National Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Month

June is National Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Month in the United States.

Now, this is one of the healthier food celebrations around. Fresh fruit and vegetables are an important part of the diet, although it should be noted that flash frozen food can actually be more nutritious than fresh, as food is frozen within hours of picking, whilst fresh food can take days to reach the point of sale, where it can stand around for days more. So, frozen fruit and vegetables can have more nutrients in them than fresh.

Fruit and vegetables contain a wide variety of essential nutrients, but they are not all necessarily healthy if consumed in great amounts. Most countries have a recommended daily intake of fruit and vegetables, classed as servings, but the recommended amount varies from country to country. Needless to say, fruit and vegetables are some of the oldest types of food consumed, given that both can often be eaten with no further preparation.

National Fig Week

The first week of November is National Fig Week in the United States.

Figs are the fruit produced by a tree which is known as the Common Fig. This was one of the first plants to be cultivated, rather than simply being harvested as it grew in the wild. Samples of domesticated figs have been found dating back over eleven thousand years, which means that they pre-date the earliest known use of domesticated rye and wheat by one thousand years. The fig has cultural and religious significance in many places and cultures, with fig leaves, for example, being mentioned very early on in Genesis in the Bible.

The earliest trees were native to parts of the Middle East and western Asia, but have since been spread across many other countries, where they are grown both for their fruit and for ornamental purposes. The Middle East, and parts of the Mediterranean coast, are still where the majority of figs are grown today, with currently only two producers in the top ten, the United States and Brazil, not hailing from that region. Turkey is the largest fig producing country.

Figs can, and are, eaten fresh, but they are also fried and used in jams. Ripe figs do not tend to transport or keep well after being picked, so most commercially available figs are in dried or otherwise preserved or processed forms. One common use of processed figs is in the Fig Newton, or the generic fig roll, a cookie (or biscuit) that has a filling made from figs.

National Grapefruit Month

National Grapefruit Month is in February in the United States.

The grapefruit is not, as the name suggests, related to the grape, but actually to the orange and another citrus, the pomelo. They originated in Barbados in the 18th century, and are a hybrid plant. It is believed  that they are a naturally occurring hybrid, rather than one that has been bred, but this is not known for definite.

Grapefruit do resemble an orange, being comprised of lots of individual segments within a thick rind. The taste of the grapefruit itself is acidic, and is often quite sour. Sweeter varieties are also available, in particular the reds and pinks. Normal varieties are usually the whites.

Grapefruit is a popular breakfast fruit, where the fruit is cut in half and the segments are cut out, although it is usually sweetened when eaten like this. There are special grapefruit spoons for eating it in this manner.

Like most fruit, grapefruit is a good source of many nutrients and beneficial supplements. The juice does have some negative reactions with various drugs, though, inhibiting them.

National Apricot Day

January 9th is National Apricot Day in the United States.

The apricot tree has been cultivated since ancient times, although it is not known precisely where they originated. They have been cultivated in Persia for years, but they have also been grown in Armenia for a long time. There are records dating their cultivation in India back over 5,000 years. They are today cultivated in many different countries, with the Middle East and Mediterranean areas being the largest producers.

The apricot is a small drupe with a seed inside it in a hard shell that varies in colour from yellow to orange and they have a smooth or velvety surface. The apricot fruit itself, like many fruits, contains a lot of nutrients of various types. Apricots are one of the more popular types of dried fruit. Dried apricots are frequently treated with sulphur dioxide which gives them a vivid orange colour. Dried apricots have a high fibre content.

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 Pear Month

In the United States December is National Pear Month.

This might seem an odd time of year to have a fruit month, being in the middle of winter, but this month is supported by the United States Department of Agriculture. The reason being that fruit is still needed during the winter months - perhaps more so - and pears are actually one of the ones that are in season at this time of year.

Pears are a fruit tree whose cultivation as a food source dates back to antiquity and is native to the temperate regions stretching from Europe and Africa to Asia. The fruit is both a good source of dietary fibre and vitamin C - the latter especially beneficial during winter - but it should be noted that the vast majority of both of these nutrients is contained in the skin of the fruit, so peeling the fruit destroys much of its nutritional value, so eating them raw, like apples, is probably the best way. Not every pear grows in the stereotypical pear shape though.

Eat a Cranberry Day

November 23rd is Eat a Cranberry Day in the United States.

Cranberries are the fruit from the evergreen shrub of the same name. Unusually for fruit with "berry" in the name, they are actually berries. So many are not. Given how tiny cranberries are, eating merely one in celebration of this day is not really useful.

There are different species of cranberry plants. Although some do grow outside North America, the berries were first eaten by North American natives, and the United States and Canada are still the biggest producers of the berry. The first reference to Native Americans eating cranberries dates back to the fifteenth century; it is probable that they were consumed before that.

Cranberries can be eaten raw - and have been marketed as a "superfruit" when raw, as they are high in antioxidants and nutrients - they are usually eaten processed in other forms. This is because the raw cranberry is hard and bitter. Commercially, they are sweetened and sold as cranberry juice, cranberry sauce (a popular condiment with turkey at Thanksgiving and Christmas) and dried. Even dried cranberries are sweetened.

Although cranberries do seem to have health benefits, there are some people who are advised against taking them, namely those taking warfarin as a medicine, as it seems they react badly together.

National Brandied Fruit Day

National Brandied Fruit Day is on October 20th in the United States.

Brandied fruit is not a fruit brandy (which is a brandy that is made from fruit) but is instead more of a way of preserving fruit for later use. Brandied fruit can be purchased pre-made, but it can also be made at home.

The two main ingredients are, of course, brandy (an alcoholic drink made by distilling wine) and fruit. Indeed, not much more than that is needed, beyond sugar and water.

Many different types of fruit can be made into brandied fruit, but some are more popular than others. Mandarin oranges are a favourite for example, but others can be used. Those that are tend to be of the softer varieties.

Brandied fruit could be eaten by itself, but it is also a popular topping or as an ingredient in other dishes. Once made, it will often keep for months afterwards, especially if it is in a hermetically sealed jar or the refrigerator. The alcohol in the brandy is what preserves the fruit.