FRUITS AND VEGETABLE FACTS

March was a great month for gardeners and farmers; the week of March 14, was National Agriculture week, March 24, was National Agriculture Teacher Day and March 20, was the first day of spring. But my garden soil is too wet to start my gardening, so I thought I would share some interesting Agriculture facts before my growing season begins. The following are some fun facts about the fruits and vegetables we eat:

· Most of us snack on popcorn, but did you know the average American eats about 68 quarts a year.

· What is the nutritional value of popcorn? Like other cereal grains, it’s primary function is to provide the body with heat and energy

· Pasta is one of America’s favorite foods, last year 1.3 million pounds of pasta were sold in American grocery stores.

· America’s first large pasta factory was built in Brooklyn, New York in 1848 by a Frenchman who would spread out his spaghetti strands on the roof to dry in the sunshine.

· Pizza! Did you know that each man, woman, and child in America eats an average of 46 slices (23 pounds) of pizza a year.

· There are approximately 61,269 pizzerias in the United States and about 3 billion pizzas are sold in the U.S. each year.

· We should all eat colored fruits and vegetables, did you know the plant pigment that gives fruits and vegetables that yellow/orange color contain Beta-carotene. The vivid orange color in Carrots is Beta-Carotene.

· Our bodies convert Beta-Carotene into Vitamin A which is important for good eyesight, and helps your body fight infection, and keeps your skin and hair healthy.

· Did you know that in the United States, lettuce is the second most popular fresh vegetable and Americans eat about 30 pounds of lettuce every year?

· The darker green varieties of lettuce are more nutritional then the light green varieties.

· Almost all lettuce is packed right in the field.

· Another green vegetable that we are eating more of is Broccoli. In 1970, consumption of broccoli was only a half a pound per person. Today, the average person eats four and one half pounds a year.

· Asparagus is a member of the Lily family and related to onions, leeks and garlic.

· California grows about70% of all the asparagus grown in the United States.

· Apples are members of the rose family and Washington State grows the most apples in the United States.

· Fresh apples float because 25% of their volume is air.

· There are more than 7,000 varieties of apples grown in the world.

· Blueberries are the second most popular berry in the United States. And are a good source of Vitamin C and fiber.

· Peaches are another source of Vitamin C, and are the third most popular fruit grown in America.

· The United States provides about one-fourth (25%) of the world’s total supply of fresh peaches.

· Michigan and New Jersey produce 66% of all the blueberries in the United States, followed by North Carolina, Oregon and Washington. We harvest over 200 million pounds of Blueberries every year in North America.

· One of my favorite fruits is the tart cherry; I go to a local farmers market and pick a big basket every June. There are about 7,000 cherries on an average tart cherry tree (depending on age of tree and spring weather conditions.) We all love Cherry pie, did you know it only takes 250 cherries to make a cherry pie.

I hope you enjoyed reading about some of our most popular fruits and vegetable we eat weekly. And with April here and warmer weather soon approaching you will be going to your gardens to harvest fresh vegetables. Or traveling to your local farmers markets to buy locally grown and Delaware produce.