Pome fruits

Apple

History

The center of diversity of the genus Malus is the eastern Turkey. The apple tree was perhaps the earliest tree to be cultivated,⁶ and its fruits have been improved through selection over thousands of years. Alexander the Great is credited with finding dwarfed apples in Asia Minor in 300 BCE;¹ those he brought back to Macedonia might have been the progenitors of dwarfing root stocks. Winter apples, picked in late autumn and stored just above freezing, have been an important food in Asia and Europe for millennia, as well as in Argentina and in the United States since the arrival of Europeans.⁶ Apples were brought to North America with colonists in the 1600s,¹ and the first apple orchard on the North American continent was said to be near Boston in 1625. In the 1900s, irrigation projects in Washington state began and allowed the development of the multi-billion dollar fruit industry, of which the apple is the leading species.¹

Cultural aspects

Germanic paganism

In Norse mythology, the goddess Iðunn is portrayed in the Prose Edda (written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson) as providing apples to the gods that give them eternal youthfulness. English scholar H. R. Ellis Davidson links apples to religious practices in Germanic paganism, from which Norse paganism developed. She points out that buckets of apples were found in the Oseberg ship burial site in Norway and that fruit and nuts (Iðunn having been described as being transformed into a nut in Skáldskaparmál) have been found in the early graves of the Germanic peoples in England and elsewhere on the continent of Europe which may have had a symbolic meaning, and that nuts are still a recognized symbol of fertility in Southwest England.⁷

Davidson notes a connection between apples and the Vanir, a tribe of gods associated with fertility in Norse mythology, citing an instance of eleven “golden apples” being given to woo the beautiful Gerðr by Skírnir, who was acting as messenger for the major Vanir god Freyr in stanzas 19 and 20 of Skírnismál. Davidson also notes a further connection between fertility and apples in Norse mythology in chapter 2 of the Völsunga saga when the major goddess Frigg sends King Rerir an apple after he prays to Odin for a child, Frigg’s messenger (in the guise of a crow) drops the apple in his lap as he sits atop a mound.⁸ Rerir’s wife’s consumption of the apple results in a six-year pregnancy and the caesarean section birth of their son – the hero Völsung.⁹

Further, Davidson points out the “strange” phrase “Apples of Hel” used in an 11th-century poem by the skald Thorbiorn Brúnarson, she states this may imply that the apple was thought of by the skald as the food of the dead. Further, Davidson notes that the potentially Germanic goddess Nehalennia is sometimes depicted with apples and that parallels exist in early Irish stories. Davidson asserts that while cultivation of the apple in Northern Europe extends back to at least the time of the Roman Empire and came to Europe from the Near East, the native varieties of apple trees growing in Northern Europe are small and bitter. Davidson concludes that in the figure of Iðunn “we must have a dim reflection of an old symbol: that of the guardian goddess of the life-giving fruit of the other world.”⁷

Greek mythology

Apples appear in many religious traditions, often as a mystical or forbidden fruit. One of the problems identifying apples in religion, mythology and folktales is that the word “apple” was used as a generic term for all (foreign) fruit, other than berries but including nuts, as late as the 17th century.¹⁰ For instance, in Greek mythology, the Greek hero Heracles, as a part of his Twelve Labours, was required to travel to the Garden of the Hesperides and pick the golden apples off the Tree of Life growing at its center.¹¹¹²¹³

The Greek goddess of discord, Eris, became disgruntled after she was excluded from the wedding of Peleus and Thetis.¹⁴ In retaliation, she tossed a golden apple inscribed ???? (Kalliste, sometimes transliterated Kallisti, ‘For the most beautiful one’), into the wedding party. Three goddesses claimed the apple: Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. Paris of Troy was appointed to select the recipient. After being bribed by both Hera and Athena, Aphrodite tempted him with the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen of Sparta. He awarded the apple to Aphrodite, thus indirectly causing the Trojan War.

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Human consumption

Apples can be canned, juiced, and optionally fermented to produce apple juice, cider, ciderkin, vinegar, and pectin. Distilled apple cider produces the spirits applejack and Calvados. Apple wine can also be made.³⁵

Apples are an important ingredient in many desserts, such as apple pie, apple crumble, apple crisp and apple cake. They are often eaten baked or stewed, and they can also be dried and eaten or re-constituted (soaked in water, alcohol or some other liquid) for later use. Puréed apples are generally known as apple sauce. Apples are also made into apple butter and apple jelly. They are also used (cooked) in meat dishes.

In the UK, a toffee apple is a traditional confection made by coating an apple in hot toffee and allowing it to cool. Similar treats in the US are candy apples (coated in a hard shell of crystallised sugar syrup), and caramel apples, coated with cooled caramel.

Apples are eaten with honey at the Jewish New Year of Rosh Hashanah to symbolize a sweet new year.³⁵

Farms with apple orchards may open them to the public, so consumers may themselves pick the apples they will buy.³⁵

Sliced apples turn brown with exposure to air due to the conversion of natural phenolic substances into melanin upon exposure to oxygen.³⁶ Different cultivars differ in their propensity to brown after slicing. Sliced fruit can be treated with acidulated water to prevent this effect.³⁶

Organic apples are commonly produced in the United States.³⁷ Organic production is difficult in Europe, though a few orchards have done so with commercial success,³⁷ using disease-resistant cultivars and the very best cultural controls. The latest tool in the organic repertoire is a spray of a light coating of kaolin clay, which forms a physical barrier to some pests, and also helps prevent apple sun scald.²¹³⁷

Fallen apples

Eating fallen apples (known in the UK as ‘windfalls’), rather than picking directly from the tree, is generally safe. There may be a risk of food poisoning if the orchard is also the area of keeping cattle or other animals, which may contaminate the apples with feces. Still, the risk may be significantly higher if the apples are used to make home-made (unpasteurized) cider or juice, thus letting E. coli multiply.³⁸

On the other hand, if the apples are eaten unprocessed, and kept free from risk of contamination with animal feces, then eating fallen apples are generally safe, even if there is some general decay or worms in them. Still, they may be submerged in water with salt added, which kills the worms.³⁹ Apparent molds may be largely removed by putting in water with some vinegar added,³⁹ but if they are of a large quantity then there might be mold or mold products left to evoke mold health issues such as allergic reactions and respiratory problems.

