Where were apples first domesticated?
Apples were first domesticated from the crabapple Malus sieversii Roem somewhere in the Tien Shan mountains of Central Asia (most likely Kazakhstan) between 4,000–10,000 years ago. M. sieversii grows at intermediate elevations between 900–1,600 meters above sea level (3,000–5,200 feet) and is variable in growth habit, height, fruit ...
What did apples originally look like?
Those early plants were very thin and either an off-white or purple color. They typically had a forked root, like today's wild carrots. The modern apple's ancestor looks relatively similar to what we find in supermarkets today. But the taste has certainly evolved over the years.
Where was the first apple tree found?
This tree was very first originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor ‘Malussieversii’ is still found today. This fruit has been cultivated for thousands of years in Europe and Asia and was brought to North America by European. “ An apple a day keeps the doctor away ” is a famous proverb because of the nutritional power of apples.
Where are the apples came from?
Apples are grown in a huge number of countries around the world, but the leading apple producers are China, the United States, Turkey, Poland and Italy. It is thought that the apple tree originated somewhere in central Asia between two and 10 million years ago. Over the course of human history, apple seeds were transported to various locations ...
When did apples originate?
Long ago, probably some time between the end of the Cretaceous and the early Tertiary period (about 65 to 50 million years ago), the ancestors of the apple migrated west across the land bridge connecting what is now North America with Asia.
When did humans first start eating apples?
Prehistoric wildings 8,000 BC - Human beings have been munching apples since prehistoric times. They spar out apple pips in neolithic Britain. And 10,000 years ago they left apple remains to carbonize around their Swiss and Italian lakeside homes.
Who brought apples America?
The first apple trees in North America grew from seeds brought by French Jesuits in the late sixteenth century.
Did apples originate in Africa?
DNA analysis indicates that apples originated in the mountains of Kazakhstan, where the wild Malus sieversii—the many-times great-grandparent of Malus domestica, the modern domesticated apple—still flourishes. There's a lot to be said for domestication.
Which fruit did Adam and Eve eat?
His great work dramatizes the oldest story in the Bible, whose principal characters we know only too well: God, Adam, Eve, Satan in the form of a talking snake — and an apple.
What's the oldest fruit in the world?
Figs – the world's oldest fruits Fig trees have been grown since ancient times, which is why figs are often referred to as the oldest fruits known to man.
What country first had apples?
The Origins of Apples They originated in Kazakhstan, in central Asia east of the Caspian Sea. The capital of Kazakhstan, Alma Ata, means “full of apples.” By 1500 BC apple seeds had been carried throughout Europe. The Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans cultivated apples.
Why do apples exist?
Apples originally evolved in the wild to entice ancient megafauna to disperse their seeds. More recently, humans began spreading the trees along the Silk Road with other familiar crops. Dispersing the apple trees led to their domestication.
What is America's fruit?
ApplesDid you know that the apple traveled to North America the same way the Pilgrims did in the 1600s? Though apple trees are abundant all across the country, they aren't native to these lands. Apples have a fascinating and complex history that lead them to become an American symbol.
What fruit is originally from Africa?
For probably as long as people have lived in Africa, they have eaten culturally and traditionally important indigenous fruits such as baobab, desert date, black plum, and tamarind.
Did humans invent apples?
According to his research, the evolution of apples happened long before humans began domesticating them. Paleontological evidence traces the first origins of the fruit up to 9 million years ago, during the late Miocene. For smaller fruits like cherries, birds were the main seed spreaders.
Did bananas come from Africa?
Bananas as we know them began to be developed in Africa about 650 AD. There was a cross breeding of two varieties of wild bananas, the Musa Acuminata and the Musa Baalbisiana. From this process, some bananas became seedless and more like the bananas we eat today.
Did early humans eat apples?
Ancient Eating Apples have been found as a part of the diet of early humans in anthropological research and recorded in the story of Adam & Eve. Greek and Roman mythology refer to apples as symbols of love and beauty. And when the Romans conquered England about the first century B.C.E., they brought apples with them.
What was the first fruit eaten by humans?
In the ruins of a prehistoric village near Jericho, in the West Bank, scientists have found remains of figs that they say appear to be the earliest known cultivated fruit crop — perhaps the first evidence anywhere of domesticated food production at the dawn of agriculture. The figs were grown some 11,400 years ago.
What fruit did early humans eat?
There's evidence that several of the fruits we enjoy eating today have been around for millennia in much the same form. For example, archaeologists have uncovered evidence of 780,000-year-old figs at a site in Northern Israel, as well as olives, plums, and pears from the paleolithic era.
Did apples exist before humans?
Fossil and genetic evidence demonstrate that these large fruits evolved several million years before humans started cultivating them.
Etymology
The word apple, formerly spelled æppel in Old English, is derived from the Proto-Germanic root * ap (a)laz, which could also mean fruit in general. This is ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European * ab (e)l-, but the precise original meaning and the relationship between both words is uncertain.
Description
The apple is a deciduous tree, generally standing 2 to 4.5 m (6 to 15 ft) tall in cultivation and up to 9 m (30 ft) in the wild. When cultivated, the size, shape and branch density are determined by rootstock selection and trimming method.
Significance in European cultures and societies
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. The English scholar H. R. Ellis Davidson links apples to religious practices in Germanic paganism, from which Norse paganism developed.
Cultivars
There are more than 7,500 known cultivars (cultivated varieties) of apples. Cultivars vary in their yield and the ultimate size of the tree, even when grown on the same rootstock. Different cultivars are available for temperate and subtropical climates.
Cultivation
Many apples grow readily from seeds. However, more than with most perennial fruits, apples must be propagated asexually to obtain the sweetness and other desirable characteristics of the parent.
