What’s In Season? Apples In October!

We are starting the new series “What’s in season”. If you’d like to read about Why eat local and seasonal food? please click on the link.

There are more than 7000 varieties of apples in the world. Picking season for most of them is from September until March due to their excellent storage life.
Even though an apple a day might not keep the doctor away, apples have numerous health benefits:
• Apples contain pectin, a water-soluble fiber that is an excellent food for our microflora. It also promotes regularity, binds to bile salts and dietary cholesterol improving your blood test results.
• Apple peel is high in antioxidants and flavonoids that may reduce the risk of certain cancers and heart disease. Eat the whole apple.
Apples, especially the sour varieties, stimulate secretion of digestive juices, and improve digestion.
• Apples contain a considerable amount of naturally present sugar. A small apple will have about 15 grams of sugar in it. For that reason people with blood sugar issues should eat apples in moderation and maybe after physical activity vs. as a dessert at the end of a meal.
Apples require more pesticides to grow than almost any crop and they’ve been making the top of the “dirty dozen” list for a decade. I highly recommend buying organic apples whenever possible. In addition, non-organic apples are coated with petroleum bases wax that is very hard to wash off.
What we can do with apples
• Apple juice or cider – not my favorite way of consuming apples. Even freshly squeezed juice loses most of the health benefits that the whole apple has and the sugar content only gets more concentrated.
• Apple sauce – in addition to being a delicious snack it has some great applications as a healing food, particularly in digestive distress.
• Apple cider vinegar – Is made by letting your unpasteurized apple cider ferment at room temperature for several weeks. The best vinegar to buy would be organic, unfiltered and unpasteurized. Apple cider vinegar can be used for salad dressings, condiments and pickling. It is also used extensively as medicine. Here is an example, Fire Cider Oxymel is an easy home-made immune system booster for the cold and flu season ahead.