International Eat An Apple Day – September 16, 2023

History of International Eat An Apple Day

The apple originated in central Asia, in the Tien Shan mountain range of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. In human terms, we’d call this species of apple the great-great-great(repeat many times) grandparent of the present apple. This older wild apple featured prominently in the food and culture of the region it came from, and Kazakhstan’s Alma-Ata — now called Almaty, loosely meant ‘Father of Apples.’

Merchants using the Silk Road — a network of trade routes connecting China and the Far East to the Middle East and Europe — discovered these wild apples and were the reason this fruit spread to western Europe. From there, European colonists took the apple to America. As the story goes, the very first apple trees were planted in the Massachusetts Bay Colony by pilgrims. Over the years, these wild apples were cultivated and cross-pollinated to become the species we see in commercial farms today.

Apples feature prominently throughout history, appearing in poems by Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson, and in paintings by Caravaggio and Magritte. Apples have also appeared in folklore and stories. The Arabian Nights featured a magic apple that cures all human diseases, and perhaps the most famous book of all — the Bible, apparently alludes to the apple too. Although the testament only specifies fruit, the idea that this was the apple came around in the 12th century in western Europe. The thought might have stemmed from the fact that in Latin, ‘malus’ means both ‘apple’ and ‘evil.’ This thought gained steam, and by 1504, there was even a painting by Albrecht Durer, showing Adam and Eve with apples around them. Apples had unique significance in Greek and Norse mythology as well. The Norse goddess Iðunn awarded eternal youth via apples, and a golden apple caused the Trojan War in the Greek epic tale, Iliad.

By the 20th century, industrial agriculture-focused efforts on only a few varieties of apples in the U.S., like the Red Delicious, Granny Smith, and McIntosh. The push for new varieties and diversity came in the 21st century, with new consumers driving this demand.