Apple

An old proverb is "An apple a day keeps the doctor away".  This could be the reason why apples are among the most popular fruits in the world.

Here is some basic information on apple, some apple related proverbs and quotes and some photos.

This page is about "real apples" (Malus domestica), which grow in temperate climates, but the word apple has also been incorporated in the names of many tropical fruits (e.g. custard apple, pineapple, rose apple, star apple) which are not related.

Basic information on apple

Scientific name:	Malus domestica
English:	Apple
Dutch:	Appel
Spanish:	Manzana
French:	Pomme
French:	Pommier domestique
French:	Pommier commun
German:	Apfel
German:	Kulturapfel
Italian:	Mela
Family:	Rosaceae
Order:	Rosales
Origin:	Kazakhstan
Distribution:	Widely distributed in regions with a temperate or subtropical climate.
Evergreen or deciduous:	Deciduous
Flowers:
Leaves:	Simple oval leaves are 5 to 12 cm long and 3 to 6 cm broad. The petiole is 2 to 5 cm long.
Fruits:
Climate and weather:	Temperate and subtropical climate
Pollination:	Apples must cross-pollinate to develop fruit. Pollination by insects such as honeybees and bumble bees.
Height:	5 to 12 meter
Blooming period	Flowers in springtime at the same time when leaves are budding.
Type of soil:
Growth rate:
Spacing (close range)
Spacing (wide range)
Propagation:	Usually by grafting.
Insect pests:
Diseases:
Fruit development:
Harvesting:	Hand picking when fruits are ripe. If kept in a dark cool place, apples can be stored for several weeks or even months.
Uses:	Eaten fresh or in fruit salads. Also mixed in vegetable salads. Used as filling in cakes and pies. Used to make applesauce.

Photos

Proverbs

• A bad tree does not yield good apples.
• A pear tree cannot bear an apple.
• A stone from the hand of a friend is an apple.
• Adam ate the apple, and our teeth still ache.
• An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
• An apple never falls far from the tree.
• An apple-pie without some cheese is like a kiss without a squeeze.
• Anyone can count the number of seeds in an apple, but only God can count the number of apples in a seed. (Robert H. Schuller)
• Apple blossoms are beautiful, but rice dumplings are better.
• Better an apple pie than apple blossom.
• Different men have different opinions; some prefer apples, some onions.
• Don't upset the apple cart.
• For an apple and an egg.
• Give an apple to the little ones, a book to the old.
• Handsome apples are sometimes sour.
• If the prince wants an apple, his servants take the tree.
• If there is no apple one eats a little carrot.
• If you want apples, you have to shake the trees.
• Many a rose-cheeked apple is rotten at the core.
• No apple tree is immune from worms.
• One bad apple spoils the bunch.
• One of the two partners always bites the best part of the apple.
• One rotten apple spoils the whole barrel.
• Small choice in rotten apples.
• Sometimes it is better to give your apple away, than to eat it yourself.
• The apple cannot be stuck back on the tree of knowledge.
• The apple does not fall far from the tree.
• The apple falls on the head that's under it.
• The nice apples are always eaten by nasty pigs.
• The night may be dark, but the apples have been counted.
• The old monkey gets the apple.
• The rotten apple injures its neighbour.
• There are many who throw stones at a red apple.
• There is nothing in the world more peaceful than apple-leaves with an early moon. (Alice Meynell)
• There's no making apples of plums.
• When the apple is ripe it will fall.
• Who has tasted a sour apple, will have the more relish for a sweet one.
• You are the apple of my eye.
• You can count the apples on a tree but you can't count the trees from one apple.
• You can't compare apples with pears.
• Your neighbor's apples are the sweetest.

Did you know that?

• The "forbidden fruit" was an apple.
• Snow white's apple was only half poisoned (the red side).
• The Island of Avalon literally means "Apple Island".
• "Big Apple" is the nickname for New York City ("Big Mango" is Bangkok)

Quotes

• Poor Richard was to me as an eldest son, the apple of my eye. (Sir Walter Scott, in Old Mortality, 1816)
• He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. (Bible, Deuteronomy 32:10, King James Version)
• For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye. (Bible, Zechariah 2:8)
• Flower of this purple dye, Hit with Cupid's archery, Sink in apple of his eye (Shakespeare, in A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1590)
• A goodly apple rotten at the heart: O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath. (Shakespeare)
• An apple cleft in two is not more twin / Than these two creatures (Shakespeare)
• Kent, sir—everybody knows Kent—apples, cherries, hops, and women. (Charles Dickens)
• There's small choice in rotten apples. (Shakespeare)
• If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas. (George Bernard Shaw)
• Anyone can count the number of seeds in an apple, but only God can count the number of apples in a seed. (Robert H. Schuller)

 

Recipes

Fried apple slices

Ingredients:
Apples (sour hard apples are best), margarine or butter, sugar

Instructions:
Peel the apples and remove the core. Slice them. Fry the slices in a bit of butter or margarine on low fire until soft and golden brown. Serve with bread. Add sugar if desired.