Next time you buy apples, count how many different kinds you see. Just a few, right? But get this – America used to grow over 17,000 different varieties. Now we’re down to mainly just 15 kinds in our stores.
Back in your great-grandparents’ day, people needed different apples for everything. Some were for eating, others for making cider, plenty for cooking, and special ones that could last all winter in the basement. It’s like having different shoes—you don’t wear flip-flops to play basketball.
So, what killed off all these apple types?
Supermarkets happened. When stores started shipping them across the country, they only wanted apples that looked perfect and didn’t bruise easily. Taste became less important than looks. Ever had a Red Delicious that wasn’t very delicious? That’s why breeders prioritized making it look pretty over making it taste good.
Big farms started ripping their old apple trees to plant rows of these “grocery store” kinds instead. Thousands of unique apples disappeared, like deleting family recipes to make room for TV dinners.
There’s hope. Some people seek out and work to save these lost varieties.
This matters because these old apples might have special powers we need. For instance, some of these varieties are naturally disease-resistant or can survive in extreme weather conditions. Plus, with the resurgence of hard cider, people are rediscovering the unique flavors of these old-school bitter apples.
As consumers, we also play a role in preserving the diversity.
Supporting local farmers and seeking out these forgotten apples at farmers’ markets helps keep these unique varieties alive. Each apple has a story to tell, and who knows? They might be exactly what we need to keep growing apples in the future.
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