We’ve been busy baking up countless Rustic Apple Pies at the Bakehouse to round out your Thanksgiving meals and festivities. As with harvest festivals around the world, the central focus of Thanksgiving has always been the food. Though turkey is inarguably the star of the feast, my heart has always belonged to the pies, foremost among them is apple pie. Apple pie is widely considered the most classic American dessert. A recipe for it appeared in American Cookery (1796), the first cookbook published in America. During WWII, it became synonymous with American patriotism. So it’s hard to imagine that apples haven’t always been as ubiquitous as they are now, but it’s true. In fact, apples have a long and complex history predating some of the earliest known civilizations, but for this post, we’ll focus on the apple’s voyage to and history in America.
Coming to America
When Europeans left their own shores to colonize the rest of the world, they inevitably brought apples along with them. Apples were first introduced to North America by French Jesuit missionaries, sometime in the late 16th century. Slightly later, the Pilgrims would arrive and begin planting orchards throughout New England. As the colonies established themselves and the flow of goods to the New World increased, apples became increasingly common. In fact, Lord Baltimore encouraged colonists to bring apples, asking specifically for “kernalls of pears and apples, especially of Pipins, Pearmains and Deesons, for making thereafter of cider and perry”.
A survey taken shortly after the establishment of the Maryland colony found that over 90% of the farms had an apple orchard of some manner. This was due in no small part to the versatility of the apple. Settlers could eat apples raw or cooked. They could cook them into both sweet and savory dishes. And they could preserve them through either drying or fermentation. They could even use them for animal feed. With so much utility, frankly it would have been foolish of the colonists not to bring it.
Apples and Indigenous Peoples
The apple was also not exclusive to the European settlers, as fruit seeds were commonly used in trade with indigenous peoples. For a time, this benefitted both sides, as apples and other fruits became a staple food for groups such as the Iroquois of the Mohawk valley. Unfortunately, as is the case with most things relating to indigenous American peoples, this was eventually turned against them when American troops burned the orchards to the ground in a campaign against the Seneca. While undoubtedly horrible, the destruction of the orchards highlights how important the apples and other fruit had become to the survival of these indigenous groups.
Johnny Appleseed: Folk Hero or Savvy Businessman?
As settlers continued to move westward, pushing out indigenous groups as they did so, they continued to spread apples across the nation. The most influential of these early settlers is undisputedly John Chapman, or, as he is more widely known, Johnny Appleseed. Born in 1774, Johnny Appleseed is one of America’s favorite folk heroes, standing shoulder to shoulder with legends like John Henry and Davy Crocket. While folklore frequently imagines him as a happy-go-lucky traveler, planting apple seeds wherever he pleased, in reality he was a thoughtful and organized businessman.
Chapman carefully selected sites, searching for the perfect orchard location before planting.While his stated goal was to grow enough apple trees so no one would go hungry, this is somewhat questionable, as he was primarily growing apples for use in cider. This was due to a particular quirk of apples, being “extreme heterozygotes”, meaning apple seeds do not breed true.
True to his name, Johnny Appleseed only grew apples from seeds, as his faith prohibited him from grafting. While this may have kept him in God’s good graces, it meant that his apples were extremely sour, more akin to a crab apple. A famous example of the inedibility of seed-grown apples comes from author Henry David Thoreau, who once remarked that apples grown from seeds were “sour enough to set a squirrel’s teeth on edge and make a jay scream”. However, even if they weren’t suitable for eating, the apples he grew still served a valuable purpose on the frontier. Cider provided a consistently potable source of hydration as well as a welcome relief from the hardships of frontier life.
Another factor which calls his altruistic goal into question is the deal offered to settlers by the Ohio Company of Associates. This deal would give settlers 100 acres of land assuming they established a homestead and planted 50 apple trees and 20 peach trees. Given that he was among the first to push deep into this territory, Johnny could plant his orchards and then sell them to the later arrivals. Instead of wandering aimlessly planting seeds as he went, he established nurseries deep in the territory before returning to sell his existing ones.
A Lasting Impact on the Apple Species
While the reality of Johnny Appleseed as a businessman rather than an apple-loving Bohemian is, admittedly, a bit disappointing, his impact on apples in America can not be understated. For instance, some scholars believe planting by seed allowed for the great variety of American apples we know and love today. Chapman’s seed-grown orchards allowed the apple to adapt to North America, naturally selecting traits favorable to survival in the new climate. If Chapman and other settlers like him had chosen to graft their trees instead of planting by seed, we would likely not have the amazing genetic diversity we see today in American apples.
Apples at the Bakehouse
While most of Chapman’s orchards were destroyed during Prohibition, the fruits of his labor (pun intended) live on in apple orchards across the country. For us here at the Bakehouse, the most important of these orchards is Nemeth’s Farm in Milan, Michigan. Since immigrating from Hungary in the 1930s, the Nemeths have been working the land for five generations. In that time, they have provided innumerable amounts of fresh produce to southeast Michigan. Nemeth’s Farm’s commitment to providing fresh, locally-sourced produce to the community makes us proud to partner with them.
A pillar of the community, we have been working with Nemeth Farms for 15 years and counting, in which time they have provided us with nearly a hundred thousand pounds of Ida Red apples. Perfect for baking, we use them in every apple pastry we make, such as our Eve’s Apple Babka, Apple Cinnamon Rugelach, Apple Rétes, and, of course, our Rustic Apple Pies. With thousands of apple pies on order every year for Thanksgiving, our work here at the Bakehouse would simply not be possible without the tireless efforts of the Nemeth family.
Hungry for more?
Want to know more about Nemeth Farms? Visit their website here, or check out their Facebook!
Want to learn to make your own apple desserts? Take a class with us! The Caramel Apple Cake and Thanksgiving Pies classes will make you an expert in no time.
Theo Wooley joined the Bakehouse staff in the summer of 2023 after graduating from the University of Michigan. A night owl at heart, Theo began working in the night-time pastry kitchen. As the year progressed and the days grew darker, the bright and colorful personalities of the night crew kept Theo and the pastry kitchen warm through the winter. By the end of the 2023 holiday season, Theo felt at home among the quirky mix that made up the pastry team. Despite the excellent company, Theo slowly began to yearn for the sun, as the strain of a semi-nocturnal lifestyle was greater than he anticipated. Not wanting to leave his coworkers, Theo met with managing partner Amy Emberling, and together they worked out a plan for Theo to split his time between night and day. In August of 2024, nearly a year after joining the Bakehouse, Theo began assisting Corynn Coscia in the Bakehouse marketing department. Currently, Theo splits his time between the pastry kitchen and the marketing department, rolling croissants at night and rolling cameras during the day.
