9/19/2020

Feature: Start Of The Apple Weeks

Germany has many beautiful regions with places that range from unique mountains to fantastic looking towns and beautifully arranged flower fields. One of those great landscapes is set in the South of Germany and is called Lake Constance. On the German side of the lake, today began the so-called apple weeks. 

There, around 1.200 fruit growers harvest over 250.000 tons of apples per year on almost 7.500 hectares of cultivation area. That means 1,6 billion apples are harvested on Lake Constance every year. Ideal growing conditions due to the mild climate ensure a variety of flavors from sweet to sour, and mildly spicy to tart. During the apple weeks, people can visit orchards, taste various apple products, restaurants offer culinary delights based on apples and the area itself offers great hiking trails and other activities. The entire event runs from today until October 11 and is not only a feast for the eye but also a feast for every person who is there to celebrate with the locals. 

But why would a book blogger like me write about this famous event? Well, it all started with a prospect from the supermarket I found a few days ago in the mail as an addition to my newspaper. Yes, you read that right. My local supermarket wrote in it that today is the “day of the apple”. Not telling his customers that it is only a marketing gag for the supermarket itself but not the actual day of the apple. It took me only half a minute of research to find that out. Good, somebody screwed with the facts but anyway - the idea for this post was born and I couldn´t stop thinking about a certain book with – you guessed it right – an apple on the cover. 

A green apple held by two almost white hands with a black background. Na, does that ring a bell, perhaps? Dramatic, and the beginning of an incredible success story. Yep, you guessed it right again. I am talking about Stephenie Meyer´s famous Twilight book. The first volume that later became a movie because teenagers around the world were buying and reading it like crazy and turned not only that book but all of them into a major success. The first and only book that crosses my mind when thinking of an apple as part of a cover motive.

The other thing is September 19th is a special day for me. It is my birthday. And after reading that prospect, I thought what a wonderful coincidence. Okay, so today is obviously not the day of the apple, but for sure the START of the apple weeks at Lake Constance. And with my head showing me constantly the cover of Twilight, I had my connection and voila! Here we go. Over the next few weeks, I will post my reviews about the twilight books. I read them some years ago and later watched the movies on DVD. Yes, I admit it, I am a Twilight fan. I loved the books and the movies and watch them today with the same excitement as I watched them back then.

And what better way to beat the drums for the apple weeks than the comparison to the first Twilight novel? I mean a red apple. Every nutritionist tells you that red fruits or veggies are full of minerals, micronutrients, and fiber and that that is great for your body, health, and soul. So, you are not only on the good side physically spoken when eating those you are also doing something good for your mental health. Don´t worry, I am not going much deeper into that field. That is something for another time - probably.

Here some great facts about the magical fruit called apple:

Up to 70 percent of the vitamins in apples are under the skin. Please never peel!

They contain valuable minerals, micronutrients, and fiber such as pectin. Pectin is known for lowering the cholesterol level and it flushes pollutants out of the body. Catechins can protect against bronchial and lung diseases. Flavonoids and carotenoids protect cells in the body from free radicals and it is said that they can even lower the risk of cancer. The fruit acid of the apple destroys bacteria in the mouth and prevents the formation of dental calculus. 

Yes, they say that one apple a day keeps the doctor away. But we all know that fruit can´t cure everything. Sometimes we just need to see a doctor and go from there.

My birthday itself is not all about apples, and no I will not have an apple cake or cider or anything else made of apples. No, not going to happen. But I will read a book. Good, no apple on the cover either, but hey we can´t have everything! *smile*

And in case you are curious what I unpacked today. This is one of the birthday gifts I had in the mail the past days.

Happy reading  

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