To students served by Fresh Picks Café in Plymouth, New Hampshire, “an apple a day” is much more than an old saying from their parents’ childhood years. It’s a daily treat at school in October, when apple season is at its peak.
“We try to buy locally as much as we can,” says Bruce McKenzie, Fresh Picks Café food service director for the Plymouth public school district. “Apples are readily available from local sources, and the kids really like them.”
Cardigan Mountain Orchard in nearby Alexandria delivers homegrown apples by the crate to Fresh Picks Café at Plymouth Elementary and Plymouth Regional High. Bruce features them daily on the menu in healthy, sweet-tasting dishes that kids enjoy—like apple crisp; or apple slices sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, served warm or chilled.
Bruce says that an especially popular student favorite is homemade cranberry applesauce. Fresh Picks Café also uses apples as an ingredient in stuffing, served as a hearty side dish with roast turkey.
But what about the adage, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away?” Is there a nugget of truth in it? A lot of research shows that the answer is “yes.” Apples have been studied extensively and are found to be jam-packed with vitamins and nutrients that are good for healing and health.