Hot applehol

Fall is here and apple season is in full swing. TWSF was inspired by the recent apples displays at local farmers markets and decided to take a closer look into the fruit that is American as apple pie. Did you know that the crab apple is the only apple native to North America, the pilgrims planted the first United States apple trees in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, today there are 2,500 varities of apples grown in the US, but only 100 varieties are grown commercially, this years US harvest is projected to be 241 million bushels (about 113 apples per American), 2% of the US apple crop is produced in Virginia, about 20% of the US apple crop is processed into apple juice and apple cider, it takes the energy of 50 leaves to produce one apple, an average tree can produce 800 pounds of apples annually (about 2000 apples), it takes about 36 apples to create one gallon of apple cider, it only takes 2 ounces of rum to spice up a glass of apple cider, it only takes a couple glasses of spiked cider to liven up your Autumn party......

Spiked Hot Apple Cider
Ingredients: 
Apple cider (4 parts)
Captain Morgans Spiced Rum (1 part)

Cinnamon stick, for garnish (optional)
Apple slice, for garnish (optional)

Directions:
1. Heat apple cider in a sauce pan over low heat until warm.

2. Add Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum to the heated apple cider.

3. Serve in a cocktail glass, swirl with a cinnamon stick and/or garnish with cinnamon and a slice of apple.