Apples

Before there was the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad, there was the original apple: a rotund, crispy fruit, borne by the apple tree. There are over 7,500 cultivars of apples, most of which are harvested for eating while some are specifically cultivated for cooking and making into cider. The more modern, commercially popular cultivars tend to have a uniform shape and sweeter taste than older varieties. Apples depend on cross-pollination and growers must use pollinators, like honeybees, to develop the fruit. A mature apple tree can yield between 88-440 pounds of apples a year. Throughout September and October, some local farms are also open for you-pick apple fun.