Happy Johnny Appleseed Day

In honor of Johnny Appleseed Day and the importance of apples in a low-protein PKU diet, here are some fun apple facts.

•Apples are fat, sodium, cholesterol free (and nearly protein free).

•The crabapple is the only apple native to North America.

•2,500 varieties of apples are grown in the United States.

•7,500 varieties of apples are grown throughout the world.

•Apples are grown in all 50 states.

•The pilgrims planted the first United States apple trees.

•The apple tree originated in an area between the Caspian and the Black Sea.

•Apples are a member of the rose family.

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

•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.

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

•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.

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

•Don't peel your apple. Two-thirds of the fiber and lots of antioxidants are found in the peel. 

•The apple variety ‘Red Delicious' is the most widely grown in the United States with 62 million bushels harvested in 2005.

Source: http://urbanext.illinois.edu/apples/facts.cfm

Legend tells of John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed randomly spreading seeds throughout the Midwest.  The truth is he actually stopped and built entire nurseries that would be left in the care of local settlers.

Mr. Appleseed would set out every year, for over forty years, following streams headed west.  He'd fence in a large area of suitable ground and begin planting his apple seeds.  Some of these orchards still remain today well over 150 years later throughout Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.

Happy Johnny Appleseed Day!