Golden Apple

Golden Apples are moderately difficult to obtain, but are the most beneficial Food item. They are extremely rarely found in Dungeon and Stronghold chests, though they can also be obtained by crafting a Red Apple and eight Gold Nuggets together. Eating one heals, and grants enhanced regeneration for 4 seconds, regardless of hunger level. They are considered to be very valuable to players and are often kept as a kind of trophy, although it is now easier to obtain after 1.1.0. When in your inventory, Golden Apples shine purple, much like enchanted tools and armor.

Advantages

 * They are the only food items that cause temporary constant health regeneration that is not dependent on the player's hunger. This is indicated by the line of hearts bobbing up and down in a wave pattern, with each full wave restoring half a heart.
 * Compared with potions of regeneration, golden apples are available for fighting monsters before you are able to brew or even go to the Nether in single player mode. This is especially true for Blaze, who are the sole source of Blaze Rods needed for brewing, and also for the Nether Warts needed for each potion.
 * Golden apples also are stackable up to 64 like other food, unlike restoration potions which take up an inventory space with just one.
 * Golden apples are the only food that can be eaten when you are full.

Disadvantages

 * Apples can be hard to find as they only come from oak trees, and have a very small chance of dropping (0.5%) per leaf block.
 * Golden apples have an extremely slim chance of appearing in dungeon chests: 0.7%.
 * As of the 1.0.0 release health generation is no longer unique to golden apples as the player can brew health regeneration potions. Not only do potions last longer (0:45) than a golden apple (0:04), they can also be upgraded with redstone and glowstone dust to either heal the player more rapidly or to have an even longer duration (2:00).

History
Golden Apples were added on the first Infdev version (February 27, 2010), after the addition of Red Apples themselves. They healed a full ten hearts of health when eaten prior to the Beta 1.8 update, making them the single best food in the entire game-at the expense of being near unobtainable.

Since Beta 1.8, due to the addition of hunger, Golden Apples were changed so that they only healed five hunger points, but also gave the status effect of regeneration for 30 seconds.

Since Beta 1.9 pre-release 2, Golden Apples gained a purple glow when viewed from the player's inventory, and its name tag was changed from the standard white to a magenta color. However, Potions of Regeneration were also added, the effects of which lasted longer than that of the Golden Apple, but it is far easier to Craft a Golden Apple than to brew a Potion of Regeneration.

In the second weekly build, 11w48a, Gold Apples became easier to craft. Red apples became able to very rarely drop from Oak Leaves, meaning that players no longer have to venture into Strongholds/Dungeons to find one.

Before 1.0.0, golden apples were the only food item that could completely refill the player's health, without a full hunger bar.

In Minecraft 1.1, Golden Apples were changed so that they only healed two hunger and only gave 4 seconds of regeneration. Their crafting recipe was also modified, requiring Gold Nuggets instead of Gold Blocks to craft. Although its natural spawn is rare, it is easier to obtain through crafting. With now common availability of apples and a cost of 1.25% their former cost in gold, they are for the first time a practical source of healing in Survival. All of these factors make the Golden Apple's value decrease greatly.

Before 1.1, crafting a Golden Apple took 72 gold ingots (8 Gold Blocks). But after 1.1 it only takes 8/9 of an ingot (eight Gold Nuggets).

Trivia
Due to formerly being the ultimate healing item, they are commonly found as rewards in custom adventure maps made prior to version 1.0.0. On 22 May 2012 Jeb tweeted that he has "decided to restore Notch's old Golden Apple", presumably meaning that from version 1.3 a Golden Apple will require an apple and 8 Gold Blocks, equating to 72 Gold Ingots or 648 Gold Nuggets. In the same tweet he said that the effect will also change to something "proper for its crafting cost".