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This article is about the fruit. For the consumer electronics company, see Apple, Inc. For other uses, see Apple (disambiguation).
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 Blossoms, fruits, and leaves of the apple tree (Malus domestica) | ||||||||||||||||
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| Malus domestica Borkh. |
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family Rosaceae. It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits. The tree is small and deciduous, reaching 5–12 m tall, with a broad, often densely twiggy crown. The leaves are alternately arranged simple ovals 5–12 cm long and 3–6 cm broad on a 2–5 cm petiole with an acute tip, serrated margin and a slightly downy underside. Flowers are produced in spring simultaneous with the budding of the leaves. The flowers are white with a pink tinge that gradually fades, five petaled, 2.5–3.5 cm in diameter. The fruit matures in autumn, and is typically 5–9 cm diameter. The centre of the fruit contains five carpels arranged in a five-point star, each carpel containing one to three seeds.
The tree originated from Asia, where its wild ancestor is still found today. There are more than 7,500 known cultivars of apples resulting in range of desired characteristics. It should be noted however, that cultivars vary in their yield and the ultimate size of the tree, even when grown on the same rootstock.
At least 55 million tonnes of apples were grown worldwide in 2005, with a value of about $10 billion. China produced about two-fifths of this total. United States is the second leading producer, with more than 7.5% of the world production. Turkey, France, Italy and Iran are among the leading apple exporters.
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Wild Malus sieversii apple in Kazakhstan
The wild ancestor of Malus domestica is Malus sieversii. It has no common name in English, but is known in Kazakhstan, where it is native, as alma; in fact, the region where it is thought to originate is called Almaty, or "reach of the apples". This tree is still found wild in the mountains of Central Asia in southern Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Xinjiang, China.Pierre-éric Lauri; Karen Maguylo, Catherine Trottier (December 21, 2005). Architecture and size relations: an essay on the apple (Malus x domestica, Rosaceae) tree (htm) (English). Retrieved on 22 January, 2008.
Apple cut horizontally, showing seeds
For many years, there was a debate about whether M. domestica evolved from chance hybridization among various wild species. Recent DNA analysis by Barrie Juniper, Emeritus Fellow in the Department of Plant Sciences at Oxford University and others, has indicated, however, that the hybridization theory is probably false. Instead, it appears that a single species still growing in the Ili Valley on the northern slopes of the Tien Shan mountains at the border of northwest China and the former Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan is the progenitor of the apples we eat today. Leaves taken from trees in this area were analyzed for DNA composition, which showed them all to belong to the species M. sieversii, with some genetic sequences common to M. domestica.William J. Bramlage. On the Origin of the Edible Apple (pdf) 1,2. Department of Plant & Soil Sciences, University of Massachusetts. Retrieved on 24 January, 2008. Other species that were previously thought to have made contributions to the genome of the domestic apples are Malus baccata and Malus sylvestris, but there is no hard evidence for this in older apple cultivars. These and other Malus species have been used in some recent breeding programmes to develop apples suitable for growing in climates unsuitable for M. domestica, mainly for increased cold tolerance.Sauer, J.D. 1993. Historical geography of crop plants - a select roster. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida.
The center of diversity of the genus Malus is the eastern Turkey, southwestern Russia region of Asia Minor. The apple tree was perhaps the earliest tree to be cultivated, 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 BC; those he brought back to Greece might have been the progenitors of dwarfing rootstocks. Apples were brought to North America with colonists in the 1600s, and the first apple orchard on this continent was said to be near Boston in 1625. 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.An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Retrieved on 27 January, 2008. 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.Origin, History of cultivation. Retrieved on 22, 2008. Retrieved on January, 2008.
Heracles with the apple of Hesperides
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 C. CE.; 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.Wasson, R. Gordon (1968). Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality. ISBN 0-15-683800-1. Ruck, Carl; Blaise Daniel Staples, Clark Heinrich (2001). The Apples of Apollo, Pagan and Christian Mysteries of the Eucharist. Durham: Carolina Academic Press, 64-70. ISBN 0-89089-924-X. Heinrich, Clark (2002). Magic Mushrooms in Religion and Alchemy. Rochester: Park Street Press, 64-70. ISBN 0-89281-997-9.
The Greek goddess of discord, Eris, became disgruntled after she was excluded from the wedding of Peleus and Thetis.Herodotus Histories 6.1.191. In retaliation, she tossed a golden apple inscribed 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.
Adam and Eve
Showcasing the apple as a symbol of sin.
Albrecht Dürer, 1507http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/durer/
Atalanta, also of Greek mythology, raced all her suitors in an attempt to avoid marriage. She outran all but Hippomenes (a.k.a. Melanion, a name possibly derived from melon the Greek word for both "apple" and fruit in general), who defeated her by cunning, not speed. Hippomenes knew that he could not win in a fair race, so he used three golden apples (gifts of Aphrodite, the goddess of love) to distract Atalanta. It took all three apples and all of his speed, but Hippomenes was finally successful, winning the race and Atalanta\'s hand.
