An apple a day keeps the doctor away. If that were actually true, we would have a much easier time with universal health care! But we shouldn’t let that untruth diminish the benefits of juicy, delicious apples.
The motivation for this post was a super-cute story called “Apple Day” by Kimberly Long Cockroft in this month’s Spider. It got me wondering why we don’t sing the praises of apples more, which led to research and the discovery that the UK has an entire day devoted to apples: Apple Day is October 21, celebrated with cooking demonstrations, tastings, and games. While we don’t officially recognize Apple Day in the U.S., we can certainly appreciate the source of this special holiday: especially in sauce, pies, juice, strudel, pancakes, and more.
There are so many ways to enjoy apples. Start by reading the delightful story in Spider with your kids. Then try exploring all the varieties of apples available to you. Buy some different types and do a sampling, writing down the characteristics of each type. The color, size, weight, shape, smell, taste, and texture all vary – from subtle differences to drastic ones – so chart them out and plot the variances in true scientific form.
Once you’ve found your favorite, plan a trip to an orchard and stock up. Picking your own fruit is both fun and rewarding.
Lastly, find your favorite recipe. I plan to try the applesauce found after the “Apple Day” story because who can argue with “Blue-Ribbon Winning”? A quick search on the web will turn up thousands of other apple-based recipes if you need alternatives or something else to do with all those extra apples, assuming your kids don’t just eat them whole each day. Either way, your health copay will thank you!
