U-pick apple orchards are ideal settings for a weekend of fun with the entire family. My young daughter looks forward to our annual trip each fall. She gets to ride a tractor, hand-pick her favorite fruit, scurry around in a corn maze, pet some farm animals, and stuff her face with caramel apples, apple muffins and apple pie.
Yes, it’s fall family fun at its finest, if you go in prepared, and I’m not talking about prepping to schlepp 20 pounds of apples and a whiny 30-pound kid back to the pay stations. I’m talking about crunching numbers before you crunch into the healthy fruit in order to avoid sticker shock.
If you are like most parents picking apples with young kids, you simply show up to the orchard, grab a burlap bag and get cracking before the older offspring start whining about performing manual labor and the younger ones start complaining about their tummies hurting from gorging on too much of the fresh-picked fruit. Bottom line: It is highly unlikely that you paid much attention to the signs hanging above the burlap bags.
You know; the ones that broke down how much you would be shelling out for all those red, edible orbs.
It’s always good to know before you go. So before you head out on your weekend trip to the apple farm, consider the following handy info:
1 peck of apples = 10 to 14 pounds
1 bushel of apples = 42 to 48 pounds
1 bushel of apples = 12 to 18 quarts of homemade applesauce, depending on how much sugar you use
3 pounds of apples = 1 quart of applesauce
1 bushel of apples = about 12 quarts of freshly squeezed apple juice
8 medium apples = about 2.25 pounds
8 medium apples = one, 9-inch apple pie
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