Vienna Farmers Market: Apples are Educational

At the Vienna Farmers Market, it's apple season so let's talk fun facts about apples. 

• The top apple producing states are Washington State, New York, Michigan, California, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, in that order, all of which produced 83 percent of the nations apple supply*.
• Apples float because 25 percent of their volume is air.
• Apples harvested from an average tree can fill 20 boxes that weigh about 42 pounds each.
• The Guinness Book of World Records states the largest apple ever picked weighed 3 pounds, 2 oz.
• Freckles on Golden Delicious apples indicate ripeness. Red Delicious apples are probably the most common.
• Members of the rose family have flower parts in fives. (That's right, the apple is part of the flower family!). Cut an apple in half cross-wise to find a star with five chambers, with two seeds each.
• Sprinkling salt on spilled apple juices in the oven or microwave will cause the juice to burn crisply making it easier to remove.
• To peel apples for baking, dip them in and out of boiling water quickly. The skin will come off quickly.
• Dip apple slices in fresh lemon juice to prevent them from turning brown.
• Prevent discoloration of aluminum utensils by boiling with apple peelings (some people currently use vinegar in water).
• Approximately 36 apples are needed to create one gallon of cider.

Here are a few of the types of apples that will be at the market this weekend: Honeycrisp, Ambrosia, Shizuka, Liberty, Early Fuji, Jonathan, Elstar, Northern Spy, Crimson Crisp and Kids Gala.

What are your favorite things to do with apples? We love to slice and bake them with a little bit of margarine and cinnamon. How long do your apples last from the market? Sometimes our apples last for a month or more! How do you remove the core from your apples? Do you use one of those fancy core removers or just slice it out the old-fashioned way? Asking around most people own a fancy core remover but we all tend to resort to the old-fashioned way!

As a reminder the Vienna Farmers Market is sponsored by the Optimist Club of Greater Vienna. The Optimists are also sponsoring the 7th annual Walk and Family Fun Day for Growing Hope on Sept. 29 on the Town Green from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Go to the group's website for more information about this fun-filled day to benefit children with cancer.

*Much of this information is gratefully acknowledged from the what'scookingamerica.net site. Thank you! See you all next week.