
The leaves are changing color, transforming the greens of summer to vibrant reds, orange, and yellows for leaf peepers to see and photograph. Mixed in with the leaves are ripening red, orange, and green apples all across the country. There’s nothing like polishing an apple, taking a bite, hearing the crunch and tasting its sweetness.
Sipping newly pressed cider is literally drinking fresh apples. A warm apple pie with a scoop or two of ice cream is not to be missed. No wonder real estate agents recommend baking an apple pie just before an open house! Here are some fun facts about autumn’s favorite fruit. So polish up a crispy one, sit back, and enjoy!
Apples are nature’s toothbrush. They are slightly acidic which helps remove stains, and the crunchy inside of the apple scrubs away food particles and exercises your gums.
Apples are members of the rose family along with pears, plums, cherries, and peaches
Apples are the most consumed fruit in the world. Between an apple a day, apple sauce, apple juice, apple cider, caramel apples. apple cake, apple crisp, apple strudel, apple turnovers, and apple pie, the average American eats 46 pounds of apples per year.
John Chapman, born in Massachusetts in 1774, better known as Johnny Appleseed cultivated apple trees in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and West Virginia. He built fences to protect the young trees and asked neighbors to care for them while he left to plant other nurseries. He died in 1845 in Indiana.
Apples float because they are 25% air.
There are over 2,500 varieties of apples grown in the United States. But over 7500 varieties cultivated worldwide.
The top five varieties of apples are Red Delicious, Gala, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, and Fuji.
Apples are grown in every state. The top six producers are Washington, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, California, and Virginia.
Apples originated in Asia. The three largest producers of apples are China (40 million tons), the United States (5 million tons) , and Chile (4 million tons).
The heaviest apple was grown in Japan and weighed 4 Pounds.
Apples are healthy in a number of ways. They help with weight control because they fill you up with healthy minerals, fiber, polyphenols, and vitamins. Apples reduce blood pressure, lower cholesterol, reduce risk of diabetes, encourage good gut bacteria, reduce cancer risks, reduce asthma symptoms, increase bone density, preserve brain function, are high in antioxidants and anti-inflammatories, and may help reduce risk of stroke.
Although the seeds of apples are poisonous, you would have to thoroughly chew and swallow all the seeds from 40 apples to receive a deadly does of cyanide. Just plant the core and the seeds.
It takes about 40 apples to make one gallon of apple cider.
If you want your apples to last 10 times longer, keep them in a cool place, like your refrigerator or root cellar.
National Apple Month is actually three months long, extending from September to November.
What is your favorite apple variety?
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Photos by Andriyko Podilnyk, Stepan Babanin, & Jen Theodore on Unsplash