It’s apple season in the North Georgia Mountains! From late August to December you can drive into the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains and get better tasting, sweeter smelling, less expensive apples than you can buy in your local grocery store. And, you get the added bonus of spectacular scenery as the autumn leaves are at their peak color.
There is nothing quite like a tree-ripened mountain apple. The cool nights make the apples sweet, juicy and crisp. While grocery store apples are kept in cold storage, sometimes up to a year, North Georgia apples are fresh off the tree with green leaves still clinging to their stems. Many apple orchards let you pick apples right off their trees. Crunch into one and taste the difference.
In the mountains you get more varieties from which to choose—up to 40 different choices. Roadside stands and apple houses like Mercier’s in Blue Ridge and Panorama in Ellijay offer you free samples. You may discover a new favorite. You are also going to find freshly made fried apple pies, homemade apple butter and old-fashioned cider.
Apples are filled with nutritional benefits. One medium apple packs 4 grams of fiber and contains only 80 calories. It provides 14% of the daily value of the immune boosting benefits of Vitamin C, and it counts as 1 cup of fruit. The daily fruit quota for adults on a 2,000 calorie diet is 2 cups of fruit. What more can you ask from a delightfully sweet and filling snack?