Sometimes when I write these articles I get inspired by whatever I happen to be doing at the time. While writing this article I was eating apple slices and peanut butter. So I was inspired to write about apples and share some interesting facts about them with you!

There are over 7,500 different varieties of apples grown all over the country and 2,500 grown in the US alone! That is a lot of apples. I can’t write about all of those different types so I’ll just pick a few, describe them and then we can move on. My reasoning for choosing the apples below is that I eat most of these types of apples and they are pretty common.

•   Gala: Gala apples have a sweet, aromatic flavor. They are great when eaten fresh and even better in apple sauce.
•   McIntosh: These apples have a sweet, mild flavor. They are good for making apple sauce and for eating plain.
•   Honeycrisp: Honeycrisp apples are very sweet. They are great when eaten fresh and they make good, but watery, applesauce. These apples are fantastic if you want to make apple juice.
•   Golden Delicious: This apple has a rich, mild flavor when baked or cooked. It is really good when used to make apple sauce.
•   Jonathan: This apple has a sweet but tart taste with a firm texture. It’s very good when used to make apple sauce and tastes great by itself. This apple has light red stripes over yellow or deep red skin.
•   Red Delicious: These apples don’t keep very well. They are good as a base for apple sauce. There are different varieties of red delicious and all of them are different!
•   Granny Smith: Granny Smith apples are very tart. They are great for caramel apples! They have a very green appearance. If you like tart things this is the apple for you.
•   Fuji: This type of apple is very sweet. It’s fantastic when eaten fresh, and makes really good apple sauce. Fuji apples are a yellowish green color with red highlights.

I think the next thing we should probably talk about is how to pick a good apple and how to tell when your apple has gone bad.

First: How to pick an apple:

1.    Determine what you want to use your apple for (i.e. baking, eating, etc.) If you want a yummy fresh apple look for an apple with full color and no discoloration, if you want to bake something with your apple you can look for older apples that might be a little ripe and slightly mushy.
2.    Pick up your apple and check for any soft areas and any discoloration.
3.    Look at the shape of the apple; round apples are a bit more flavorful than elongated types. The round apples also tend to be younger.
4.    Store your apple correctly. If you plan on eating your apple raw keep it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. If you are going to bake the apple you can leave it out, but use it before it rots completely.

Now you’ve picked your apple, but it’s been sitting out for a few days. Is it still good? Here are some signs to look for:

•   Holes: does your apple have a hole? It may have been caused by insects or mold, either way if there are holes in your apple you should probably throw it out.
•   If the apple is as hard as a rock, it’s probably dehydrated and no longer good to eat.
•   Squeeze your apple. Is it soft and squishy? Is there any juice coming out? If so then your apple is probably bad.
•   Is the skin of the apple wrinkled? Get rid of it.
•   Is there any discoloration? If there is just a spot you can cut it off and eat the rest. If there are lots of spots it’s time to get new apples.

•   Cut open your apple, if it smells or is brown don’t eat it.

So what can you do with apples?

•    Bake with them, tarts, pies, and other yummy treats!
•    Eat them plain! Who doesn’t love the crunch of an apple?
•   If you don’t like them plain cut up the apple and dip in chocolate spread, peanut butter, or fruit dip. It makes a healthy and nutritious treat.
•    Spruce up a salad. Apples are the type of fruit that can go with basically any salad. Just throw some cubes in and you’re ready to go. .
•    Make some homemade apple juice! Apple juice is the best type of juice

•    Or make applesauce!

There are a lot of different things you can do with apples. That’s just a small list. If you have any yummy apple recipes please share them with us!