Haven’t we always had apples?

In legend, yes. Many people are happy to tell one another about Adam and Eve in Eden, about Eve’s being tempted by the sneaky snake to eat some fruit from that God-forbidden tree.

“An apple!” they say. Yet the story isn’t about an apple, but the “fruit” of the tree. Might it even have been a fig tree?

However, apples have bounced through history and myth through the ages, surviving in popularity to this day. They didn’t even grow in the New World until colonists brought tree roots from the Old Country, whatever that happened to be.

Centuries ago, apples were found in the wild mountains of Central Asia, probably by humans hungry enough to eat anything that looked edible. The trees or their fruits began to spread along the paths those humans traveled. Before anyone learned that seeds would sprout and produce plants, bushes and fruiting trees, people learned to root pieces of apple wood. (They also found apple wood logs burned well in a fireplace.)

When I was a kid, I was cautioned not to eat watermelon, pear or apple seeds because a plant might grow out of the top of my head. Grown-ups were famous for such false warnings!

Apple seeds planted to grow into fruit-bearing trees can produce many surprises, but rarely the same kind of tree as their forbears. From Michael Pollan, I learned that John Chapman (remembered as the character, Johnny Appleseed) made autumn trips to orchards in northeast Pennsylvania after the apples had been pressed into cider, to gather leftover pomace, or pressings. That’s how he got the seed that he planted in tiny nurseries near trails used by pioneers traveling westward.

Today, anyone rambling through New England woods may find solitary apple trees gone wild, or even the remains of old orchards. Many farmers grew their own fruits to make the hard cider that was a standard drink instead of tea or coffee. During and after the Civil War, when farms were abandoned as people moved west or into cities, the countryside grew more urban than rural.

However, apple pie, apple sauce, apple jelly and cider vinegar never lacked demand. 2015 is a great year. Have you had an apple today?