Seasonal living

Apples are Fall Superfoods

Apples may be the least exotic food imaginable. Humans have been growing domesticated apples for 4,000 years, and they grow in every state in the U.S.

But don’t let the humble apple fool you. This sweet, crisp delicacy is rich in fiber, antioxidants, potassium, folate, niacin and vitamins A, B, C, E and K. Keep reading to discover how to take advantage of fall’s bounty of apples. And learn how to say yes to apples, but no to the side of pesticides that often comes with them.

As American as Apple Pie?

Apples are members of the rose family. Contrary to popular lore, they did not originate in the Americas. Native Americans had wild apple trees (more commonly called crab apple trees) but no domesticated fruit trees.

Apples were domesticated in the mountains of Kazakhstan from the wild species Malus sieversii. Like people, no two apple trees are alike when they’re grown from seed. Domesticated varieties are genetic clones of each other grown by grafting one type of tree onto another.

European settlers planted apple and pear trees as a requirement for their free land grants. By the mid-1800s, 14,000 unique types of domesticated apples were available in the U.S. They came in all colors, shapes, and sizes, and had names like New York Pippin, Father Abraham, Maiden’s Blush, Kentucky Red Streak, and Illinois Red.

Where Have All the Apples Gone?

With the industrialization of agriculture in the 20th century, only crop varieties that could adapt well to transportation and long-term storage survived in the commercial market. We lost thousands of unique varieties of apples. Today, only 90 varieties are grown for market, and the apple industry sells just a handful of apple varieties, most big, glossy, sweet fruit that work well for shipping.

The most popular varieties are:

Red Delicious
Gala
Golden Delicious
Granny Smith
Fuji

Unappetizing Truths About Commercial Apples

We’ve outsourced most of our food production to big companies, and it’s important to understand who grows our food and how it’s processed. The industrial food system has a huge impact on our health, the health of the environment, and on human rights. (More than 3.5 million people worldwide, including 530,000 people in developed countries, currently work under forced labor conditions in the agricultural sector. To understand how slavery exists in the modern-day United States, read about the slaves in Florida’s tomato industry.)

Here are some important things to understand about conventional apples:

Commercial varieties of apples are difficult to grow organically. They’re prone to apple scab and apple borer infestations. Most growers spray their orchards with pesticides.
They’re often picked before they’re ripe.
They’re treated with a chemical called 1-methylcyclopropene and dipped in wax to prepare them for transit and cold storage.
They may travel as many as 3,000 miles.
They may sit in refrigerated cold storage for up to a year before they make it to the grocery store.

This scenario may not be what you imagined the last time you bit into an apple. Here are a few ways to eat fresher apples and invest in a fairer, healthier, and more sustainable food system:

Grow your own food.
Pick fruit from local trees. (Find unpicked trees near you at fallingfruit.org.)
Buy local and seasonal produce.
Buy organic whenever possible. Pesticides are dangerous for farm workers and consumers.
Support farms that are transitioning to organic.
Learn low-tech ways to store produce in a spare room, cellar, or garage.
Tell politicians (local, state, and national) you care about fair and sustainable food.

But here’s the bottom line: Any apples are better than no apples. Apples are one of the most significant sources of flavenoids and phenolic compounds (phytochemicals that protect the body from disease) in the modern diet. In multiple studies, apple consumption has been linked to a lower risk of lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, asthma, and diabetes.

Say Yes to Apples and No to Pesticides

The USDA Pesticide Data Project has found residue of 47 different pesticides on apples. Apples are on the Environmental Working Group’s “dirty dozen” list because tests indicate they have the most pesticide residue of industrial crops.

You can avoid synthetic pesticides by buying organic apples whenever possible. Also, look for local apples at farmers’ markets and farm stands. Local farmers can grow apple varieties that grow well in the environment and are more resistant to pests.

If local or organic is not an option, consider taking measures to reduce the pesticide residue on your apples. According to several studies compiled by the National Institute of Health, soaking conventional produce in salt water for five minutes removes 50 percent or more of the pesticide residue.

How to Harvest and Store Apples

Most apples ripen between late August and November. Here’s how to know when apples are ripe:

Test an apple by cutting into it.
Check that the apple has brown seeds. Immature apples have white seeds.
Check that the flesh is white or cream colored, not green.
Taste the apple to check if the flavor is in its prime.

Picking apples at an orchard is a fun way to spend a fall day. Biting into a fresh apple in the fall sunshine is a delight not to be missed. Go to pickyourown.org to find an orchard near you. At orchards, you can usually buy apples for much cheaper than in a grocery store. You may be able to find local and heirloom varieties; ask which varieties work best for your purposes. Also, consider buying apples in bulk to store through the fall and winter. It’s easier than you may think.

