AN APPLE A DAY…

What could be humbler and simpler than the apple? The sweetness and juicy crunch of a fresh Gala, the silky spiced smush of a Granny Smith in shortcrust pastry, the jaw-breaking delight of the childhood toffee apple, not to mention the beauty and sensual nature of an apple tree loaded with scarlet orbs in the early mists of autumn.

The apple as we know it originated in the Tien Shan mountains of Kazakhstan and was ‘discovered’ there by Alexander the Great in 328 BC. Throughout human history apples have had nutritional, religious and mythological significance in every culture that utilised them. Apples began the Trojan war, were lauded by the great poets, and everyone from Caravaggio to Magritte painted them. Heracles picked golden apples from the Tree of Life, and we all know what happened to Eve…If you bury treasure under an apple tree it will never be found, and bobbing for apples at Halloween puts you in touch with the fairy kingdom. Cutting an apple sagitally reveals the 5 pointed star that alchemists used to represent the conjunction of heaven and earth. Did you know that the laryngeal protrusion in the make throat is called the ‘Adam’s apple’ because of a notion that it was caused by the forbidden fruit remaining in the throat of Adam? Or that wages were often paid in Cider until as late as 1917?

In the scientific world, apples more than live up to their ‘magical’ historical hype. Their polyphenol content stops blood sugar spikes and decreases glucose absorption, their soluble fibre (pectin) lowers blood fats and alters intestinal metabolism by impacting bad bacteria, their regular consumption lowers the risk of asthma, lung cancer, macular degeneration and alzheimer’s. and lowers total and LDL cholesterol levels.

Why do we need to know all this? We need to change the way we think about food. The cure for unconsciousness is consciousness. In order to adjust our mindless consumption of the ‘permanent global summertime’ perpetuated by the food industry, and to fight the predictable blandness of reduced variety, we should strive to learn more about what we’re eating; where it comes from, how it’s grown, and its role in the story of humanity. All over the world people still celebrate harvest and maintain a ‘reverence’ for food; a visceral understanding of our absolute reliance on the earth and its fruits. Next time you bite into an apple, I hope you experience it a little differently. In a very real sense, you’re consuming history J