Apple

Apples are food objects found in Alpha mode. There are two types of Apples: Golden Apples and Red Apples.

Red Apples
Red apples are only found in Dungeons, and can be used to make Golden Apples.

Upon death, the player entity is coded to drop a red apple if it's player name is Notch. In other words, if Notch dies, he drops an apple, even if he doesn't have one.

Golden Apples
Golden Apples are apples coated with gold. Eating one fully restores your health. They can be crafted from a Red Apple and 8 Gold blocks surrounding it.

They can also be found in dungeons on rare occasions.

Notch has included code in the SMP server application that will check whether a player joining the server has the username "Notch" and, if so, will grant them a Golden Apple in their inventory.

Advantages

 * Golden apples restore all your health, so if you need a lot of health eating a golden apple is the fastest way.

Disadvantages

 * Apples are somewhat rare and, as it only heals 2, is not worth looking for.
 * Even though a golden apple restores all your health, it is a waste of time and resources since making one requires 72 gold ingots. However, Gold is useless except for decoration, and players who have a plentiful supply may wish to create some as a vanity item.