Though the forbidden fruit in the Book of Genesis is not identified, popular Christian tradition has held that it was an apple that Eve coaxed Adam to share with her. This may have been the result of Renaissance painters adding elements of Greek mythology into biblical scenes. In this case the unnamed fruit of Eden became an apple under the influence of story of the golden apples in the Garden of Hesperides.Macrone, Michael. Brush Up Your Bible!. As a result, in the story of Adam and Eve the apple became a symbol for knowledge, immortality, temptation, the fall of man into sin, and sin itself. In Latin, the words for "apple" and for "evil" are similar in the singular (malum—apple, malus—evil) and identical in the plural (mala). This may also have influenced the apple becoming interpreted as the biblical "forbidden fruit". The larynx in the human throat has been called Adam\'s apple because of a notion that it was caused by the forbidden fruit sticking in the throat of Adam. The apple as symbol of sexual seduction has been used to imply sexuality between men, possibly in an ironic vein.
Different kinds of apple cultivars in a supermarket
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. 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.Sue Tarjan (fall 2006). Autumn Apple Musings (pdf) 1,2. News & Notes of the UCSC Farm & Garden, Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems. Retrieved on 24 January, 2008.
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), and popular flavour.Apple - Malus domestica. Natural England. Retrieved on 22 January, 2008. 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. Extremely sweet apples with barely any acid flavour are popular in AsiaWorld apple situation. Retrieved on 24 January, 2008. and especially India. As an example, the U.S. state of Washington made its reputation for apple growing on Red Delicious. In recent years, many apple connoisseurs have come to regard the Red Delicious as inferior to cultivars such as Fuji and Gala due to its merely mild flavour and insufficiently firm texture.
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,Sue Weaver. Crops & Gardening - Apples of Antiquity. Retrieved on 24 January, 2008. 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 Russett are still commercially important even though by modern standards they are low yielding and disease prone.
Like most perennial fruits, apples ordinarily propagate asexually by grafting. Seedling apples are different from their parents, sometimes radically. Most new apple cultivars originate as seedlings, which either arise by chance or are bred by deliberately crossing cultivars with promising characteristics. 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.Bob Polomski; Greg Reighard. Apple. Extension Consumer Horticulturist. Clemson University. Retrieved on 22 January, 2008.
Breeders can produce more rigid apples through crossing.Apples (htm) (English). Retrieved on 22 January, 2008. 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\'.
Apple tree in flower
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.
There are four to seven pollination groups in apples depending on climate:
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). H Ramirez, GV Hoad - Symposium on Growth Regulators in Fruit Production 120, 1981 - ISHS
Apple tree ready for 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 a great deal more fruit, but makes harvest very difficult. Mature trees typically bear 40–200 kg 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 kg of fruit per year.
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.Controlled Atmosphere Storage (CA) (htm) (English). Retrieved on 24 January, 2008. 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. Food Science Australia (February, 2005). Food Science Australia Fact Sheet: Refrigerated storage of perishable foods (English). Retrieved on 2007-05-25.
Leaves with significant insect damage.
The trees are susceptible to a number of fungal and bacterial diseases and insect pests. Many commercial orchards pursue an aggressive program of chemical sprays to maintain high fruit quality, tree health, and high yields.James Ph. Kotsybar (Friday, 18 March 2005). Rapid Evolution of Orchids? (htm) (English). Retrieved on 24 January, 2008. A trend in orchard management is the use of organic methods. These use a less aggressive and direct methods of conventional farming. Instead of spraying potent chemicals, often shown to be potentially dangerous and maleficent to the tree in the long run, organic methods include encouraging or discouraging certain cycles and pests.Apple Pests and Diseases (htm). Retrieved on 3 March, 2008. http://www.doityourself.com/stry/applepests To control a specific pest, organic growers might encourage the prosperity of its natural predator instead of outright killing it, and with it the natural biochemistry around the tree. Organic apples generally have the same or greater taste than conventionally grown apples, with reduced cosmetic appearances.
A wide range of pests and diseases can affect the plant; three of the more common diseases are mildew, aphids and Apple scab.
Lorraine P. Berkett, Univ. of Vermont – plant pathology Jon Clements, Univ. of Massachusetts – groundcover management, herbicides, vertebrates Natalia Clifton, Univ. of Massachusetts – pesticide safety John Halbrendt, Pennsylvania State University – nematology William G. Lord, Univ. of New Hampshire – groundcover management, herbicides Lorraine M. Los, Univ. of Connecticut – entomology, nematology James LaMondia, Conn. Ag. Experiment Station – nematology Robin Spitko, Univ. of Massachusetts – plant pathology. Apple Pest Management Guide (pdf). Retrieved on 3 March, 2008.
