Eat an Apple a Day… 🍎 Choose a Red One Today 🍎 — and Get All
the History It Comes With!
By Tonya Hopkins aka @TheFoodGriot
It’s still technically fall, which means it’s still apple season — the real one — right up until those apples head into cold storage and become the same grocery-store standbys we’ll all be eating until next fall rolls around again — a whole year away!…
As ubiquitous as they may seem, apples didn’t start out everywhere all at once. Eve and a certain persuasive serpent aside, apples actually originated in Central Asia, in the region now known as Kazakhstan, then made their way around the world via ancient trade routes. ….
Over centuries, they were cultivated, crossed, grafted, and adapted — which is how we ended up with thousands of varieties historically, and still roughly 7,000–8,000 worldwide today, even though only a handful of those different types ever make it to the supermarket channel.
And yes — apples naturally come in a range of colors. Red, green, yellow, pink-blushed, striped — even russeted brown. Green apples aren’t “unripe”; varieties like Granny Smith are meant to stay green, prized for their tartness and structure — perfect for pies and baked desserts. Red apples, on the other hand, have long been favored in American marketing for their visual appeal — bright, glossy, and symbolically tied to abundance, temptation, and health — carrying cultural weight for centuries. Either way, especially as the Year of the Snake winds down, it’s timely to keep in mind: apples of all kinds have carried culturally rooted stories, symbolism, and sometimes even consequences in every bite….
Speaking of RED apples:
Fast-forward to a not-too-distant past. When I was growing up in the late 1970s and ’80s, there was pretty much one main apple variety available in grocery stores — the Red Delicious. And it was… not delicious. In hindsight, the fact that they had to tell us it was delicious should’ve been a red flag (pun intended). Its dominance wasn’t about flavor at all; it was a “big ag” (as in agribusiness) decision that was about uniformity, durability, and long-distance shipping. The return of multiple apple varieties in recent decades mirrors the rise of farmers’ markets, heirloom revivals, and a long-awaited renewed interest in taste over convenience.
Regionally Speaking…
Apples thrive in cooler climates with real seasonal swings, which is why they’ve long flourished in the Northeast and Upper Midwest — New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan — and later Washington State, now the country’s largest producer…
And wherever apples were historically grown in the now US, Black Americans were on the scene — planting, pruning, harvesting, pressing, and preparing apple dishes ranging from simple apple sauces to baking those all-American apple pies. But more than just eating apples — whether whole, sliced, peeled, or cored — early Americans were primarily using apples for drink:
Cider — and by that I mean hard cider (fermented apple juice with alcohol, typically around 4–8% ABV) — was one of the most common everyday drinks in early America. It was shelf-stable, safer than water, and deeply woven into daily life well into the 19th century. And wherever apple cider was being made, yes, Black Americans were making that too — not unlike American beer, bourbon, whiskey, rum… the list of imbibing liquids goes on — and on. These traditions didn’t happen by accident; they were powered by ages-old wisdom transported across the Atlantic, applied knowledge, skill, and of course, tireless labor that facilitated the seemingly magical alchemy of shape-shifting produce and grain into ancient elixirs.
Today, when we say “cider,” we usually mean sweet, oft-cloudy, unfermented apple juice — and this time of year, mulled with spices as we slide from apple-picking season into the holidays. Cozy and comforting, yes. And now, with food (and several sips!) for thought.
So eat a (red) apple today if you like — just know there’s a whole orchard of history behind every bite. 🍎
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