“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”, but most apple seeds don’t grow where they are dropped - they are carried away by birds or rodents and seed elsewhere. Also, most apples aren’t true to seed anyway - plants grown from seed don’t bear the same fruit
And this is why there are, like, 431,663 different varieties of apples? Or is it all selective cultivation?
Honeycrisp is the state apple here, for which I’m grateful because it’s my favorite apple, so you can always get it. But I swear, when we go to the arboretum Apple House, the little market run by The Arb, there are bins of 20 different kinds of apples and it’s a different 20 every year. Find a new apple you like? Hah! Joke’s on you, you’ll never come across it again in the rest of your life.
Every variety of apples is a clone taken from a cutting that eventually traces back to the original tree of that variety. These cuttings are grafted onto rootstock which has been bred separately for its own characteristics (root mass size, upper biomass size).
Yeah, it’s like taking Adam’s rib to make Eve, but only the upper body. The lower body comes from Steve!
Arkansas black is one of my favorites, because it dries/dehydrates so very, very well. It tastes like apple-flavored candy when you’re done with it.
I haven’t been able to find it aside from once, three years ago. :(
Apples are such great fruit. They might seem a little boring, but they keep well, and there are so many varieties. Almost the perfect fruit.