National Apple Day

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October 21st is National Apple Day in the United States.

The apple is a sweet (usually) edible fruit that grows on the apple tree. Although the tree originated in Central Asia, it is now grown worldwide, with China accounting for about half of the over 80 million tonnes of apples grown every year. The apple is a fruit that has religious or mythical significance in many traditions.

There are over 7,500 known cultivars of apples, making the selection found in the typical supermarket seem rather sparse. Apples are eaten many different ways, both cooked and raw. Some apples, of cultivars known as cooking apples, are larger and often tarter than dessert apples and are usually and not eaten raw, instead being cooked in various dishes. There are other cultivars that are dual purpose, used for both cooking and eating raw.

The juice from apples is also drunk. This can be as simple fruit juice, known as cider in the U.S., or as the alcoholic variety, called hard cider in the United States but known in most other countries as cider, or perhaps apple cider.

Apples contain a moderate amount of dietary fibre, but are otherwise quite low in essential nutrients.

National Apple Betty Day

October 5th is National Apple Betty Day in the United States.

Apple Bettys are, not surprisingly, a type of betty, but what actually are bettys themselves?

Apple bettys are also referred to as brown bettys, and apple brown bettys. They are a type of American dessert which is most commonly made using apples, but sometimes with other fruits such as pears and berries.

The betty is similar to a cobbler, in that it is made with sweetened crumbs. The apples in the betty are baked, and there are layers of the sweetened crumbs between layers of the apples. Once cooked, the dessert is commonly served with whipped cream or lemon sauce.

There are many different types of apples, but for baked desserts such as this it is common to use those varieties referred to as cooking apples, such as the Bramley.

National Apple Dumpling Day

September 17th is National Apple Dumpling Day in the US.

Many dumplings are savoury. Apple dumplings, naturally, are not. Dumplings of any type are balls of dough that have been cooked. Different ingredients can be used to make them as well as the dough, including fish, meat and vegetables, as well as the fruit used in this one.

The additional ingredients may be used as a filling for the dumpling, or instead they may be added to the dough mix itself. Usually, if added to the mix, the additional ingredients will be finely chopped.

There are many different ways of cooking dumplings, too. They can be baked, fried, boiled or simmered. How they are cooked can depend on the ingredients in them. There are different types of dumplings made in countries all over the world.

Apples are one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, which originated in Central Asia, and have since spread across the world with many different varieties. The apple tree was one of the earliest to be cultivated; it may even be the first. Some varieties are more suited for cooking - in other words, using in apple dumplings - than others. The Bramley apple is a British variety often used in cooking.

National Apple Turnover Day

National Apple Turnover Day is on July 5th in the United States.

The turnover is a type of filled pastry dish that is frequently, although it doesn't have to be, triangular in shape. These can be both sweet and savoury; the apple turnover is, fairly naturally, a sweet turnover.

A square of pastry - shortcrust and puff pastry are the most commonly used types - has the filling, in this case apple, placed on it, and the square is then folded over and sealed, which leads to the triangular shape. A variant would be to use a circle, which would create a half moon shape. Once sealed, the turnover is cooked, which is usually by baking but can be by frying. The cooked turnover is then frequently served hot.

Turnovers, and similar dishes, come in regional variations all over the world.

Apple Gifting Day

January 1st is Apple Gifting Day in the United States.

This isn't a day celebrating the donation of an apple-based product, even though that might be appreciated, but rather the gifting of the fruit itself.

The apple is one of the most widely cultivated fruit trees in the world, with there being over seven thousand different varieties grown around the world. The apple may have been the earliest tree to be cultivated, with the earliest wild apple trees being in Central Asia, with eastern Turkey having the largest diversity of the genus Malus, the genus of which the apple is part of, which includes the crab apple and the wild apple. The apple tree has since been spread around the rest of the world, and were taken to North America by European colonists in the seventeenth century. The only apples native to North America are crab apples. Today, the largest producer - by a significant margin, something like 8 times as many as the next country, the United States - is the People's Republic of China.

Apples have many appearances in mythology and religion, from the apple of the tree of knowledge eaten by Adam and Eve to the golden apple that caused the Trojan War to the apples which give the Norse gods their eternal youthfulness.

Apples can be eaten raw and cooked, although apples used for cooking are rarely used for eating, and are used as a base of many different foods and drinks. Apples provide little in the way of essential nutrients, with the exception of dietary fibre.

National Eat a Red Apple Day

National Eat a Red Apple Day is on December 1st in the United States.

The proverb, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away", evolved from a 19th century Welsh saying intended to convey the health benefits of eating the fruit.

Apple trees are one of the oldest, if not the oldest, trees to be domestically cultivated, and today there are over 7,500 different cultivars of apples, produced in countries all over the world.

Apples are often eaten raw and, although lower in vitamin C, and other essential nutrients, than many other fruits, do contain high levels of dietary fibre, as a variety of different phytochemicals in the peel.

Why red apples, though? Well, there doesn't seem to be a reason. Apples come in red, green, pink and yellow, as well as russetted and bi and tri-coloured. There are therefore many different red apples, such as the Red Delicious, which is one of the more common ones.

National Caramel Apple Day

National Caramel Apple Day is on October 31st in the United States.

Caramel apples are similar to, but not the same as, toffee or candy apples, and they are actually made in different ways.

Caramel apples are made by wrapping a sheet of caramel - caramel is sugar heated to 170 °C (340 °F) - around the apple, and then heating it so that the caramel is then melted evenly onto it. This is the commercial process, though, and homemade caramel apples usually are dipped into melted caramel, which results in a softer coating that is easier to eat.

The apples start off as apples on a stick before the caramel is added. After the caramel is applied, but before it cools and sets, the apples can also be dipped in other things such as crushed nuts, hundreds and thousands and similar items.

Caramel apples are popular at Halloween, so October 31st is a good day to celebrate them.

This is a partly healthy treat - it does contain an apple, after all - but there is a tendency for children to stop eating the apple after all the caramel has gone.