Autumn means harvest time. And, one of the fruits picked for the season is the apple. Apples have become part of the folklore of the United States, as evidenced by the legend of Johnny Appleseed. During the pioneering days of the US, a man named John Chapman was later nicknamed Johnny Appleseed because he helped introduce apple trees across the country.
The apple’s popularity inspired the creation of events called Apple Festivals. They occur each autumn to celebrate this fruit. We decided to attend the annual Julian Apple Festival held in Southern California.
The Julian Apple Festival took place at the Volcan Valley Apple Farm, with its many varieties of apple fruits open for picking.
There were some rustic orchard farm equipment at the Julian Apple Festival. Here’s one of a wagon with some barrels.
Here’s an autumn scarecrow that greeted us upon our arrival at the Julian Apple Festival.
We participated in some Julian Apple Festival games.
We made sure to enjoy some Julian Apple Festival sno-cones.
And we even took a picture at the Julian Apple Festival‘s photo booth.
Then it was time to pick our apples at the Julian Apple Festival, so we entered the orchard.
Each row of apple trees was planted based on apple variety. For instance, here’s one of Golden Delicious apples.
Golden Delicious apples are low in calories while simultaneously being a good source of soluble fiber. Indeed, just one apple contains 5 grams of fiber! Then, too, apples are packed with vitamins A and C as well as potassium. They are fat-free, cholesterol-free, even sodium-free. It is no wonder that the aphorism “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” — originally appearing in 1860s Wales as “Eat an apple on going to bed, and you’ll keep the doctor from earning his bread” — has become well-known not just for its wit and its longevity but also because science supports it.
Golden Delicious apples are good for baking purposes because of their sweet-tart flavor and stability in the baking oven. Fresh, raw Golden Delicious apples can likewise be used in salads or even added as apple slices to burgers and sandwiches.
The origin of the Golden Delicious apple is traced back to an 1890 seedling from the West Virginia farm of Anderson Mullins. Consequently, the apple was originally known by the name of Mullins Yellow Seedling until 1916. The year 1916 was a turning point, for that was when the rights were sold to Paul Stark and his Stark Brothers Nursery. Under Stark, the seedling was renamed the Golden Delicious, and the name has stuck ever since.
Besides the Golden Delicious, the orchard also had red apple varieties like the Fuji and the Jonathan. There was even the Jonagold apple — which, as its name implies, is a hybrid of the Golden Delicious and the Jonathan.
Here we are picking some of the red apples.
Apples could also be seen strewn around the tree trunks and orchard grounds. As an aside, the New York Apple Association states that “It takes about 36 apples to create one gallon of apple cider.”
Interestingly enough, apples are members of the rose family! Besides that, apples float because 25% of what comprises an apple is air. Another interesting factoid from the New York Apple Association is that it takes the energy of 50 leaves to produce one apple. Moreover, apples ripen six to ten times (6x – 10x) faster in room temperature than they would within a refrigerator.
Here’s another view of the apple orchard. Did you know that the University of Illinois reports that it takes approximately 36 apples to produce one gallon of apple cider?
This photo is one of our favorites from the Julian Apple Festival — notice the farm house in the distance. We learned a new word while at the Apple Festival: pomology, which is the science of growing apples. We think it is rather cool to know that archaeologists date human cultivation of apples as far back as 6500 BC. And, the pilgrims from the Massachusetts Bay Colony were the first to plant apple trees on US soil.
Another fascinating morsel about apples is that it takes approximately 2 pounds of apples to make a nine-inch pie. While on the subject of weight measurements, a peck of apples describes 10.5 pounds of the fruit. A bushel of apples weighs in at 42 pounds and, in turn, yields about 20 – 24 quarts of applesauce. Here I am with my bag of apples from the Julian Apple Festival.
Meanwhile, this photo features the large apple sculptures at the Julian Apple Festival‘s orchard fence. According to the Guinness World Records, the heaviest apple weighed in at 4 pounds and 1 ounce. It was picked from a farm in Japan. The apple was a Hokuto, which is a hybrid of the Mutsu and Fuji varieties.
We had loads of fun at the Julian Apple Festival. We enjoyed picking our apples and learning more about the fruit. We recommend that you, too, plan a visit to your nearest orchard during Apple Festival season.
