Ascend from Eisenacher Straße U-Bahn blinking into the sweet Schöneberg sunshine, where life is wholesome and good. A few hundred metres of clean pavement and ungraffitied shopfronts later, you’ll find the Apfelgalerie, Berlin’s only specialist apple shop and a beacon of nutritious living.
For the last five years, Caty Schernus’ family has sold fresh, rosy “better than bio” apples direct from their 50-hectare Brandenburg farm to Berlin fruit enthusiasts. Their orchard nurtures 150 heirloom varieties no longer grown commercially because of their shorter lifespans, 30 of which – like tart Charlamowsky, September favourite Gravensteiner or the glowing Gelber Bellefleur – are sold in-store, with Apfelgalerie probably the only Berlin stockist of these endangered flavours.
Baskets of sweet, firm Pinovas, sour Elstars and juicy Helios fill the fragrant glass-fronted shop, supplemented by apple-centric local products including liqueur (€10-13), pure juice (€1), apple chips (€3.75/80g), jam (€2.70) and chutneys, as well as other seasonal produce like berries, pears and potatoes.
Think you can only afford discount grocery apples? Bunged about, bruised and misshapen (but still delicious!) specimens go for 90 cents a kilo. The aesthetically pristine start at €1.90 per kilo and get cheaper the more you buy, while exotic types cost €2.20 per kilo. Bite me, Netto.
