Healthier meatballs may soon be on the menu - and you can thank New York state apple trees for that .

Cornell researchers have come up with a recipe for meatballs that includes up to 20% apple scraps, aka pomace — without affecting taste.

Elad Tako, associate professor of food science in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at University and Tako Lab first-year PhD student Peter Gracey focused on incorporating apple pomace into beef meatballs to reduce meat consumption and improve nutritional value.

Gracey says New York State produces 600,000 metric tons of apples annually, and 25% of the fuit is left over after being processed for products like juice and cider.

“I went to a local cidery here in upstate New York, and they showed us the process of how they press the apples

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