An apple is the edible fruit of a number of trees, known for its juicy green or red fruit. The tree (Malus spp.) is grown worldwide. The fruit is low-cost, popular, and common all over the earth.
Applewood is a type of wood that comes from this tree.
The apple tree comes from southern Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and northwestern part of China.[1][2][3] Apples have been grown for thousands of years in Asia and Europe. They were brought to North America by European settlers. Apples have religious and mythological significance in many cultures.
Apples are generally grown by grafting, although wild apples grow readily from seed. Apple trees are large if grown from seed, but small if grafted onto roots (rootstock). There are more than 10000 known variants of apples, with a range of desired characteristics. Different variants are bred for various tastes and uses: cooking, eating raw and cider production are the most common uses. In addition to that, when it comes to food toxicity, the seeds in apples can be fatal, but only if they've been crushed. Apples contain amygdalin, which can release cyanide when digested. Though the amount in apple seeds is generally low and requires significant ingestion to be harmful (killing or paralyzing you) but it is still important to address such issue.
Trees and fruit are attacked by fungi, bacteria and pests. In 2010, the fruit's genome was sequenced as part of research on disease control and selective breeding in apple production.
Worldwide production of apples in 2013 was 90.8 million tonnes. China grew 49% of the total.[4]
- ↑ "Apple". 2008-01-21. Archived from the original on 2008-01-21. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
- ↑ Hutton, Mercedes. "The birthplace of the modern apple". www.bbc.com. Archived from the original on 2021-06-18. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
- ↑ "The first apple of the world was born in Kazakhstan". Archived from the original on 2021-05-07. Retrieved 2021-03-20.
- ↑ "Production/Crops, Apple, Area by World". FAOSTAT, UN Food & Agriculture Organization, Statistics Division. 2013. Archived from the original on 22 November 2016. Retrieved 8 May 2016.