As the feast of All Souls approaches, UK food retailer Sainsbury's has made a play for some valuable Halloween PR points by enlisting the help of a leading mathematician to identify the best apple variety when it comes to the ancient art of apple bobbing.
Apple bobbing, a popular pastime at Halloween parties, involves players attempting to catch apples from a bowl of water using only their mouths.
Sainsbury's, for its part, has taken the initiative in terms of boosting fresh apple sales around the autumnal festival by offering competitive apple bobbers a potential winning edge this year.
Professor Frank Smith PhD, FRS Goldsmid Professor of Applied Mathematics at University College London, picked the British-grown Zari apple as the perfect variety after formulating a series of complex equations based on the fruit's size, shape, buoyancy and texture.
The academic, who was also responsible for the mathematical formula for the perfect stone skip, calculated the average British consumer's mouth size when open and ready to bite, before developing a formula which produced the ideal circumference, diameter and weight of the bobbed apple.
The mathematical equation for the perfect apple was found to be:
D = 3 × (2 + T 2) × M / (10 × T)
…where D = diameter, T = typical texture of an apple with a medium value of 0.360, and M = average mouth size.
Professor Smith claimed the Zari variety had the optimum buoyancy in water, texture and density, as well as the perfect amount of exposed surface area, enabling bobbers to snatch the apple with maximum speed and efficiency.
Those wanting to out-bob the competition this Halloween should be using an apple with a diameter of 66.80mm, circumference of 210mm and weight of 148g, he added.
'Apple colour may not matter in itself, but the skin toughness or texture is critical,' he suggested. 'A soft skin can lead to excess bouncing and therefore less efficient bobbing, while a hard skin may mean the apple is difficult to bite into.'
He added: 'Given the harmony of all these essential characteristics, the Zari is undoubtedly the perfect apple to bob with.'
Seasonal cheer
Sainsbury's apple buyer Lee Turner, said: 'We're in the middle of a bumper British apple season so it's the perfect time to be buying your Zari apples for Halloween.
'We've always been proud of the quality and variety of our British apples but it's great to see that, of the 51 varieties of British-grown apples we sell at Sainsbury, the Zari apple is getting the recognition it deserves now its proven to be perfect for bobbing this Halloween.'
Zari apples, one of over 50 home-grown varieties Sainsbury's stocks at various times of the season, are available in selected Sainsbury's stores, sold as both loose and pre-packed apples.
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