How to store apples:

Store only the best apples that have no blemishes, cuts, or bruises.
Don’t wash them. Unwashed produce keeps longer.
Keep the same varieties together. Late-season, thick-skinned, and tart apples keep longest. Thin-skinned and sweet apples should be eaten first.
Wrap each apple in a square of newspaper to keep it from touching other apples.
Layer the apples in baskets or boxes, and label the boxes with the variety and date.
Store apples in a cool, dark, frost-free place, which ideally stays between 35-40 degrees F. Best options: a spare refrigerator or root cellar. Next best options: a shed, basement or garage that stays above freezing.
Store apples by themselves. Apples produce ethylene, which hastens the ripening of other crops.
Check your supplies often to make sure they aren’t going bad; some varieties can keep for up to 6 months.

Enjoy the Harvest

Nothing says fall like apple pie, crisp, strudel, fritter, or cider. Apples are grown all over the world, and they’re key ingredients in many regional delicacies, such as:

But you don’t need to spend all day in the kitchen to enjoy your apple harvest. An apple is perfect by itself. Consider these simple ways to savor your apples:

Dippers

Cut apples into slices and dip them in peanut butter, caramel, honey, cream cheese, or yogurt.

Chips

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut two apples into thin slices leaving the skin on, sprinkle with cinnamon, and bake at 225 degrees for an hour. Turn over and bake for an additional hour. Cool and enjoy.

Sandwich

Layer apple slices on peanut butter toast. Add apple slices to a grilled cheese sandwich. Use two thick apple slices as bread and fill with granola, raisins, honey, and peanut butter.

Sauce

Make a simple applesauce by combining four cups of chopped apples, a cup of water, and a half teaspoon cinnamon to a pot. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and cook for about a half hour, stirring occasionally. Sweeten with honey or maple syrup to taste.

Salad

Add crunch and sweetness to a chopped green salad, slaw, or grain salad.

Looking for a simple, yet decadent, treat? Pair apples with cheese.

An Apple a Day

Fall is a perfect time to appreciate the humble perfection of sweet, crisp apples. Bursting with flavor and nutrition, apples are one of the healthiest foods you can eat.

Editor’s note: This is an updated version of an article originally published October 19, 2017.

Save

Local, Seasonal Foods are Superfoods

By Abby Quillen

What should you eat for optimal health? That question has inspired wildly contradictory dietary trends from Low-fat to Raw Vegan to Paleo to Keto, each backed by health claims and scientific studies. However, nobody will ever discover a one-size-fits-all optimal human diet because we didn’t evolve to eat the same thing. Throughout most of history, whether humans hunted and gathered, raised animals, or cultivated crops, they ate a menu of local foods that shifted with the seasons. All traditional diets emphasized seasonal eating.

In the past hundred years, the industrialization of agriculture and the invention of refrigeration radically remade our diets. Today, 70 percent of the American diet is processed, and the fresh foods in your grocery store were likely imported from all over the globe. However, locavore, Farm to Table, and Farm to School movements are flourishing for good reason. Exotic superfoods may be trendy, but the foods grown near you are usually the freshest, most nutritious, healthiest, and most flavorful foods you can eat. Even a modest change to eating more local and seasonal foods can bring health, environmental, and culinary benefits.

Eating seasonally may require a mindset shift and some effort, because most modern Americans weren’t raised doing it. But the benefits are worthwhile! Keep reading to learn why local, seasonal foods are superfoods and discover ways to shift to a more seasonal diet.

The Case of the Missing Nutrients

The industrial food system has brought convenience, but the price tag is high, both for human health and the health of our ecosystems. First of all, we’ve lost an incredible amount of food diversity. In 1903, 408 types of peas were available in commercial seed catalogs; by 1983, there were 25 available pea types. More than 300 varieties of sweet corn in 1903 dwindled to 12 in 1983; 544 cabbage varieties in 1903 diminished to 28 in 1983.

Here’s the problem: Modern crops are significantly less nutritious than the crops our grandparents ate. Farmers must select crop types for yield and their ability to be transported and stored, rather than for nutrition. Moreover, soil depletion and rising carbon levels in the atmosphere may further contribute to the declining nutrient values of our food. The USDA has monitored the nutrition in crops since the late 1800s, and the data is troubling. According to one analysis, an orange today contains eight times less vitamin A than an orange your grandparent would have eaten. Broccoli contains less than half as much calcium as it did in 1950.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Exotic superfoods may be trendy, but local, seasonal foods are the real superfoods. #localfood” quote=”Exotic superfoods may be trendy, but local, seasonal foods are the real superfoods.” theme=”style1″]

To complicate the problem, nutrients degrade quickly after produce is picked. Conventional produce is often picked before it’s ripe, is shipped an average of 1494 miles, and is handled frequently and stored on shelves for days.

