Yantai apple [Photo/Xianjingyantai.com]

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 percent of the villages in Yantai have apple orchards, and the planting area totals more than 700,000 mu with an annual output of 500 million kilograms. Yantai apple abounds in nutrition of fructose, apple acid, vitamins, calcium, phosphorus, and iron and has high curative value, especially good for kidney, stomach and heart.