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, apple recipes 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 Pommier domestique Pommier commun |
| German: | Apfel 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. |
Apple photos
Proverbs about apples
- 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.
- 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'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.
Quotes about apples
- 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)
- There is nothing in the world more peaceful than apple-leaves with an early moon. (Alice Meynell)
Did you know that?
- The "forbidden fruit" (the fruit that came from the tree of knowledge) is often depicted as an apple. It is however not sure that it really was an apple. The Latin word "malum" means both "apple" and "evil." In the bible the tree is mentioned as "de ligno autem scientiae boni et mali", so clearly it means here "the tree of knowledge of good and evil" and the word "mali" here is not meant to be 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)
- The "rainbow Apple" is the logo of Apple Inc., a company that produces computer software, personal computers, and other consumer electronics.
- Apple is the national fruit of England.
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.
Apple with Cabbage
Ingredients:
2 apples, 1 medium onion, 1/4 medium cabbage, olive oil, salt and pepper
Instructions:
Slice the apples length-wise, then quartered. Slice the cabbage, not thin, not thick. Dice up the onion. Heat pan to medium high with olive oil. First sautee the onion, then add the plantain till it is golden brown. Then add the cabbage and apple and salt and pepper to taste. Stir fry till done.