WELLINGTON: A one-in-a-million apple with two distinct coloured halves has been drawing curious crowds into a produce store in New Zealand.
The unusual half-red and half-yellow fruit was found among a delivery of Red Braeburn apples in mid-May at the Sunshine Corner Market in Christchurch.
Also known as a chimera apple, the fruit resulted from a genetic mutation that causes the apple to form from cells from two different genetic backgrounds.
It is believed to occur in less than one in a million fruits.
The store’s owner, Heather, said the apple has become something of a local celebrity.
“People have gone home, told their other half, and they haven’t believed them, so they’ve come back with them,” she told the New Zealand Herald. “Lots of people are really excited and have taken photos of it - it’s just captured people’s imagination.”
She told the newspaper this was the first time she had seen a chimera apple.
“We’ve been in the game a long time, never seen one like it,” she said.
She said some people even asked to touch the apple for good luck before entering contests.
For now, the store has extended the shelf life of the apple by keeping it in the fridge.
Still, it has yet to decide what to do with it - whether to preserve the fruit or to cut it open to see what the inside looks like. - The Straits Times/ANN
