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Growing and Eating Apples and Pears
BECOME A KITCHEN BOTANIST: Growing and Eating Apples and Pears
 Most apples sold in the U.S. are grown in Washington State and New York. Europe grows more apples than the U.S., and much of the crop is used for cider, wine, and brandy. China is now the world leader in apple production, but much of it is made into concentrate for juice and flavoring and is exported.
The edible part of most fruits is the enlarged ovary wall, but in apples and pears the core containing the seeds is technically the fruit. The part we eat is derived from the bases of flower parts and the adjoining flower stalk. The tips of these flower parts can be seen opposite the stem end of apples and pears.
Apple seeds are very diverse genetically. Plants from seed will be very different from the parent. All fruit trees of a specific variety are replicated by grafting buds from that variety onto a young stem of a hardy variety.
If you are younger than 65, you have probably never seen a worm in an apple you purchased. It was a common experience before the advent of insecticides after World War II, which controlled the codling moth whose eggs give birth to the larvae or worm in the apple. |
