Apple Facts

·         Apples come in all shades of reds, greens, yellows.

·         Two pounds of apples make one 9-inch pie.

·         Apple blossom is the state flower of Michigan.

·         2500 varieties of apples are grown in the United States.

·         7500 varieties of apples are grown throughout the world.

·         100 varieties of apples are grown commercially in the United States.

·         Apples are grown commercially in 36 states.

·         Apples are grown in all 50 states.

·         In 2001 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 fat, sodium, and cholesterol free.

·         A medium apples is about 80 calories.

·         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.

·         The pilgrims planted the first United States apple trees in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

·         The science of apple growing is called pomology.

·         Apple trees take four to five years to produce their first fruit.

·         Most apples are still picked by hand in the fall.

·         Apple varieties range in size from a little larger than a cherry to as large as a grapefruit.

·         Apples are propagated by two methods: grafting or budding.

·         The apple variety ‘Delicious' is the most widely grown in the United States.

·         In Europe, France, Italy and Germany are the leading apple producing countries.

·         The apple tree originated in an area between the Caspin and the Black Sea.

·         Apples were the favorite fruit of ancient Greeks and Romans.

·         Apples are a member of the rose family.

·         Apples harvested from an average tree can fill 20 boxes that weigh 42 pounds each.

·         Americans eat 19.6 pounds or about 65 fresh apples every year.

·         25 percent of an apple's volume is air. That is why they float.

·         The largest apple picked weighed three pounds.

·         Europeans eat about 46 pounds of apples annually.

·         The average size of a United States orchard is 50 acres.

·         Many growers use dwarf apple trees.

·         Charred apples have been found in prehistoric dwellings in Switzerland.

·         Most apple blossoms are pink when they open but gradually fade to white.

·         Some apple trees will grown over forty feet high and live over a hundred years.

·         Most apples can be grown farther north than most other fruits because they blossom late in spring, minimizing frost damage.

·         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.

·         United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecasts the 2000 apple crop to be at 254.2 million 42 pound cartons.

·         Total apple production in 2001 was 229 million cartons valued at $1.5 billion.

·         The largest U. S. apple crop was 277.3 million cartons in 1998.

·         In 1999 the People's Republic of China led the world in apple production followed by the United States.

·         Apples have 5 seeds. There are five seed pockets, each with a seed, in an apple.

·         China is the leading producer of apples with over 1.2 billion bushels grown in 2001.

·         World's top apple producers are China, United States, Turkey, Poland and Italy.

·         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.

·         In 1730 the first apple nursery was opened in Flushing, New York.

·         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.

·         Apples ripen six to ten times faster at room temperature than if they were refrigerated.

·         A peck of apples weight 10.5 pounds.

·         A bushel of apples weights about 42 pounds and will yield 20-24 quarts of applesauce.

·         Archeologists have found evidence that humans have been enjoying apples since lat least 6500 B.C.

·         The world's larges apple peel was created by Kathy Wafler Madison on October 16, 1976, in Rochester, NY. It was 172 feet, 4 inches long. (She was 16 years old at the time and grew up to be a sales manager for an apple tree nursery.)

·         It takes about 36 apples to create one gallon of apple cider.

• A peck of apples weight 10.5 pounds. A bushel of apples weights about
  42 pounds and will yield 20-24 quarts of applesauce.

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