Apple and Apricot Month – January 2025

History of Apple and Apricot Month

The apple originated from the Rosaceae, the Rose family. It was a very popular fruit in Kazakhstan and China, where it was regarded and consumed as a wild fruit. The apple gained notoriety as a ‘power food’ and began to make its way into Asia, the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

The story of an apple orchard being exchanged for a herd of sheep is recorded on a stone tablet found in Mesopotamia and dates back as far as 1500 B.C. Europeans introduced apple stock to Virginia and Southwest, and John Chapman, who in later years came to be known as Johnny Appleseed, was known for planting apple trees throughout the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.
As time passed, more people discovered the various facts about apple fruit nutrition, leading to a flourishing multi-billion dollar fruit industry. Apples have a huge cultural and mythological significance to human history. According to Christian tradition, in the story of the Garden of Eden, the Forbidden fruit is depicted to be an Apple. In this biblical story, Eve insisted that Adam share an apple with her, which happened to be a forbidden fruit, as it was plucked from a tree that they were to avoid. Since then, the apple has been seen as a symbol of temptation, knowledge, and sin. In ancient Greece, the apple was considered to be sacred to Aphrodite, and throwing an Apple at someone meant falling in love with them.

The apricot, which is now present in almost every continent, was originally domesticated in China. They were very popular in the Armenian region, and the best climate for the fruit’s maturation is a dry one. In the last few years, top producers of the apricot include Turkey, Uzbekistan and Italy.