We know apples are a delicious and come in several different varieties, but there is more to this fruit than meets the eye.
- It takes about two pounds of apples make one 9-inch pie.
- The apple blossom is the state flower of Michigan.
- There are 2,500 varieties of apples are grown in the United States and 7,500 grown worldwide
- Apples are grown commercially in 36 states, but grow in all 50 states.
- Pilgrims planted the first apple trees in the U.S. in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
- The science of apple growing is called pomology.
- Apple trees take four to five years to produce fruit.
- Apples can be as large as a grapefruit or as small as a cherry.
- The apple tree originated somewhere between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea.
- The Ancient Greeks and Romans loved apples
- Apples are a member of the rose family.
- The largest apple ever picked was 3 pounds
- The average size of a United States orchard is 50 acres.
- Some apple trees will grow be more than 40 feet tall live 100 years.
- Apples can be grown farther north than most other fruits because they blossom late in spring
- 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.
- The largest U. S. apple crop was 277.3 million cartons in 1998.
- The Lady or Api apple is one of the oldest varieties in existence.
- Newton Pippin apples were the first apples exported from America in 1768, some were sent to Benjamin Franklin in London.
- America’s longest-lived apple tree was reportedly planted in 1647 and lived until 1866.
- Apples ripen six to ten times faster at room temperature than if they were refrigerated.
- The old saying, “An apple a day, keeps the doctor away.” This saying comes from an old English adage, “To eat an apple before going to bed, will make the doctor beg his bread.”
- The apple variety ‘Red Delicious is the most widely grown in the United States
