"Luxury" art apples debut in Shanghai

Have you seen the portrait of Mona Lisa or Van Gogh grown the skin of apples? Recently, 1,000 art apples from Moselle of France have debuted in Shanghai and during the National Day holiday, these apples will be displayed in Chenshan Botanical Garden of Shanghai.

On Sept. 24, these precious art apples were unveiled. Pascal, director of the botanic garden, gently took out the well-wrapped apples from a carton. Mona Lisa, Van Gogh, Chinese dragon and other patterns are grown on the skin of these apples.

According to Pascal, each of these apples is carefully chosen and this is the first large scale overseas exhibition they have held.

The art apples are also called marking apples. At the beginning of the summer, the orchard workers wrapped the newly born fruits with black papers with patterns. The covered part on the apple skin would not turn red due to lack of sunshine. Along with the growth of the apple, the black paper needed to be changed several times until the apple was fully mature. It takes a lot of manpower and skills to grow a perfect art apple. No wonder the apple is expensive: in overseas market, it sells for 300 USD each. 

These apples will be displayed in Chenshan Botanical Garden of Shanghai from Sept. 30 to Oct. 7. Two giant apple pictures will meet the visitors at the same time.