"Excellent flavor and large fruit size are characteristic of this year's 'vintage' Ohio apple crop," announced John Wargowsky, promotions coordinator for the Ohio Apple Marketing Program. "The apple color knocks your socks off," said Dano Simmons of Peace Valley Orchards in Columbiana County. "Harvest continues to run ahead of schedule according to reports from apple growers throughout the state," Wargowsky added.October marks National Apple Month, which dates back to Halloween, October 31, 1905, when Captain James Handly of Quincy, Illinois started distributing gift apples to school children and extolling the fruit's virtues. The health benefits of apples and apple products were first recorded as early as medieval times, leading to the relatively recent saying, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." Apples' healthy attributes received considerable renewed interest recently, following the publication of several studies linking nutrients found in apples and apple products to an impressive range of health benefits such as the following: