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APPLE FACTS
- Apples come in all shades of reds, greens, yellows.
- A medium apple (approx 2.5” in diameter) weighs 5 ounces.
- The Prairie Sensation apple is 3 to 3.5 inches in diameter.
- A medium apple has only 81 calories and a whopping 3.7 grams of fiber from pectin, a soluble fibre.
- 25% of an apple’s volume is air. That is why they float.
- A mature dwarf apple tree (7 years old) can produce 40 to 50 lbs of apples.
- There are 7500 varieties of apples are grown throughout the world.
- 25% of apples are processed into juice and cider.
- Apples are fat, sodium and cholesterol FREE.
- The science of apple growing is called pomology.
- Apple trees take four to five years to produce their first fruit.
- The apple tree originated in an area between the Caspin and the Black Sea.
- Apples were the favourite fruit of ancient Greeks and Romans.
- Apples are a member of the rose family.
- Canadians eat approximately 20 lbs of apples per year
- Europeans eat approximately 46 lbs of apples per year
- Most apple blossoms are pink when they open but gradually fade to white.
- It takes the energy from 50 leaves to produce an apple
- The world’s top apple producers are China, USA, Turkey, Poland and Italy.
- Apples ripens six to ten times faster at room temperature than if they were refrigerated.
- A bushel of apples weighs about 42 lbs - there is four pecks in a bushel.
- It takes 14 to 18 lbs of apples to make one gallon or 4.546 L of cider.
- One ton of apples is 48 bushels.
- Small apples keep longer than large ones.
SOME RECOMMENDATIONS
- Seek out the apples that have not been waxed. Farmer’s market, your local orchard or Petrofka Bridge Orchard concession are the best place to buy them without paraffin.
- If you can purchase local apples, it is sometimes the best way to avoid pesticides.
- Unpeeled apples provide their most plentiful nutrients just under the skin. Apples are a good source of potassium, folic acid and vitamin C.
- It is suggested that you peel the skin off if the fruit is waxed.
- Petrofka Bridge Orchard has calculated that drinking four ounces of our cider per day is like consuming “one apple a day”.
- Dip peeled apples in lemon or salt water to prevent the flesh from darkening.
WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY
- Due to high fiber content, apples are cited by health experts for their benefits in reducing the risk of heart attack.
- The National Cancer Institute has reported that foods containing flavonoids like those found in apples may reduce the risk of lung cancer by as much as 50 percent.
- A Finnish study published in 1996 showed that people who eat a diet rich in flavonoids have a lower incidence of heart disease. Other studies indicate that flavonoids may help prevent strokes.
- Condensed tannins are found in apples. Tannins have anti-adhesion properties that may help prevent periodontal or gum disease because they inhibit some bacteria from bonding to each other and producing dental plaque.
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