16 Apple (The Fruit) Facts You Probably Didn’t Know

5. By the way, the apples that Johnny Appleseed/John Chapman planted? They weren’t for eating. They were small and hard and gross. BUT, they were great for cider and applejack, which until prohibition was the alcoholic drink of choice for much of the States, particularly the rural parts. Sadly, prohibition meant that the government chopped down most of Chapman’s apple trees…because government knows best.

6. Apples – apple flesh, apple juice, and apple cider vinegar – contain malic acid, which can actually assist in helping your body break up and dissolve gallstones. (However, if you think you have gallstones, you should still, 1,000%, go to, you know, a DOCTOR for that.)

7. “As American As Apple Pie!” is kind of a dumb saying because apple pie isn’t American; it’s European. The first recipe for apple pie dates back to the 1300’s, from England. Apples – at least the kind fit for eating – aren’t even native to North America, so how could the pie be? Also, you weren’t supposed to eat the crust. Lacking a decent tin or pyrex in the 1300’s, a container, or “coffin,” made of flour, lard, and water was merely a cooking vessel for the delicious baked apples inside.

8. If you were to eat one apple a day, it would take you over 20 years to try the over 7,000 varieties grown worldwide.