For obvious reasons, local produce is nearly always fresher than produce shipped from across the world. And it may contain more nutrients in the first place because farmers growing food for local markets can choose crop types for nutrition and flavor, such as antioxidant-rich purple carrots and potatoes. Moreover, there’s a less understood reason to eat seasonal foods; by doing so, we tap into nature’s wisdom about what’s best to eat when.

Tap into Nature’s Wisdom

Because of the tilt of the earth, seasons exist everywhere, except for a small tropical band near the equator, which has minimal seasonality. In some regions of the earth, seasonal changes are extreme. In parts of Alaska, summer and winter temperatures vary by 100 degrees. Flora, fauna, and weather vary widely by region and and season, and it makes sense that our diets would vary accordingly, since they were once dependent on the local environment. The bottom line? We evolved to eat certain foods at certain times. And now that we’ve lost touch with which crops grow when, we may have lost a natural way to stay healthy during each season.

Consider these examples:

Summer crops (berries, fruit, snap beans, corn, cucumbers, melons, peppers, tomatoes, and summer squash) provide energy, hydration, and antioxidants to help people deal with the potentially damaging effects of summer sunshine.
Fall and winter crops (sweet potatoes, winter squash, chard, spinach, bok choy, and kale) provide large amounts of vitamin A, a nutrient that supports the immune system, just as seasonal illnesses are circulating.
Spring crops (watercress, pea shoots, wild nettles and greens) have anti-histamine effects in the body, which helps fend off spring’s seasonal allergies. (Nettles worked better than allergy medication in one study.)

The health benefits of seasonal eating go beyond ingesting antioxidants and phytochemicals. Eating is not only about nutrients; it’s about our relationship with the natural world, the source of all real food.

Humans are wired to be outside. Spending time in nature is therapeutic, healing, and necessary for human health. Reconnecting food to its true source by hunting or gathering wild foods, gardening, or visiting farms or orchards can be a powerful step toward better health. When you adjust your diet with local conditions, you must observe and relate with the environment outside the climate-controlled homes, buildings, and cars, where Americans now spend 90 percent of the time.

Invest in Healthier Ecosystems

The industrial food system, which was developed in the decades after World War II, features enormous single-crop farms and animal production facilities and relies heavily on chemical fertilizers. The system has been successful at increasing crop yields, making food cheaper, decreasing the need for farm labor, and increasing the availability of off-season crops. Unfortunately, the environmental costs for industrial agriculture have been huge and include mass extinctions, a biodiversity crisis, contaminated water ways, the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and pesticide toxicity.

In wealthy nations, food consumption is estimated to account for 20 to 30 percent of each family’s environmental footprint. Environmental life cycle food assessments are complicated, and it’s important to factor how the food is grown and transported to market. However, many studies suggest that even a small shift to local and seasonal eating may make a difference to the environment. A research team found the conventional food distribution system emitted 5 to 17 times more CO₂and used four to 17 times more fuel than the local and regional food distribution systems in Iowa. A Canadian study estimated that replacing imported food with locally grown food in just the Waterloo, Ontario region would save transport-related emissions roughly equivalent to taking 16,191 cars off the road. According to another analysis, if everyone in the U.S. just ate one meal a week consisting of local and organic produce, we’d reduce our national oil consumption by 1.1 million barrels a week.

Step Outside of the Grocery Store

Seasonal eating goes against our always-available, fast-food culture, and it may not be intuitive if you weren’t raised doing it. Growing up in rural Colorado, nearly all of my family’s produce came from refrigerated cases at a national grocery chain. My dad grew a small vegetable garden one summer (an experience that had an enormous impact on me). Other than that, we didn’t grow food or visit farms or orchards. Most years, the apples and plums on the trees in our yard fell to the ground and rotted, as did the fruit on the trees around our neighborhood. Little of the wisdom my ancestors must have possessed about hunting or growing, storing, and gathering food was passed to me. However, I’m committed to eating more local and seasonal foods because it feels like the most nutritious, sustainable, and nourishing way to eat.

These days, my family and I garden, gather food, belong to a Community Supported Agriculture program, and regularly visit farms and orchards. We don’t stick to a 100-mile diet or eschew all imported foods. We enjoy coffee and imported oranges and bananas as much as the next family. But we do our best to heed some traditional wisdom and stay connected to our natural environment as we live our busy lives in the modern world.

Even a little local and seasonal eating may make a difference to your health, community, and local ecosystems. And it’s an amazing way to connect with the natural world and glimpse the beauty and wisdom pervasive there.

If you liked this post, you may enjoy these related posts:

Save

Editor’s note: This is an updated version of a blog originally posted October 3. 2017.

Seasonal living

Before Footer

Ready to ramp up your content and see results? Drop me an email, and we'll find a time to chat.

Footer