds that release trace amounts of cyanide if crushed and ingested in large amounts. The children then went onto creating their own Crab Apple trees using twigs, leaves and Crab Apples.