Apples! You know them, you love them!

Apples are my favorite fruit, from biting into the red fruit and enjoying the sweet flesh to cutting them up and enjoying them with peanut butter. They easily trump bananas and mangoes in my opinion, with both the flesh and skin being erdible and firm. Apples can be seen everywhere, from the branding of Steve Jobs' technology empire to being the fruit present on a teacher's desk.

The domesticated apple (Malus domestica) is one of the most cultivated tree fruits. The Malus species are native native to the temperate zones of both hemispheres. The domesticated apples has been thought to be cultivated from the M. sieversii, a wild apple from the Tien Shan mountains in Central Asia 4,000-10,000 years ago. It then spread to western Europe through the Silk Road and hybridized with a number of crabapples, with the M. sylvestris being the major secondary genetic contributor from other parts of Europe.

Why do I love apples?

First of all, I don't just love apples. I think apples are the superior fruit. Apples are versatile, which is why I love them so much. My favorite desserts with apples are apple pie a la mode and apple crème brûlée. This fruit has a chokehold on me. My fondest memory with apples are making apple pie with my classmates when I was in 1st grade, my teacher counting how many red, yellow, and green apples we brought to the table.

My favorite kinds of apples as of today are Ambrosia apples and Granny Smith apples. Ambrosia apples are on the sweeter side, having low acidity and subtle floral notes. I like eating them whole instead of pairing them with anything. Ambrosia apples are firm, crisp, and juicy, with its fruit being able to fit on the palm on my hand. In my opinion, these are the perfect apple variants. They aren't too mushy, but not too hard either. Meanwhile, Granny Smith apples are more on the tart side, having a firmer and crisp texture and its signature green skin. While Granny Smith apples are both cooking and eating apples, I prefer consuming my Granny Smith apples sliced and slathered with peanut butter.