Apple Facts, Festivals and Picking Tips
Apples are one of the easiest fruit to pick
and use. They're big and easy to pick, they can be eaten fresh, cooked,
canned, frozen and made into many tasty and healthy dishes. Apples are fat,
sodium, and cholesterol free. A medium apple has about 80 calories. Apples
originated in the Middle East (in an area between the Caspin and the Black Sea)
more than 4000 years ago! They were the favorite fruit of ancient Greeks and
Romans. Apples arrived in England at around the time of the Norman conquest (in
1066) and English settlers brought them to America in the 1600 and 1700's.
Johnny Appleseed did really exist; his name was John Chapman, and he was born on
September 26,1774 near Leominster, Massachusetts. (For
more about Johnny Appleseed, see this page!)
Picking tips:
Most modern apple orchards have dwarf trees that are very close to the ground -
my 3 year old finds it easy to pick apples! (photo above and below)
Select firm, bruise-free apples. The color can be anything from dark green, to yellow, pink, orange, bright red, dark red or even a combination. It all depends on the variety. And color is not really how you tell when an apple is ripe. Apples should be crisp and firm.
The key will be to ask the farmer which are ripe. He will know because it is calculated from the number of days since the trees flowered. And he will track that date carefully , if he's a good apple grower!
The farmer will also know what characteristics to look for in the particular varieties that he is growing.
Apples ripen from the outside of the tree towards the center, so the apples out the outside of the tree will ripen first. Picking apples directly from a tree is easy. Roll the apple upwards off the branch and give a little twist; don't pull straight away from the tree. If two apples are joined together at the top, both will come away at the same time. Don't shake the trees or branches. If the apple you are trying to pick drops, (or others on the tree) go ahead and pick it up. They're perfectly fine!
It's all about the variety!
Of the apple, that is. You really need to choose the type of apple that is best suited for your purpose. Apples can be suited for eating fresh, cooking, baking, applesauce, storing, etc. I have a fairly extensive guide to apple varieties here!
More Tips
- Once picked, don't throw the apples into the baskets, place them in gently, or they will bruise and go bad more quickly.
- Don't wash apples until just before using to prevent spoilage.
-
Keep apples cool after picking to increase shelf life. A cool
basement is ideal, but the fruit/vegetable drawer of a refrigerator will
work, too. Kept cool,
fresh-picked apples will generally keep weeks, but it DOES depend on the
variety. Red and Yellow Delicious apples do not keep well, for
example; but Rome, do! High humidity helps to to keep the apples from
shriveling, but don't let them get actually wet. A wet towel placed nearby
helps to keep the humidity up. A refrigerator is fine for small quantities
of apples. Boxed apples need to be kept in a cool, dark spot where they
won’t freeze. Freezing ruptures all of an apple’s cells, turning it into one
large bruise overnight. The usual solution is to store apples in a root
cellar. But root cellars often have potatoes in them: apples and potatoes
should never be stored in the same room because, as they age, potatoes
release an otherwise ethylene gas, which makes apples spoil faster. If you
can keep the gas away from your apples, they will keep just fine. Just don’t
store them right next to potatoes.
Prevent contact between apples stored for the winter by wrapping them individually in sheets of newspaper. The easiest way to do this is to unfold a section of newspaper all the way and tear it into quarters. Then stack the wrapped apples - Nutrition and miscellaneous facts: One-half cup of apples is only 42 calories. Apples contain no cholesterol or fat and are also low in calories. T Apples are high in dietary fiber, Vitamin A and niacin. They contain iron and other trace minerals and are a fair source of Vitamin C.
- Apples are ranked No. 1 in antioxidant activity compared with 40 other commercially available fruits and vegetables. That means a serving of apples has more of the antioxidant power you need to fight aging, cancer and heart disease.
- Put this in your pipe! Indians in the Northwest Territory smoked wild apples to preserve them for the winter. (Bet you didn't know that!)
Canning apples - fully illustrated, with step-by-step instructions
- How to make applesauce
- How to make apple butter
- NEW: How to make apple jelly
- How to make apple pie filling (canned)
- How to can apples
Recipes, illustrated with step by step instructions
- Apple pie recipe and directions and illustrated! I can say, with, ahem, no bias at all, that this is the best apple pie recipe in the world! (Alright, I did have an apple strudel in Vienna once at that place listed in Fodors that was REALLY good, but that wasn't a pie, was it? And since this was the recipe my grandmother used, it must be great!)
