10 Fun Facts About Apples

Here are 10 interesting facts you probably didn’t know about apples, the quintessential American fruit (after all, the phrase isn’t “as American as pumpkin pie…”):

1. More than 2,500 varieties of apples are grown in the United States, but only the crabapple is native to North America.
2. Apples contain no fat, sodium or cholesterol and are a good source of fiber.
3. Apple trees take four to five years to produce their first fruit.
4. Apples ripen six to 10 times faster at room temperature than if they are refrigerated.
5. Apple varieties range in size from a little larger than a cherry to as large as a grapefruit. The largest apple ever picked weighed 3 pounds.
   
6. Apples harvested from an average tree can fill 20 boxes that weigh 42 pounds each.
7. Apples are a member of the rose family.
8. The top apple producers around the world are China, United States, Turkey, Poland and Italy. Apples account for 50 percent of international deciduous fruit tree production.
9. A peck of apples weighs 10.5 pounds. A bushel of apples weighs about 42 pounds.
10. It takes about 36 apples to create one gallon of apple cider.
    

Thank you.