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Apple production

Apple breeding

Like most perennial fruits, apples ordinarily propagate asexually by grafting. Seedling apples are an example of “Extreme heterozygotes”, in that rather than inheriting DNA from their parents to create a new apple with those characteristics, they are instead different from their parents, sometimes radically.¹⁹ Most new apple cultivars originate as seedlings, which either arise by chance or are bred by deliberately crossing cultivars with promising characteristics.²⁰ The words ‘seedling’, ‘pippin’, and ‘kernel’ in the name of an apple cultivar suggest that it originated as a seedling. Apples can also form bud sports (mutations on a single branch). Some bud sports turn out to be improved strains of the parent cultivar. Some differ sufficiently from the parent tree to be considered new cultivars.²¹

Breeders can produce more rigid apples through crossing.²² For example, the Excelsior Experiment Station of the University of Minnesota has, since the 1930s, introduced a steady progression of important hardy apples that are widely grown, both commercially and by backyard orchardists, throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin. Its most important introductions have included ‘Haralson’ (which is the most widely cultivated apple in Minnesota), ‘Wealthy’, ‘Honeygold’, and ‘Honeycrisp’.

Apples have been acclimatized in Ecuador at very high altitudes, where they provide crops twice per year because of constant temperate conditions in a whole year.²³

Pollination

Apples are self-incompatible; they must cross-pollinate to develop fruit. During the flowering each season, apple growers usually provide pollinators to carry the pollen. Honeybee hives are most commonly used. Orchard mason bees are also used as supplemental pollinators in commercial orchards. Bumble bee queens are sometimes present in orchards, but not usually in enough quantity to be significant pollinators.²¹

There are four to seven pollination groups in apples depending on climate:

Group A – Early flowering, May 1 to 3 in England (Gravenstein, Red Astrachan)

Group B – May 4 to 7 (Idared, McIntosh)

Group C – Mid-season flowering, May 8 to 11 (Granny Smith, Cox’s Orange Pippin)

Group D – Mid/Late season flowering, May 12 to 15 (Golden Delicious, Calville blanc d’hiver)

Group E – Late flowering, May 16 to 18 (Braeburn, Reinette d’Orléans)

Group F – May 19 to 23 (Suntan)

Group H – May 24 to 28 (Court-Pendu Gris) (also called Court-Pendu plat)

One cultivar can be pollinated by a compatible cultivar from the same group or close (A with A, or A with B, but not A with C or D).²⁴

Varieties are sometimes classed as to the day of peak bloom in the average 30 day blossom period, with pollinizers selected from varieties within a 6 day overlap period.

Maturation and harvest

Cultivars vary in their yield and the ultimate size of the tree, even when grown on the same rootstock. Some cultivars, if left unpruned, will grow very large, which allows them to bear much more fruit, but makes harvesting very difficult. Mature trees typically bear 40–200 kilograms (88–440 lb) of apples each year, though productivity can be close to zero in poor years. Apples are harvested using three-point ladders that are designed to fit amongst the branches. Dwarf trees will bear about 10–80 kilograms (22–180 lb) of fruit per year.²¹

Storage

Commercially, apples can be stored for some months in controlled-atmosphere chambers to delay ethylene-induced onset of ripening. Ripening begins when the fruit is removed.²⁵ For home storage, most varieties of apple can be stored for approximately two weeks, when kept at the coolest part of the refrigerator (i.e. below 5°C). Some types of apple, including the Granny Smith and Fuji, have an even longer shelf life.²⁶

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Apple cultivars

There are more than 7,500 known cultivars of apples. Different cultivars are available for temperate and subtropical climates. Reputedly the world’s biggest collection of apple cultivars is housed at the National Fruit Collection in England.² Most of these cultivars are bred for eating fresh (dessert apples), though some are cultivated specifically for cooking (cooking apples) or producing cider. Cider apples are typically too tart and astringent to eat fresh, but they give the beverage a rich flavour that dessert apples cannot.¹⁶

Commercially popular apple cultivars are soft but crisp. Other desired qualities in modern commercial apple breeding are a colourful skin, absence of russeting, ease of shipping, lengthy storage ability, high yields, disease resistance, typical “Red Delicious” apple shape, long stem (to allow pesticides to penetrate the top of the fruit)[citation needed], and popular flavour.² Modern apples are generally sweeter than older cultivars, as popular tastes in apples have varied over time. Most North Americans and Europeans favour sweet, subacid apples, but tart apples have a strong minority following.¹⁷ Extremely sweet apples with barely any acid flavour are popular in Asia¹⁷ and especially India.¹⁶

Old cultivars are often oddly shaped, russeted, and have a variety of textures and colours. Some find them to have a better flavour than modern cultivators,¹⁸ but may have other problems which make them commercially unviable, such as low yield, liability to disease, or poor tolerance for storage or transport. A few old cultivars are still produced on a large scale, but many have been kept alive by home gardeners and farmers that sell directly to local markets. Many unusual and locally important cultivars with their own unique taste and appearance exist; apple conservation campaigns have sprung up around the world to preserve such local cultivars from extinction. In the United Kingdom old cultivars such as Cox’s Orange Pippin and Egremont Russet are still commercially important even though by modern standards they are low yielding and disease prone.¹

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