- How to make applesauce for a single meal (not canning it) with NO special equipment
- Apple crunch - best of all! Moist, low sugar and using oats!
- Apple crisp - ever-popular, low sugar and using oats!
- Apple, blackberry, cherry, and/or peach cobbler
-
Apple-blackberry, crumble - a English favorite (or favourite)
Want to Grow Your Own Apples?
I do and it's easy and fast. Apple trees I planted in my yard two years ago are bearing several dozen fruit each this year! Here's a guide to selecting a variety to grow and how!
Looking for Apple Cider?
And a fun tour? Check out Cider Mills.com! They list the cider mills where you can go for a tour (and tasting! yum!)
Apple Facts and Fun!
- 2500 varieties of apples are grown in the United States.
- 7500 varieties of apples are grown throughout the world.
- About 100 different varieties of apples are grown commercially in the United States.
- Apples are grown commercially in 36 states.
- Apples are grown in all 50 states.
- Europeans eat about 46 pounds of apples annually.
- United States consumers ate an average of 45.2 pounds of fresh apples and processed apple products. That's a lot of applesauce!
- 61 percent of United States apples are eaten as fresh fruit.
- 39 percent of apples are processed into apple products; 21 percent of this is for juice and cider.
- The top apple producing states are Washington, New York, Michigan, California, Pennsylvania and Virginia, which produced over 83 percent of the nation’s 2001-crop apple supply.
- Apples are a great source of the fiber pectin. One apple has five grams of fiber.
- In 2001 there were 8,000 apple growers with orchards covering 430,200 acres. (don't know how many of those are PYO).
- The pilgrims planted the first United States apple trees in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
- Apple trees take four to five years to produce their first fruit, but you normally buy 2 or 3 year plants at the nursery, so it's only 2 years till they produce!
- Most apples are still picked by hand in the fall.
- Did you know you can carve an apple to make a doll? Weird, but true and they look neat! See this website for how to make one yourself!
- Apple varieties range in size from a little larger than a cherry to as large as a grapefruit.
- In Europe, France, Italy and Germany are the leading apple producing countries.
- Apples are a member of the rose family.
- Apples harvested from an average tree can fill 20 boxes that weigh 42 pounds each.
- 25 percent of an apple's volume is air. That is why they float.
- It takes the energy from 50 leaves to produce one apple.
- Apples are the second most valuable fruit grown in the United States. Oranges are first.
- In colonial time apples were called winter banana or melt-in-the-mouth.
- China is the leading producer of apples with over 1.2 billion bushels grown in 2001. The U.S. is number 2 and then Turkey, Poland and Italy.
- Newton Pippin apples were the first apples exported from America in 1768, some were sent to Benjamin Franklin in London.
- One of George Washington's hobbies was pruning his apple trees.
- America's longest-lived apple tree was reportedly planted in 1647 by Peter Stuyvesant in his Manhattan orchard and was still bearing fruit when a derailed train struck it in 1866.
- A bushel of apples weights about 42 pounds and will yield 20-24 quarts of applesauce.
- It takes about 36 apples to create one gallon of apple cider.
- And the many apple associations listed on this page have more facts and resources
Apple Festivals
Here is a list of major apple festivals in the U.S., Britain, Australia and other countries. If you know of any more, please write me! Feedback
 |
Home Canning KitsFeatures:* All the tools you need for hot waterbath canning - in one comprehensive set! * Complete with 21 1/2 qt. enameled waterbath canner and "Ball Blue Book" of canning. * Also includes canning rack, funnel, jar lifter, jar wrencher, bubble freer, tongs and lid lifter. * A Kitchen Krafts exclusive collection. This is the same type of standard canner that my grandmother
used to make everything from applesauce to jams and jellies to tomato and
spaghetti sauce!. This complete kit includes everything you need and
lasts for years: the canner, jar rack, jar grabber tongs,
lid lifting wand, a plastic funnel,
labels, bubble freer, and the bible of canning, the Ball Blue Book. It's much cheaper than buying the items separately. You'll never need anything else except jars and lids (and the jars are reusable). To see more canners, of different styles, makes and prices, click here! Average Customer Review:
|
