How To Split An Apple In Half With Your Bare Hands

Paul Rudd wowed Twitter the other day with a video in which he split an apple in half with his bare hands. Amazing! What human being can do that? Surely nobody but Paul Rudd!

But then Adam Fisher provided a different perspective:

I don’t mean to diminish the accomplishment of cracking open an apple. It is a feat of strength, and not everybody can do it. But far more people can do it than probably suspect they can. It turns out Adam is right.

I saw his tweet while I was at a conference this weekend, and there was a giant basket of apples in the lobby, so I could test out the apple splitting trick ASAP. (I mention this not just for suspense and storytelling purposes, but also to explain why I was dressed so fancy in the initial blurry video I posted to social media.) I watched a few YouTube videos on apple splitting, but ultimately it is the apple that teaches you.

How to crack that apple

First, if you have small hands, choose a small apple. And make sure the apple is a crunchy one; a fresh Honeycrisp works well. (My first try was a medium size Gala, and it was tough but I got it.) Consider removing the stem, not for any mechanical advantage but just so it won’t poke you as you are squeezing.

Then:

  1. Locate the squishy, meaty muscle at the base of your thumb. Wedge the thumb meat of both hands into the divot at the top of the apple.

  2. Compress the apple top-to-bottom as hard as you can. It may help to press the apple against your knee or another convenient surface.

  3. While doing this, pull the apple apart, like opening a book.

If you run into trouble, try a smaller or crispier apple.

And don’t get discouraged. I grabbed three Gala apples from the basket at the hotel, and was only able to crack one of them. Later, when I got home, I bought a bag of small Honeycrisps and was able to split them so easily that I did a few in a row for my kids and then encouraged them to try. None of them quite managed, but I told them all to try again next year when they have grown a bit bigger. Then, suddenly nobody wanted to eat any of the apples, so I’m over here gnawing on them all by myself. Anyway. Give it a try—you might surprise yourself!

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