Produce

Selection:

Apples are a favorite fruit of many people. The fruit of many apple varieties are also excellent for making a wide variety of cooked products. Apples best suited to particular uses are indicated below.

Fresh

• Macintosh
• Cortland
• Jonathan
• Red Delicious
• Golden Delicious
• Stayman Winesap
• Melrose
• Franklin
• Prima

Applesauce

• Golden Delicious
• Melrose
• Yellow Transparent
• Macintosh
• Cortland
• Jonathan
• Grimes Golden
• Stayman Winesap
• Rome Beauty
• Lodi

Pies

• Cortland
• Jonathan
• Grimes Golden
• Melrose
• Rome Beauty
• Yellow Transparent
• Macintosh
• Golden Delicious
• Stayman Winesap
• Lodi

Baking

• Jonathan
• Golden Delicious
• Stayman Winesap
• Rome Beauty
• Macintosh
• Cortland
• Grimes Golden
• Melrose
• Stayman Winesap

 

Storage and Preparation:

An apples skin should be shiny, not dull. Dull appearing apples will not be crisp and tasty. Apples should also be firm and free of bruises and punctures.
Avoid washing apples before storing them. Remove any spoiled apples, as they will ruin the rest. Put apples in a plastic bag in the coldest part of the refrigerator, preferably the crisper, or store them in a cool place. Store them no longer than six weeks.

Availability:

Many varieties of apples are available year-round. However, others come in smaller supplies, so enjoy them while they last. Harvest of Washington apples begins in mid-August and generally ends in early November. Each year, farmers in Washington harvest between 80 million and 103 million boxes of apples, each weighing about 40 pounds.

Nutrition:

Eating fresh apples is always good for you, but to get the full nutrition benefits associated with eating apples you may want to eat at least one fresh apple every day. Apples have been linked to lower blood cholesterol and improved bowel function as well as reduced risk of stroke, prostate cancer, type II diabetes and asthma.

Apple Fun Facts:

• 10 - 12 billion apples are handpicked in Washington State each year.
• Each apple is picked by hand. There are no harvest machines to pick apples.
• About 2,500 known varieties of apples are grown in the United States. More than 7,500 are grown worldwide.
• Last year, the average U.S. consumer ate 17 pounds of fresh apples.
• Apples originated in Kazakhstan and were carried east by traders on the Silk Road.
• The only apple native to North America is the crabapple.
• Apple seeds are like people; you will never get the exact same type of apple from a planted seed.
• The Red Delicious apple began life as a chance seedling on an Iowa farm. A chance seedling is a viable apple variety that grows from a seed.