Uses
All parts of the fruit, including the skin, except for the seeds, are suitable for human consumption. The core, from stem to bottom, containing the seeds, is usually not eaten and is discarded.
Prehistoric Wildings (8000 BCE)
Apple fruits have been with us since the dawn of recorded time in different colors, sizes, and shapes. Humans have been eating apples since prehistoric times. Ancient humans appear to have dry-stored apple-halves for winter in Switzerland and the regions adjoining the Caucasus Mountains.
Early Ancestors (2000 BCE)
The exact origin of apples is rather puzzling, but they are generally believedto come from the Caucasus Mountains in Asia Minor, where the 17 th century Garden of Eden is located. They were carried by merchants and travelers down to the prehistoric trade routes, crossing the Middle East by 2000 BC.
Norman Knowledge (1000 CE)
From the Romans, the French learned amazing Fruit-growing skills which were developed in the monasteries. This knowledge, which included Apple cider-making, was taken to the British during the Norman Conquest along with some new varieties of cider.
Medieval Favorites (1200)
During the thirteenth century, several kinds of apples became established in Britain. The Old English Pearmain in 1204, named due to its pear-like shape, was the main dessert apple until the eighteenth century. Its cooking partner was the Costard, which was sold in the market of Oxford until the end of the seventeenth century.
American Apples (1800)
Various varieties of apples emerged in the USA, and its apple industry was started by Henderson Luelling – an entrepreneur and an explorer who went west during the gold rush in a covered wagon full of soil and apple trees. His vehicle was so unmanageable that he was left behind by the rest of the wagon trains.
Granny Smith (1850)
Another most famous modern apple was discovered in Australia by Maria Anne Smith. She was known as ‘Granny Smith’ because she had delivered so many babies. But her husband’s health started to weaken due to which she took the responsibility of managing and maintaining the farm and orchard, which was the only main source of income.
Ancient Apple
Some scientists believe that Apple fruit was very first domesticated in the region of Kazakhstan named the Tian Shan. Domestic apples were grafted in the Near East by 2000 BC. Roman and Greek introduced the domesticated apple to Europe and North Africa during their trading.
No fruit pops up so frequently in Western art, literature, and everyday speech as the apple
An apple (cunningly labeled “to the fairest”) started the Trojan War. (Odysseus, later struggling to get home from it, yearns for the garden he had as a child, populated by apple trees.) The Norse gods owed their immortality to apples.
Johnny Appleseed, Spreading Booze Throughout America
But not by Johnny Appleseed. John Chapman of Leominster, Massachusetts —a.k.a. the apple-toting, tin-pot-hatted folk hero—condemned grafting as wicked, insisting that the only road to a good apple was seeds.
Apples: The Fruit of Knowledge
All of Wikipedia can’t fit into one handy apple. Each tiny bacterial carrier can only cope with a few thousand words—which means the whole of Wikipedia, some two and a half billion words long, may require an entire forest of apple trees. (One critic guesses 666,000 trees.) And eating such an apple, sadly, won’t make any of us more knowledgeable.
Teachers once received apples by the basketful
There are a number of theories about how apples came to be a gift for teachers, but the tradition may have originated for more practical reasons than you might think. Before modern schools existed, teachers often lived with the families they worked for and were paid very little.
The value of teachers and online tutors
Teachers come in many forms in our lives, from college professors to after-school tutors, and each of them is deserving of a heartfelt thanks. Another way we can demonstrate our appreciation for teachers is by investing in our education and making sure we get the most out of everything they have to teach.
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Overview
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (Malus domestica). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus Malus. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, Malus sieversii, is still found today. Apples have been grown for thousands of years in Asia and Europe and were brought to North America by European colonists. Apples have religious and mythological significance in many cultures, including Norse, Greek, and E…
Etymology
The word apple, formerly spelled æppel in Old English, is derived from the Proto-Germanic root *ap(a)laz, which could also mean fruit in general. This is ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *ab(e)l-, but the precise original meaning and the relationship between both words is uncertain.
As late as the 17th century, the word also functioned as a generic term for all fruit other than berr…
Description
The apple is a deciduous tree, generally standing 2 to 4.5 m (6 to 15 ft) tall in cultivation and up to 9 m (30 ft) in the wild. When cultivated, the size, shape and branch density are determined by rootstock selection and trimming method. The leaves are alternately arranged dark green-colored simple ovals with serrated margins and slightly downy undersides.
History
Malus sieversii is recognized as a major progenitor species to the cultivated apple, and is morphologically similar. Due to the genetic variability in Central Asia, this region is generally considered the center of origin for apples. The apple is thought to have been domesticated 4000–10000 years ago in the Tian Shan mountains, and then to have travelled along the Silk Road to Europe, with hybridization and introgression of wild crabapples from Siberia (M. baccata), the …
Significance in European cultures and societies
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. The 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 …
Cultivars
There are more than 7,500 known cultivars (cultivated varieties) of apples. Cultivars vary in their yield and the ultimate size of the tree, even when grown on the same rootstock. Different cultivars are available for temperate and subtropical climates. The UK's National Fruit Collection, which is the responsibility of the Department of Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, includes a collection of o…
Cultivation
Many apples grow readily from seeds. However, more than with most perennial fruits, apples must be propagated asexually to obtain the sweetness and other desirable characteristics of the parent. This is because seedling apples are an example of "extreme heterozygotes", in that rather than inheriting genes from their parents to create a new apple with parental characteristics, they are inste…
Uses
All parts of the fruit, including the skin, except for the seeds, are suitable for human consumption. The core, from stem to bottom, containing the seeds, is usually not eaten and is discarded.
Apples can be consumed in various ways: juice, raw in salads, baked in pies, cooked into sauces and spreads like apple butter, and other baked dishes.