It's no coincidence that apples are the symbol of good health. In the Middle Ages, the English said "To eat an apple before going to bed will make the doctor beg his bread." We now know that there's a sound basis for the familiar "apple a day" rhyme. Take a look at the nutritional benefits of a medium size Apple Country® apple.

Nutritional Facts: Apples are absolutely fat-free. One apple provides as much dietary fiber as a bowl of bran cereal. Apples are loaded with pectin, a soluble fiber that aids digestion and may help reduce cancer and heart disease. The complex carbohydrates in apples give your body a longer, more even energy boost compared to high-sugar snacks. Snacking on apples can keep you going throughout the day. Apples provide boron, an essential trace element that helps harden bones and help prevent osteoporosis.

Learn:
Apple education and see the Kid's Section on apples.
Where to pick you own apples.
Major health benefits of eating apples.
Variety, flavor and best use of each type of apple.
Apple recipes.

Press Blue Button to find a local Farmers Market. Select a county and view the markets in Westchester, Rockland, Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn or Queens.

The richness, variety, and flavor of our communities, food systems, and diets is in jeopardy. The exclusive focus on economic efficiency has brought us low prices and convenience through large supermarkets chains, agribusiness and factory farms, while taking away many other aspects of our food lives, like our personal relation with our food and with the people who produce it. More and more people are realizing this and actively working to turn the tide and to preserve a food industry based on family-owned, small scale businesses. They are our best guarantee against a world of styrofoam-like long-shelf-life tomatoes and diets dictated from corporate boardrooms.

The Buy Local movement is quickly taking us beyond the promise of environmental responsibility that the organic movement delivered, and awakening the US to the importance of community, variety, humane treatment of farm animals, and social and environmental responsibility in regards to our food economy.

Press Blue Button to find locally grown farm products. Also, look for restaurants that buy from local farms. Just enter your zip-code on the Local Harvest website and find farms and restaurants nearby.

The Pride of New York Program was developed to promote and support the sale of agricultural products grown and food products processed within New York State. The Program’s growing membership now includes farmers and processors, retailers, distributors, restaurants and related culinary and support associations, all working together to bring you wholesome, quality New York State products.

Be part of the Pride. Look for products displaying the Pride of New York logo when you shop and support your neighbors, the generations of family farms and food processors who have made New York State one of America’s leading suppliers of food and agricultural products. Press Blue Button to find your local Farmers' Markets, Products produced in New York, Harvest Dates, Events, Recipes, and more.

The Pride of New York Program was developed to promote and support the sale of agricultural products grown and food products processed within New York State. The Program’s growing membership now includes farmers and processors, retailers, distributors, restaurants and related culinary and support associations ­ all working together to bring you wholesome, quality New York State products.

Be part of the Pride. Look for products displaying the Pride of New York logo when you shop and support your neighbors – the generations of family farms and food processors who have made New York State one of America’s leading suppliers of food and agricultural products.

Following is just a small sample of the wealth of information that can be found on the "Pride of New York State" website. Find Local Farmers' Markets, NY Product information, NY Product standards and guidelines for "healty and safe products", Products grown and produced in New York State, and much more.

Read about New York’s commodities including: Honey, Maple Syrup, Poultry and Poultry Products, Shell Eggs, Wine, Bottled Water, Christmas Trees, and Fresh Produce.

Vegetables Asparagus, Fresh Beans, Beets, Broccoli, Brussels Spouts, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, Celery, Corn, Sweet, Cucumbers, Greenhouse Eggplant, Endive, Escarole or Chicory, Garlic, Greens, Horseradish Roots, Kale, Lettuce, Greenhouse Leaf Lettuce, Mushrooms, Onions, Parsley, Parsnips, Peas, Fresh, Peppers, Sweet, Potatoes, Radishes, Rhubarb (Field Grown), Spinach, Bunched Spinach Leaves & Plants, Squash, Tomatoes & Tomato Plants, Turnips or Rutabagas and more.

Fruits Apples, Apricots, Blackberries, Blueberries, Cantaloupes, Cherries, Sweet Cranberries, Grapes, Melons, Peaches, Pears, Plums and Prunes, Raspberries, Strawberries, Watermelons and more.

Nutrient Dense Farming The Next Frontier
Every time we harvest crops from a field, we are strategically mining minerals from the soils. If we do not replenish the minerals removed up to the level where everything that we need in our bodies is present in our crops, we are not fully optimizing our crop production. That's where Nutrient Dense Farming becomes a profound yet simple solution, presenting easy to incorporate practices to enrich our soils, our food and our selves.

Nutrient Dense Farming (NDF) aims to create a highly functioning soil ecosystem in which the crops that are harvested have a measurably greater quantity of a broad spectrum of minerals, vitamins, phyto-nutrients, and antioxidants than either conventional or many certified organic crops. These nutrient components also need to be in appropriate ratios to each other in order to maximize absorption and use by the body. This series draws from cutting edge research and long proven techniques that build the ideal soil environment for crop growth and production. Highly functional and robust soils translate into peak nutritive levels, peak yields, and peak pest, disease and extreme weather resistance. Press Blue Button to learn more about The Regional Farm & Food Project .