Your Snack Today Is From

Your snack today is from

That’s only 15 miles from Ronan!

There are 7,500 kinds of apples in the world today. Wild apple trees first grew on the other side of the world in Asia. Each apple has at least five seeds inside of it. Each seed would grow a different kind of apple. Apples spread on an ancient trading route called the Silk Road. Lots of apples trees grew as people dropped seeds from apples traded on the Silk Road. The Romans were the first people to select kinds of apples they liked and grow orchards of those apples. The Colonists brought apples to America. Now they grow all around America and the world.

Apple farmers make new kinds of apples by attaching a piece of wood from one tree to the trunk of a different tree. This is called grafting. Researchers in Japan made the Fuji apple by putting together two American apples—Red Delicious and Virginia Ralls Janet. Fujis have 15-18% sugar—that makes them one of the sweetest kinds of apples! Fuji apples are also very nutritious. They have lots of fiber, vitamin C, and antioxidants which keep your body healthy!

Farmer Oliver grew these apples in his orchard in Polson and specially stored them so you could still get a local apple for a snack even in the middle of winter!

These apples were brought to you by the Western Montana Growers Cooperative, a group of 38 farmers. By eating this local food you:

· Support your community

· Get fresh food with lots of nutrition

· Help the environment because the food was grown sustainably and didn’t have to travel far