Apple Identification Events

History and Genetics

• Apples have been around since the Garden of Eden. They are the fruit to which all others are compared. The French call potatoes "apples of the earth" and our English word "pomegranate" comes from the French phrase "Pom de Granada" (apple of Granada). When Johnny Appleseed was spreading apple seeds across the American West, he was not interested in growing apples to eat --- seeds from an eating apple usually produce trees with sour apples --- he was spreading seeds to grow apples to make cider. The mechanisms that make a species breed true is determined by both the mechanism of sexual reproduction and the genetic history of the species. Until DNA tests become cheap and easy, only an expert can tell which apple came from which tree. Even with experts, apple identification is more art than science.

Identification Events

• Apple identification events started in England and spread to the United States. Apple harvest celebrations almost always have an apple identification expert. People bring in apples and have an expert identify them and describe their history. These experts are sometimes professional botanists from a local university, but are just as likely to be old-timers who love apples and who have grown them for years. Apple trees can live more than a hundred years, so people who bring apples to the apple identification event often have no idea what the apple looked like that produced the apple tree growing in their backyard.

Identification Factors

• One of the tests given to determine the skill of an apple identification expert is to give her two apples from the same tree and a third apple from a similar tree and ask her to find the odd apple. The amazing thing about this test is that only an expert can pass it consistently. Other factors besides genetics determine the appearance and flavor of apples. Apples grown in the shade are different from apples grown in constant sunshine. Apples grown in nitrogen rich or nitrogen poor soil will have a different color. The taste and smell of apples from a young tree are different than the taste and smell of apples from an old tree. Without an expensive DNA test, it is impossible to tell the history of an apple, but an expert can usually link a specific apple to a famous strain of apples.