Tis the season for apples!  One of our favorite fruits at The Original Pancake House Denver, apples are harvested every year from

Apple Pancakelate August through early October.  We love apples so much we feature them in several of our breakfast dishes – the Apple Belgian Waffle, our Potato Pancakes with sour cream and cinnamon apple sauce, and of course the incredible Apple Pancake!  To celebrate the apple harvest, we wanted to share a few fun facts about this quintessential American fruit.

  1. More than 2,500 varieties of apples are grown in the United States, but worldwide there are more than 7,500 varieties of apples.  The crabapple is the only variety native to the U.S.
  2. Apples contain no fat, sodium or cholesterol and are a good source of fiber.  The study of apples is known as pomology.
  3. The pilgrims planted the first apple orchards at the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In colonial times, apples were called “winter banana” or “melt-in-the-mouth.” Today apples are grown in all 50 states.
  4. The top apple producers around the world are China, United States, Turkey, Poland and Italy. Apples account for 50%of international deciduous fruit tree production. Worldwide, more than 44 million metric tons of apples are harvested each year.
  5. Apple trees take four to five years to produce their first fruit.  Each fruit requires energy from 50 leaves to grow and ripen.
  6. Apples ripen six to ten times faster at room temperature than if they are refrigerated.
  7. Apple varieties range in size from a little larger than a cherry to as large as a grapefruit. The largest apple ever picked weighed 3 pounds.  Apples come in all shades of yellow, green and red.
  8. Apples harvested from an average tree can fill 20 boxes that weigh 42 pounds each.  A peck of apples weighs 10.5 pounds. A bushel of apples weighs about 42 pounds.
  9. Apples are a member of the rose family.
  10. It takes about 36 apples to create one gallon of apple cider and about 2 pounds of apples to fill one apple pie.

And, because we all know “an apple a day keeps the doctor away,” here is a great breakfast recipe featuring the mighty apple!

 

Morning Glory Muffins2011-04-18-apple-muffins-586x322

Hearty, healthy breakfast muffins

Ingredients:

  • 1¼ cups granulated sugar
  • ½ cup vegetable oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1½ cups carrots, grated
  • ½ cup raisins
  • ½ cup flaked coconut
  • ½ cup raw apple, peeled and diced
  • ½ cup pecans, chopped

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Combine sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla in a large mixing bowl.
  3. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in another bowl.
  4. Add the flour mixture to liquid ingredients, and stir until moistened. Gently fold in remaining ingredients. Pour into well-greased muffin tins, about two-thirds full.
  5. Bake 20-25 minutes, until light golden on the edges and tops.

And for days when you have plenty of time and want to treat yourself to the best breakfast in Denver, be sure to stop by either our Cherry Hills or Denver Tech Center restaurants and enjoy one of our famous Apple Pancakes!