A Forbidden Fruit?

The apple tree was perhaps the earliest tree to be cultivated and its fruits have been improved through selection over thousands of years. The only apples native to North America are crab apples, which were once called “common apples”.

The flowers are white with a pink tinge that gradually fades, five petaled, and 2.5 to 3.5 centimetres (0.98 to 1.4 in) in diameter. The fruit matures in autumn, and is typically 5 to 9 centimetres (2.0 to 3.5 in) in diameter.

The center of the fruit contains five carpels arranged in a five-point star, each carpel containing one to three seeds, called pips.

Apples appear in many religious traditions, often as a mystical or forbidden fruit.

One of the problems identifying apples in religion, mythology and folktales is that the word “apple” was used as a generic term for all (foreign) fruit, other than berries, but including nuts, as late as the 17th century.

Though the forbidden fruit in the Book of Genesis is not identified, popular Christian tradition has held that it was an apple that Eve coaxed Adam to share with her.

In this case the unnamed fruit of Eden became an apple under the influence of story of the golden apples in the Garden of Hesperides.

As a result, in the story of Adam and Eve, the apple became a symbol for knowledge, immortality, temptation, the fall of man into sin, and sin itself.

Apples are often eaten raw; except for the seeds, which are slightly poisonous, the whole fruit including the skin is suitable for human consumption but the core is often not eaten, leaving an apple core as a residue.

Extracts Taken From:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple  

Anyone can count the seeds in an apple, but only God can count the number of apples in a seed.

~ Robert H. Schuller

Have fun reading!

Till then,

Cheers & TTFN ~ 😀

 

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