Apple(s)

Apple – Malus Domestica

With over 55 million tonnes grown worldwide with a value of over 10 billion dollars it is considered one of the most cultivated tree fruits in the world. The largest producer being China with 35% of the worlds total production and the United States being the second largest with around 7.5%, other large producers are Turkey, France, Italy, and Iran. The wild ancestor of the apple can be found growing in the mountains of Central and Southern Asia, in countries such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and China, and it goes under the Latin name of Malus sieversii.

Religion and apples

Apples has had a major part in several different religions and old mythologies, including Germanic paganism, where the apple was a symbol for youthfulness and fertility, in Greek mythology apples feature in a number of different stories, even having a major part in the events that preceded the Trojan War. Although the forbidden fruit in the Book of Genesis is never identified as an apple, many Christians today associate the apple as the forbidden fruit. There are over 7500 known cultivars of apples today, and while most of these are bred for eating fresh, these known as dessert apples, some are bred specifically for cooking, known as cooking apples, or for producing cider, called cider apples.

Winter apples

The apple tree is believed to be the earliest tree to be cultivated, and the fruit has been improved through selection over thousands of years. The winter apples who were picked in late autumn and stored just above freezing temperatures has been important in Europe and Asia for several millenia, as well in the colder parts of North and South America since the arrival of Europeans.

 

There are a large number of diseases and pests that can affect the plant, with three of the more common being Mildew, characterized by light grey powdery patches on the leaves, Aphids, a small type of insect feeding from the tree that can reduce its growth and vigor, and Apple scab, which is characterized by olive-green or brown blotches on the leaves.