Apple history and trivia

The saying most people recall or associate with when talking about apples may be, “As American as baseball, hot dogs and apple pie.”
I do enjoy eating apple pie, however, I rarely eat an apple. I think because I got burnt out eating apples every day when I was pregnant for my second child. My gynecologist recommended during my pregnancy to eat more fruit. I chose apples. I ate so many apples, that today, I look at an apple differently, ha! But I will eat apple pie, ha.
The following, courtesy of Newspaper Metro, gives an interesting apple history and apple trivia.
Though apples are enjoyed across the globe, many people associate apples with the United States of America. That’s in spite of the fact that the first apples were cultivated on the opposite side of the world from North America in Asia.
There are more than 7,500 known cultivars of apples that produce various characteristics for flavor and appearance.
Malus deomestica, or the common apple tree, is a descendent of apple trees that originated in Central Asia in what is now southern Kazakhstan.
Apples have been grown for thousands of years in Asia and Europe. The original apple tree was the wild apple, or Malus sieversii. DNA analysis has confirmed that the wild apple is the progenitor of the cultivated apple enjoyed today.
European colonists likely brought apple seeds and trees with them when they emigrated to North America, introducing that part of the world to the apple tree.
Records from the Massachusetts Bay Company indicate that apples were being grown in New England as early as 1630. Americans also enjoy the popular story of Johnny Appleseed, who was believed to have distributed apple seeds and trees to settlers across the United States.
While apples can be produced from seeds, nowadays many apples are propagated by grafting so that they retain the parent tree’s characteristics of flavor, hardiness and insect resistance.
Apples have become the main symbols of many different stories and tales throughout history. Apples are linked to the Biblical tale of Adam and Eve and their ultimate expulsion from the Garden of Eden. However, the apple is never named in any of the religious texts as the fruit Eve picked from the tree of knowledge.
Apples have appeared in fairy tales and folklore. The Brothers Grimm had the character “Snow White” fall ill after eating a poisoned apple. In Norse mythology, the goddess Iounn was the appointed keeper of golden apples that kept the Aesir young forever.
Apples have also played a role in science, most notably Sir Isaac Newton’s study of gravity. While myth surrounds the story of Newton and an apple falling from a nearby tree, it’s likely that witnessing an apple fall from a tree did spark something in the famed scientist.
Most popular apple varieties
Many varieties of apple stand out as perennial favorites. In the United States, the Red Delicious is the country’s most popular grown apple. It was called the hawkeye when discovered in 1872. The Golden Delicious is the second most popular grown apple in America. The Delicious apples tend to have mild, but grainy flesh that can fall apart when cooked, so they’re best used for snacking. Cortland, Empire, Fuji, Gala, McIntosh, and Macoun are some of the other most popular varieties.