History
The apple tree, which originally came from Eastern Europe and southwestern Asia, has spread to most temperate regions of the world. Over the centuries, many hybrids and cultivars have been developed, giving us the 7,000 varieties in the market today.

Apples have long been famous—or infamous, given the pivotal role played by an apple in the biblical story of Adam and Eve. In Norse mythology, apples were given a more positive persona: a magic apple was said to keep people young forever. Apples' most recent appearance in history occurred in the 1800s in the U.S., when Johnny Appleseed—a real person named John Chapman, despite the mythological quality of his tale—walked barefoot across an area of 100,000 square miles, planting apple trees that provided food and a livelihood for generations of settlers.

Washington Apple History

There are presently more than 225,000 acres of orchards nestled in the eastern foothills of the picturesque Cascade Mountains at elevations from 500 to 3,000 feet above sea level. The orchards are irrigated with plentiful and cool mountain water. The area first became known to American pioneers at the turn of the 19th century and by 1826, early settlers had discovered the area’s rich lava-ash soil and plentiful sunshine created perfect conditions for growing apples. The arid climate also meant fewer insect and disease problems and a smoother finish on the apples than in some other places.

Noting the health and vigor of apple trees planted along stream banks, pioneers developed irrigation systems and by 1889, commercial orchards were established. Most apple-growing districts in the state are still located along the banks of major rivers. The average size of an orchard is about 100 acres, but some cover as many as 3,000 acres and employ 300 or more workers year-round. An estimated 35,000 to 45,000 pickers are employed during the peak of harvest.

Growers now use dwarf trees in high-density plantings to bring new orchards into production faster. This allows orchardists to get faster return on their investment and to respond more quickly to consumer demand for popular new varieties. The smaller trees also improve harvest efficiency because the apples are easier to reach. Short ladders can be used by pickers.

History of Bobbing for Apples

Samhain, a precursor to our All Hallows' Eve or Halloween celebration, occurred at a time that was a magical for the Celts of Britain. A time when the veil separating the worlds of the living and dead was its thinnest. A time when the distinction between past, present, and future would blur. Many of the earliest Halloween games took advantage of this belief and were based on divining the future.

When the Romans conquered Britain they brought with them the apple tree. The apple was representative of the goddess Pomona, the goddess of fruit trees. She was known for her great beauty and fertility. Romans, although conquerors, Romans were accepting of other cultures and soon accepted Celtic beliefs and the Samhain festival. The two were blended together and the apple became part of the harvest celebration that would become Halloween.

Because Pomona was a fertility goddess and because the Celts believed that the pentagram was a fertility symbol  and when an apple is sliced in half the seeds form a pentagram it is natural that they believed the apple could be used to determine marriages during this magical time of year. From this belief comes the game bobbing for apples. During the annual celebration young unmarried people try to bite into an apple floating in water or hanging from a string. The first person to bite into the apple would be the next one to marry.

While the apple may or may not have had any ability to predict the future it brought people together from distant farms and villages who may otherwise have never had contact with others outside their own families. This was very important as most people did not live through their childhoods. Marriage and fertility were extremely important. Without children there would be nobody to carry on your genes. If you didn't have a large supply of children there wouldn't be enough labor to survive. In this respect bobbing for apples wasn't just a game but a matter of life or death.

 

Apples are rich in fiber, vitamins, flavonoids and antioxidants, and it appears the beneficial synergy between the many healthful compounds in apples is truly a key to staying healthy.

Apples contain both insoluble and soluble fiber. One medium (5 ounces) unpeeled apple provides over 3 grams of fiber, more than 10% of the daily fiber intake recommended by experts. Even without its peel, a medium apple provides 2.7 grams of fiber.

Apple's two types of fiber pack a double punch that can knock down cholesterol levels, reducing your risk of hardening of the arteries, heart attack, and stroke. Adding just one large apple (about 2/3 of a pound) to the daily diet has been shown to decrease serum cholesterol 8-11%. Eating 2 large apples a day has lowered cholesterol levels by up to 16%.

LDL cholesterol isn't the only harmful compound on apple's removal list. Pectin grabs toxins like the heavy metals lead and mercury, and ushers them out of the body. Both the soluble and insoluble fibers in apples have cancer-protective activity since they relieve constipation and send potentially toxic substances out with the stools.

When it comes to bowel regularity, apple's two types of fiber tackle the job—no matter what it is. Both the insoluble fiber in apples and their soluble fiber pectin help relieve constipation (thus helping to prevent diverticulosis and colon cancer). The insoluble fiber works like roughage, while the pectin, which is found primarily in the skin, acts as a stool softener by drawing water into the stool and increasing stool bulk. On the other hand, because pectin firms up an excessively loose stool, it's also used to treat diarrhea. One well-known over-the-counter diarrhea remedy, Kaopectate ™, actually contains an oxidized form of pectin.

A type of pigment in apples that helps provide their color, flavonoids have been extensively researched and found to help prevent heart disease. Apple skin and onions are the two major food sources of a potent flavonoid called quercitin. If, in addition to eating an apple a day, you add 2 tablespoons of onion and 4 cups of green tea (also rich in flavonoids) to your menu, you, like the men who consumed these foods in a study, may have a 32% lower risk of heart attack than people who consume less of these foods.

Apples are also an excellent source of antioxidants, and when compared to many other commonly consumed fruits in the United States, were found to have the second highest level of antioxidant activity. Many of the phytochemicals found in apples, including quercetin, catechin, phloridzin and chlorogenic acid, are strong antioxidants.

Whole apples, especially their peels, have been found to have a number of powerful antioxidant effects, one of which is to protect VLDL and LDL (bad) cholesterol from oxidation. Yet when quercitin, one of the most important antioxidant flavonoids in apples, was tested by itself in rats, it had no protective effect. And when apple flesh and apple juice were tested, they provided less than a tenth the benefit of whole apple.

Quercitin's benefits derive from its antioxidant activity, especially when it teams up with another antioxidant, vitamin C, also found in apples, to bolster the body's immune defenses. This dynamic antioxidant duo provides another way (in addition to fiber) through which apples protect against cancer and also helps prevent the free radical damage to LDL cholesterol that promotes heart disease.

 Whole apple extracts—in amounts comparable to human consumption of one, three or six apples a day—were shown to prevent breast cancer in test animals in a study published in the March 2005 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. And apples worked in a dose-dependent manner; the more apples eaten, the more protection. They concluded that as yet unknown constituents contribute to apples' potent protective qualities.

In the United States, 22% of the phenolic compounds consumed from fruits come from apples, making them the largest source of phenols in the American diet. When compared to other fruits, apples ranked second in total concentration of phenolic compounds, and perhaps more importantly, had the highest portion of free phenols. Since free phenols are not bound to other compounds in the fruit, they may be more available for absorption into the bloodstream.

Apples' protective effects against free radical damage to cholesterol reach their peak at three hours following apple consumption and drop off after 24 hours, providing yet another good reason to eat a whole fresh apple a day.

In the most recent studies, investigators found that the combination of apple pectin and apple phenols lowered cholesterol and triglycerides to a much greater extent than either apple pectin or phenols alone. This again suggests a beneficial synergy between the many healthful compounds found in apples and supports eating the whole fruit instead of simply drinking apple juice, eating peel-free applesauce or taking fiber supplements.

A new study suggests that eating and drinking apples and apple juice, in conjunction with a balanced diet, can protect the brain from the effects of oxidative stress. Although more research is needed, these brain health findings are encouraging for all individuals who are interested in staying mentally sharp as they age.

In addition to their beneficial effects against chronic diseases including cancer, cardiovascular disease, asthma and diabetes, apples may also help combat cholera. Recently, crude extracts from immature apples were found to inhibit cholera toxin in a dose dependent manner by up to 98%.

And if you want to reduce your risk of calcium oxalate kidney stones, drink apple juice. A study published in the August 2003 issue of the British Journal of Nutrition found that when women drank ½ to 1 liter of apple, grapefruit or orange juice daily, their urinary pH value and citric acid excretion increased, significantly dropping their risk of forming calcium oxalate stones.

It also now appears that the phenols in the skin of certain cultivars of apples may also provide a hefty dose of UV-B protection.

Apple phytochemical content is not greatly affected by storage. After 100 days, the amount of phenolic compounds in the skin begins to decrease slightly, but even after 200 hundred days in cold storage, the total amount of these compounds remains close to the level at the time of harvest.

However, processing apples into juice greatly lowers their phytochemical content. Apple juice obtained from Jonagold apples by pulping and straight pressing had only 10% of the antioxidant activity of fresh apples, while juice obtained after pulp enzyming had only 3% of fresh apples' antioxidant activity. The take home message: store apples in the refrigerator and enjoy a sweet, crunchy, whole apple at least 2-3 times each week.

More than half of all apples grown in the United States for fresh eating come from orchards in Washington State. Washington apples are sold in all 50 states and more than 40 countries.

Americans eat approximately 19.6 pounds of fresh apples annually, compared to about 46 pounds consumed annually by residents of European countries.

There are more than 7,000 varieties of apples, but only about 100 are grown commercially in the U.S.

Eight varieties account for 80% of total U.S. production. Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, McIntosh, Rome Beauty, Jonathan, York and Stayman.

56%of the 1999 crop was eaten as fresh fruit and 42% was processed.

The European settlers who brought seeds with them in the 1600s introduced apples to New York.

The world production of apples is more than 40 million tons.

China is now the world's largest apple producer, followed by the U.S. in second place.

The "Flower of Kent" is a large green skinned apple variety, and is thought to have been the variety that struck Sir Isaac Newton.

McIntosh Apples were discovered on a single mutated plant in the late 1700's by Canadian John McIntosh.

The apple is the official state fruit of New York, West Virginia, Washington and Rhode Island. It is the official state flower of Michigan.

Washington state produces more apples than any other state in the union.

When the first colonists migrated to North America, they brought apple seeds with them. The first recorded planting was in 1629 by the Massachusetts Bay Colony.