Apples are everyone’s favourite. Apples are consumed all over the world due to their taste. Apples can either be grown from seedlings or by grafting them to obtain several desirable traits. Since apples need to cross-pollinate to bear fruit, thus farmers rely on honey bees to get the apples pollinated. Several nations of the world produce apples. China produces more apples than any other country in the world. The origin of the apple tree is said to be in Central Asia, in Kazakhstan where wild apple trees still grow well.
Apples popularly exist all around the World. Let us study about few of the regions that grew apples and introduced the multiple other regions about the way apples are grown.
Asia
As has been mentioned above, apples already grew in Central Asia, and the farming process of apples eventually spread to the rest of the Asian continent mainly as an outcome of migration. Also due to contiguity between Central and West Asia; individuals who moved to West Asia usually carried apple seeds with them to plant apples in that region as well. Some of the communities who migrated to China are believed to have planted the fruit there.
Europe
To everyone’s surprise, several ancient societies in Europe included apples in their mythological events, which indicate the series of events in which they explain, how they had already encountered this fruit. Cultures that recite tales involving apples include the Ancient Greeks and the Norse communities. Several societies used to consume apples in present-day Greece and Italy since 2000 BCE. In England, apples were being grown even before the arrival of Romans in the area. European royalty, particularly the ones from Britain, placed a high value on apples with King Henry VIII being famous for his apple orchard containing a wide variety of apples.
Apples have also been described in European art (mainly Christian works) as it is believed to have been the Bible’s restrained fruit. In Europe, apples were vital because apples were such fruits that could have been stored for winters. The Europeans also valued apples because apples are the primary ingredients in making apple cider, which was the most remarkable alcoholic drink for most Northern European communities.
Africa
Especially due to the climate, on the African continent, the growth of apple trees was not satisfactory. Though, in Egypt, several apple trees flourished and grew well by 1300 BCE and apples were also a food source for the Egyptians. The Ancient Romans and the Greeks had strong trade ties with the North African region and during their trading activities; they introduced the apples to their trading partners. From North Africa, the apple also spread to other parts through mastery and word of mouth.
North America
The crab apple tree is the only apple variety that grows naturally in North America. The Spanish and the English travelled in the 1600s, to North America and brought apples with them primarily to make apple cider. Apples were first ingathered in the US in Jamestown. Some varieties of apples brought from Europe turned out to be unsuitable for the American region, but new varieties came out soon.
One of America’s founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, was gifted apple cuttings by Edmund Genet who was then French minister to the United States. The apple cuttings were later donated to a nursery in Virginia leading to the creation of the Ralls Genet apple variety.
(Reference: World Atlas)