Did you ever wonder how many varieties of apples there are on our planet?

By David McClelland

I was aware of the following varieties of apples: Braeburn, Crabapple, Fuji, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Jonathan, McIntosh, Pink Lady, Red Delicious, and a few more.

I researched the subject and learned that there are more than 7,500 different varieties of apples in the world. I found that more than 2,500 varieties are grown in the United States and, of those, 100 varieties are grown commercially here. Apples are grown in all 50 statea, but commercially in only 36 states.

Varieties of which I was unaware are number in the thousands and include: Ambrosia, Black Amish, Cherry Pippin, Detroit Red, English Beauty, Golden Nugget and Holstein.

Most apples are picked by hand in the fall. Apples are fat, sodium and cholesterol free.
A medium size apple contains about 80 calories. One apple contains about 5 grams of fiber. It takes 2 pounds of apples to make a 9 inch pie and 36 apples to make one gallon of apple cider. The apple blossom is the state flower of Michigan. The science of growing apples is pomology. Apples trees take 4 – 5 years to produce fruit. Apples are members of the rose family. Of fruits, only oranges are more valuable commercially in the United States than apples. The Crabapple is the only apple native to North America.

The average size of a U.S. apple orchard is 50 acres. The largest apple crop in the U.S. was in 1998 and 277.3 million cartons, each weighing 42 pounds and valued at almost $2 billion. One peck of apples weighs 10.5 pounds. The world's largest apple producers are China, The United States, Turkey, Poland and Italy. The top apple producing states are Washington (58%), New York(11%), Michigan(8%), Pennsylvania(5%), California(4%) and Virginia(2% ). About 25% of the U.S. production, about 35.7 million bushels of fresh apples, are exported annually. The Red Delicious apple is the most widely grown in this country; i.e., about 62 million bushels per year. The apple is the state fruit of Minnesota, New York, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia.

Other apple products include apple dumplings, apple jelly, applesauce, apple juice, apple butter, apple baby food and apple vinegar. National Apple Week began in 1904. It became National Apple Month in 1996 and now lasts for three months, September through November. Finally, The Guinness Book of Records states that the heaviest apple on record weighed 4 pounds, 1 ounce and was grown in Hirosaki City, Japan in 2005. It didn't identify the variety of apple. Remember, an apple a day, keeps the doctor away!!!