Among the most serious disease problems are fireblight, a bacterial disease; and Gymnosporangium rust, and black spot, two fungal diseases.
Young apple trees are also prone to mammal pests like mice and deer, which feed on the soft bark of the trees, especially in winter.
At least 55 million tonnes of apples were grown worldwide in 2005, with a value of about $10 billion.China produced about two-fifths of this total. United States is the second leading producer, with more than 7.5% of the world production. Turkey, France, Italy and Iran are among the leading apple exporters.Ferree, David Curtis; Ian J. Warrington. Apples: Botany, Production and Uses. CABI Publishing. ISBN 0851993575.
In the United States, more than 60% of all the apples sold commercially are grown in Washington state.Desmond, Andrew. The World Apple Market. Haworth Press, 144-149. ISBN 1560220414. Imported apples from New Zealand and other more temperate areas are competing with US production and increasing each year.Kristin Churchill. Chinese apple-juice concentrate exports to United States continue to rise (htm) (English). Assistant Editor. Retrieved on 22 January, 2008.
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. They make a popular lunchbox fruit as well.
Apples are an important ingredient in many winter desserts, for example 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.
Sliced apples turn brown with exposure to air due to the conversion of natural phenolic substances into melanin upon exposure to oxygen. Different cultivars differ in their propensity to brown after slicing. Sliced fruit can be treated with acidulated water to prevent this effect.
Organic apples are commonly produced in the United States.Ames, Guy (July 2001). Considerations in organic apple production (pdf). NCAT Agriculture Specialist. Retrieved on 24 January, 2008. Organic production is difficult in Europe, though a few orchards have done so with commercial success, 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.
| Apples, with skin (edible parts) Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz) |
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| Energy 50 kcal 220 kJ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults. Source: USDA Nutrient database |
An old proverb attests to the health benefits of the fruit: "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." Research suggests that apples may reduce the risk of colon cancer, prostate cancer and lung cancer.Information about cancer, from Stanford comprehensive cancer center. Like many fruits, apples contain Vitamin C as well as a host of other antioxidant compounds, which may reduce the risk of cancer by preventing DNA damage.Boyer, Jeanelle; Rui Hai Liu (2004). "Apple phytochemicals and their health benefits". Nutrition journal. Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853-7201 USA: Department of Food Science and Institute of Comparative and Environmental Toxicology. doi:10.1186/1475-2891-3-5. The fiber content, while less than in most other fruits, helps regulate bowel movements and may thus reduce the risk of colon cancer. They may also help with heart disease,"Apples", The British Medical Journal, 1996 weight loss and controlling cholesterol, as they do not have any cholesterol, have fiber (which reduces cholesterol by preventing reabsorption), and are bulky for their caloric content like most fruits and vegetables.Apples Keep Your Family Healthy (htm) (English). Retrieved on 22 January, 2008.
There is evidence that in vitro, apples possess phenolic compounds which may be cancer-protective and demonstrate antioxidant activity.Lee KW, Lee SJ, Kang NJ, Lee CY, Lee HJ (2004). "Effects of phenolics in Empire apples on hydrogen peroxide-induced inhibition of gap-junctional intercellular communication". Biofactors 21 (1–4): 361–5. PMID 15630226. The predominant phenolic phytochemicals in apples are quercetin, epicatechin, and procyanidin B2.Lee KW, Kim YJ, Kim DO, Lee HJ, Lee CY (2003). "Major phenolics in apple and their contribution to the total antioxidant capacity". J. Agric. Food Chem. 51 (22): 6516–20. doi:10.1021/jf034475w. PMID 14558772.
The seeds are mildly poisonous, containing a small amount of amygdalin, a cyanogenic glycoside; usually not enough to be dangerous to humans, but it can deter birds.Juniper BE, Mabberley DJ (2006). The Story of the Apple. Timber Press, 20. ISBN 0881927848.
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| Apple cultivars | |
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Ambrosia • Antonovka • Baldwin • Ben Davis • Blenheim Orange • Braeburn • Bramley • Cameo • Cortland • Cornish Gilliflower • Cox\'s Orange Pippin • Cripps Pink • Egremont Russet • Elstar • Empire • Esopus Spitzenburg • Flower of Kent • Fuji • Gala • Ginger Gold • Golden Delicious • Granny Smith • Gravenstein • Haralson • Honeycrisp • Idared • James Grieve • Jazz • Jonagold • Jonathan • Knobbed Russet • Macoun • McIntosh • Mutsu • Newtown Pippin • Northern Spy • Paula Red • Pink Pearl • Pinova • Rambo • Red Delicious • Rhode Island Greening • Ribston Pippin • Rome • Roxbury Russet • Spartan |  |
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