Some interesting facts about apples

Where do apples come from? How long have people been baking them into pies and enjoying a slice with a morning cup of coffee or tea? These and other facts about apples make them fascinating fruits. Archaeologists have found evidence that humans have been consuming apples since at least as far back as 6500 BCE! Even if you would rather have an orange, you will be impressed by the history of this noble and very ancient fruit

 Apples were a favorite food for both the ancient Greeks and Romans. The apple tree originated in an area between the Caspian and Black Seas, and ?The Lady? or ?Api? apple is considered to be the oldest variety in existence. The pilgrims in the Massachusetts Bay Colony planted the first apple trees in The New World.

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In colonial times, even though they didn?t have mixers or blenders at their disposal, early settlers ate apples, which were known as a ?winter bananas? or ?melt-in-the mouths? and baked them into pies. The first apples to be exported from America in 1768 were the ?Newton Pippin? variety, and some were sent to Benjamin Franklin during his sojourn in London.

One of many interesting facts about apples concerns the popular belief that they are considered ?forbidden fruit.? There is no mention of this in the Bible; in fact the apple is referred to as ?fruit from the Tree of Knowledge.? Its association with forbidden fruit is exclusively due to painter, Hugo Van Der Goes, who first implicated the apple as the forbidden fruit in his 1470 painting, The Fall of Man.

 What are some other interesting facts about apples?

1- There are more than 7,500 varieties of apples grown in the world and about 2,500 varieties that are grown in the United States.

2- Apples belong to the rose family of plants and the blossoms are much like wild-rose blossoms. They come in all shades of reds, greens and yellows.

 3- The science of apple growing is called pomology.

4- It is believed that Peter Stuyvesant planted America?s oldest apple tree in his Manhattan orchard, and it was still bearing fruit when a derailed train struck it in 1866!

5- The very first American nursery was opened in 1730 in Flushing, New York.
6- One of the most interesting facts about apples is that China produces more apples than any other country.

7- The top five apple-producing states in the United States are: Washington, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and California. In all, 36 states produce apples commercially.

8- Half the United States apple crop is turned into apple products like applesauce and apple juice.

9- Two pounds of apples make one 9-inch pie.

10- The average person eats 65 apples per year.

11- Apples float because 25% of their volume is air.

12- Apple trees don’t bear their first fruit until they are four or five years old.

So the next time you bite into an apple, take a moment to think about its very formidable history.

Better yet, find a good recipe for apple pie, make it, eat it, enjoy it and then think about all that later.