Who doesn't love an apple? Or a fresh baked apple pie? OK, I assume there are a few people that do not like apples, but since I like them I pretty much assume that most people do as well.
Growing up on a small farm, it wasn't uncommon to just grab one off of the tree while going by on the lawn mower, and eating it as we made the rounds in the unending battle to keep the lawn in check. We had a few types if I remember right as well as a pear tree. The mixture of types as well as throwing in some pears made some of the best cider I have ever had. (Mom, chime in if you know what we had for apples in the comments section please).
OK, so I mentioned apple pie, cider and just eating them by themselves. There are many, many other things that can be done with those apples. Apple crisp, apple sauce, apple cake, apple turnovers, carmel covered apples and apple jack just to name a few.
Apples hold a prominant place in history whether it be Greek, Roman, or Christianity. The only problem with this is, the word apple was used as a generic term covering most fruits as well as some nuts as late as the 17th century. This means that Adam and Eve's apple may well have been a fig or some other fruit and possibly even a nut. This however has no bearing in the story so there is really no need to examine that further.
God: Adam, don't eat that apple.
Adam: But it is a fig.
God: I don't care what it's called for crying out loud, just don't eat it!
See my point? The story is pretty much the same. One last thing about that, is that the Adam's apple is believed to be a term derived from a piece of the forbidden fruit being stuck in Adam's throat.
Data from 2005 puts China at the top of world apple production with 25,000,000 metric tons. The United States, while being the second in production falls far short of that lofty number with less than 5,000,000 metric tons. Third is Turkey with about 2,500,000 metric tons produced for that year. That is a lot of apples no matter where they come from.
If you would like to read more on the history, use and science of apples, here is the link to the Wikipedia apple page.
I was going to give some information on Johnny (Appleseed) Chapman, but found this information such a good read I will just link to it. He was a very interesting character to say the least. There is only one thing that I have a hard time believing about him. That tin pot on his head. I mean, come on. How uncomfortable would that be?
Adios! And remember, an apple a day keeps the doctor away.
EDIT: I can't believe that I forgot to mention dried apples. My mom made lots of these growing up and they were SOOOOOO good.
