Give Coleslaw Better Flavor And Texture By Adding This Sweet Ingredient

There are plenty of occasions for which coleslaw needs no improvement. The inimitable freshness of even the simplest homemade coleslaw always wins points for its little bit of extra effort. But once you find yourself bringing the exact same kind to cookout after cookout, you may want to slice yourself out of that rut. And apples are the just slightly unexpected ingredient that will give your coleslaw a perky sweetness and the textural dimension that really catches notice.

Apples are a particularly brilliant coleslaw addition because you can make them subtle for a kind of secret ingredient preparation or totally obvious as a divergence from the norm. They blend in almost imperceptibly when sliced thin or even shredded with a box grater. Or, they can stand out should you wish to cut them into larger strips. Unlike something super salty or spicy, apple flavors are almost always adaptable enough that you won't need to dramatically re-adjust your other favorite ingredients to calibrate for their taste, either. But there are also enough apple varieties, including some you may have not even known existed, to consider for the exact enhanced coleslaw sweetness that you aim to achieve.

Not all apples are created with equal sweetness. Mostly red Fuji apples are consistently among the sweetest apples you can buy if you're going for a maximum confectionery quality in your coleslaw. The iconic green Granny Smith is on the opposite end of the spectrum as the most tart, so you might want to avoid it in this case. For a tangy-sweet take, however, feel free to grate one up and toss it in along with a sweeter variety. Your yellow Golden Delicious and rouge Honeycrisps (which are also the best apple for simple snacking) start inching toward the middle of the sweet-tart continuum.

Shredded red or green cabbage are the standard coleslaw foundations. They also taste pretty similar, even though some folks may swear that one is sweeter than the other. Their close flavor notes mean that the apple variety you choose will guide your coleslaw's sweetness. And you'll obviously want to choose Fujis if peak sweetness is your aim. If you're looking for some aesthetic appeal, pairing them with green cabbage will create a nice, contrasting visual, provided you do not peel them. If you're married to purple cabbage and still demand color contrast, Golden Delicious apples will still do you good. And we won't tell if you add a drizzle of hot honey to your coleslaw for even more of an impact in either case.