Apples

So the ingredient this week is...drum roll please...APPLE. Apples are an ancient fruit, although it is hard to pinpoint their exact origins. It is believed that apples originated in central Asia in the Tien Shan mountains near the border of Kazakhstan and China. In 8000 B.C. nomadic cultures started to use agriculture and settled along rivers and in fertile valleys in the Middle East. As trade started to flourish between these civilizations, so did the apples from the Tien Shan mountains. In 5000 B.C. a Chinese diplomat, yes apparently there were diplomats back then, started grafting apples, among other fruits. Apples spread widely across the Middle East with cultivation becoming more extensive.

It was the Romans however who really expanded the reach of the apple. As they expanded their empire they took on the cultivation skills learned by the Greeks and Persians and spread apple cultivation into continental Europe and the British Aisles. It was the colonists who brought the apple to America in the 1600's, with the first orchard said to have been in Boston in 1625. Perhaps the most famous of American apple icons is Johnny Appleseed. Johnny Appleseed was in fact a real person, John Chapman, who was a skilled cultivator who spread the apple tree across the US. Today, the largest producers of apples are the US and China with there being a total of 7,500 varieties worldwide.

Apples have been part of famous sayings including "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" and "apple of my eye". They have also been involved in famous historical events including Issac Newton's run-in with a falling apple and William Tell's target practice. Perhaps the most famous though is Adam and Eve and the garden of Eden. However, the bible never mentions apples, only fruit. There is so much more to this humble fruit and I will leave its place in cuisine until the cooking entries.