The history of the apple tree

In this video, Dan Neuteboom takes a look at the historical origin of apple trees. They may seem like a part of the traditional English landscape, but in actual fact this was not always the case. The origin of apple trees has been traced to Kazakhstan, and the Tian Shan mountain range, near the city Almaty. The so-called “fruit forest” is located here, on the border between Kazakhstan and China, and apple trees have existed here for at least 3,500 years. Over the last 20 years, a complete DNA analysis of trees in the fruit forest has been performed and compared with the genome for the fruit trees sold and planted all over Europe, and this confirms that the Kazakhstan fruit forest is indeed the origin of the apple tree. You may expect that the apples grown in the Kazakhstan fruit forest would be smaller than modern commercial apples, but in fact that is not the case: the apples that grow wild in the fruit forest are in the whole range of sizes, from small apples to large Bramley-size apples and beyond. Apples have been appreciated as a food with a high nutritional value from far back in man’s history, and there is evidence to show that apple trees were successfully grafted by the Babylonians over 3,000 years ago. How did apples arrive from the Tian Shan mountain range to Western Europe? Traders carried apples with them on their travels, and trees started growing in Europe from the seeds of discarded fruits. The Ancient Romans continued the process, and in fact in Ireland, the remains of an apple tree dating back about 2,200 years have been found. For further information on this topic, Dan recommends the book The Story of the Apple by Barrie E. Juniper and David J. Mabberley. Narration by Dan Neuteboom, camera by John Paddy. Read more at realenglishfru...