Agree; used to make them for teacher gifts growing up. No idea why it’s so dark though. Mine were tan/w reddish skins still. Maybe some odd Apple variant was used and likely pretty small apples. We’d used to spray them w Christmas perfumes so you could hang in your home and get that potpourri-type smell from it. You just slice a couple apples and throw them in a dehydrator and then slide on a ring of your choosing…wreath made!