Caramel Apples: Healthy Snack or Dessert?

This argument has existed for centuries.* What is a caramel apple? On the one hand, it's a full serving of fresh fruit, and how many caramels is that, maybe 4, with a dozen or so nuts? Nuts are healthy in small doses, and 4 caramels are a pretty stingy dessert. But then again, the whole thing is a sugary confection.

On another note, why do they call them taffy apples if they're covered in caramel?

How do people feel about the sprinkles vs. nuts?

*Hooey

my vote would be unhealthy snack.

Breakfast! (Then a visit to the dentist).

Jen

On another note, why do they call them taffy apples if they're covered in caramel?

When and where I grew up, taffy apples were the ones covered with the red glaze and were more common than the caramel ones (which were called caramel apples)

When/where I grew up (early-to-mid 80s, southeast Michigan), we called the ones covered with red goo "candy apples", and the ones covered with beige-brown goo "caramel apples". We didn't really use the phrase "taffy apples" at all. Could it be a regional and/or generational thing?

Come to think of it, that would explain the phrase "candy apple red"

On reflection, candy and taffy were both used on the east coast for the red ones, but candy was probably more common. But caramel was caramel.

I think I always referred to them as Taffy Apples even though they were always covered in caramel because of the Affy Tapple factory so close to home.

I believe that all desserts are healthy snacks (that promote my psychological if not my bodily health). Sprinkles shouldn't be eaten on anything, and smaller caramel apples are preferable to the giant ones, however gourmet, unless you like the feeling of eating a sticky bowling ball...on a stick.

in NYC where I grew up we had apples with hard red coating that were candy apples.
I never saw caramel apples till the midwest.
I think they aren't that bad, and I work next door to the affy tapple factory,
so I am always bring home the ginormous Mrs. Prindables ones.
We cut them into slices, and all of us share them as a nice dessert.

I don't like the hard red coating on apples. A good way to ruin an apple. I do like caramel apples with nuts. I think they are a once or twice a year treat, not a snack to be eaten repeatedly. I usually buy a few of them in the fall wlhen they are in the stores and the apples are fresh and snappy. I view them as kind of a substitute for dessert. I do like Mrs. Prindables apples but they are so big they need to be shared. Again a dessert type thing.

toria wrote:I think they are a once or twice a year treat

Wow, you really know how to cut loose!
Do you just throw out the third one in a 3-pack?
Do you give out pennies (or sardines) for Halloween?

Answering the questions posed on behalf of my wife, an avid consumer:
1. They are dessert, albeit a dessert that's on the healthy side of the dessert scale.
2. Sprinkles would be an abomination.
3. She loves nuts, but doesn't like peanuts. A great find is a caramel apple with pecans or some other more worthy (to her) variety of nuts.

Jonah (the frequent buyer of caramel apples)

Aha! I was going to make that a poll question too, Sprinkles: Wrong or Oh So Right? I'm with your wife. Sprinkles should be banned to sundaes and cupcakes. I love peanuts though I can't tell the difference between them and cashews, flavor-wise.

Sprinkles are stupid. They do nothing for the flavor, and as an adult I do not require my food to have the visual stimulation factor of multi-colored sugar particles. Peanuts are OK in butter form, but they are such a low-rent nut. Give me pecans or cashews or I'll go without, thanks. As for the apple itself, from time to time I buy a candy apple thinking it sounds good. Then I bite into it and remember that the apple part is always gross stomach-churning green rather than red. Why? Why can't they ever be made with a tasty red apple?

I love peanuts though I can't tell the difference between them and cashews, flavor-wise.

Uh-oh, did I just make a mayo/Miracle Whip faux pas?