The Black Diamond Apple (Chinese: gāla guǒ; 嘎啦果) is a rare variety from the family of

Huaniu Huaniu (花牛), also known as Chinese Red Delicious is an List of apple cultivars, apple cultivar originating in China. It is named after Huaniu town, Tianshui, where it was first planted as a hybrid of ten varieties of apple trees, including R ...

apples that is cultivated in the Tibetan region of

Nyingchi Nyingchi (), also known as Linzhi ( zh, s=林芝, p=Linzhi) or Nyingtri, is a prefecture-level city in the southeast of the Tibet Autonomous Region in China. The administrative seat of Nyingchi is Bayi District. Nyingchi is the location of Buch ...

. Despite what the name suggests, the apple is a purple hue with white pulp on the inside. Its unique color is due to the region's high altitude of over 3,500 m. The temperature fluctuates wildly between day and night, with the apples being exposed to a lot of

ultraviolet light Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of th ...

, which is conducive to the dark skin. Belonging to the high-end segment of the market, the average Black Diamond Apple is sold in high-end supermarkets and it costs about 50 yuan ( USD). Many farmers are reluctant to grow the fruit, since Black Diamond apple trees can take up to eight years to reach maturity, and because the growing season is short (only about two months).

References

Apple cultivars Agriculture in China Chinese apples {{Tibet-stub