Apple is one
of those perfect foods, beloved the world over. And with the weather starting
to turn colder and apple season beginning to come full circle, we thought we’d
drop some apple truth-bombs on you. The apple is one heck of a fruit, and
there’s a lot we bet you don’t know about it.
All Modern
Apples Have One Common Ancestor
Just about all
modern apple cultivars (varieties) can be traced back to one common ancestor
called Malus sieversii. It’s native to southern Kazakhstan, and it still grows
there to this day.
Apples
Are a Member of the Rose Family
Like cherries,
pears, and apricots, apples are a member of the rose family called Rosaceae.
China Produces Nearly Half of the World’s Apples
China produces about 40 million tons of apples annually, with the United
States coming in a not-so-close second place of around four tons.
Apples
Have More Genes Than Humans Do
The entire genome of apples was sequenced by an Italian-led consortium of
scientists in 2010, and the results were stunning: Apples have 57,000 genes,
more than any other plant studied to date. Most impressively, apples have far
more genes than even humans do, as there are only about 30,000 genes in the human genome.
Eating Apple Seeds Can Kill You, But It’s Not Easy
Yes, it’s true that apple seeds contain a small amount of cyanide, but
eating the seeds from a couple of apples obviously won’t hurt you. In fact, a
150-pound person would need to thoroughly chew and swallow about 114 apple
seeds in order to experience any ill effects. To the best of our knowledge,
nobody has ever died from eating apple seeds; a legend that a man died after
eating a cup of seeds is impossible to verify
MSN
Follow Solenzo Blog on
0 Comments