We hope everyone will join us for our next flavorful Pathfinder
Produce market at the Village Commons on Thursday, Sept. 25, from 2 to 5
p.m. We have a great variety of harvest fruits and veggies, all at great
prices!***
Apple season is once again with us, and it’s nice to see that some of our local farms still offer you-pick operations. Apple picking can be a fun outing for the family, and it ends with a larder full of delicious fruits that are best eaten fresh. (But who can resist apple butter, pie or other fall delicacies?)
Last year growing conditions for apples were perfect, and we had a bumper crop. A new website from the state’s commercial growers’ association puts all of New York State’s apple news in one convenient place, and forecasts a crop of 30 million bushels, just slightly under the 2013 harvest. The growers also indicate this year’s crop will be of very high quality.
Apples are New York’s official fruit, and with good reason. From the orchards of the Hudson Valley, Lake Champlain, and Western New York, our production is second only to Washington State. Historically, many cultivars were started within the Empire State, including 20 Ouncers, which were bred from Cayuga County seedlings and developed in Massachusetts in 1843; Cortlands, developed in Geneva in 1898; and Empires, developed at Cornell University in the 1940s.
Nutritionally, apples are high in soluble fiber, and according to the World’s Healthiest Foods website, researchers found that if test subjects ate a medium whole apple 15 minutes before a meal, they would reduce their caloric intake by about 15%. (This reduction doesn’t happen with cooked forms of the fruit or with apple juice)
WHF adds that apples are also rich in phytonutrients to help even out blood sugar levels by regulating enzyme action on complex carbohydrates, reducing the absorption of glucose during digestion, and stimulating both insulin production and increasing activity by insulin receptors. Whole apples also contain pectin, which interacts with their soluble fiber content; this combination can help lower blood triglycerides and promote heart health.
Some of these health benefits may be shared with organic, unpasteurized apple cider vinegar, available at health food stores, and there are those who call on “mother of vinegar” to ward off colds, ease sore throats and lose weight, according to wiseGeek. Specifically, mother of vinegar is a cloudy, film-like substance found in unpasteurized vinegars that looks unappetizing and is removed by commercial manufacturers. Hippocrates was known to use it in his methods of healing, and Vermont doctor and folk medicine advocate D.C. Jarvis reminded us of vinegar’s benefits in his 1958 best seller, Folk Medicine: A Vermont Doctor's Guide to Good Health.
For more fun apple facts visit the website of the University of Illinois extension service. Until next time, be well!
Lori
