1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey 2 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:10,200 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren bog Obam Here. When you think of 3 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:13,800 Speaker 1: the word America, what specific symbols come to mind? The 4 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:18,480 Speaker 1: statue of Liberty, baseball burghers, world class albeit very expensive 5 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:21,959 Speaker 1: college degree. Those are all good guesses, but for a 6 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:25,000 Speaker 1: long time, a sweeter treat has represented the best and 7 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:29,480 Speaker 1: worst of the United States. Apple pie. If you're from 8 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:31,440 Speaker 1: around here, then it's a good bet that you've heard 9 00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:34,760 Speaker 1: the oft recited phrase as American is apple pie. But 10 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:39,320 Speaker 1: what's the origin of this patriotic slogan. First, let's back 11 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:42,200 Speaker 1: up and look at how apples landed on America's shores. 12 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:45,720 Speaker 1: Apples had been cultivated around Europe and Asia for thousands 13 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:49,040 Speaker 1: of years, but when European colonists arrived in the America's 14 00:00:49,240 --> 00:00:53,400 Speaker 1: they found only wild crab apples, small sour, dry apples 15 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:56,680 Speaker 1: that aren't good for eating. Unlike some other fruits, if 16 00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:59,080 Speaker 1: you plant an apple seed, there's no guarantee that the 17 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:02,640 Speaker 1: resulting tree bear the same delicious fruit you ate. Apple 18 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:05,720 Speaker 1: trees tend to revert to their wild format. Grafting on 19 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:09,480 Speaker 1: branches from developed trees helps, and you also need pollinators 20 00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:12,840 Speaker 1: like honey bees to grow the fruit. So although the 21 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:16,160 Speaker 1: original settlers of Jamestown brought apple seeds and seedlings with 22 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:18,400 Speaker 1: them from Europe and planted them in their new homeland, 23 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:21,360 Speaker 1: the first apples grown in America were mostly used for 24 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:27,399 Speaker 1: cider rather than dessert. Now let's talk pie. It was 25 00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:30,760 Speaker 1: only with the availability of granulated sugar through slavery and 26 00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:35,240 Speaker 1: trade that dessert pies, including apple pies, came into popularity 27 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:39,720 Speaker 1: in America. Despite the apple pies common association with American pride, 28 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:43,479 Speaker 1: Europeans had actually gotten the whole pie thing down centuries before. 29 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:46,280 Speaker 1: A recipe for Dutch apple pie can be traced back 30 00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:49,880 Speaker 1: to fifteen fourteen, and the English were so enamored with 31 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:52,440 Speaker 1: apple pies in the late fifteen hundreds that they even 32 00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:58,000 Speaker 1: came up with pie themed soliloquies. So who was responsible 33 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:02,400 Speaker 1: for impressing apples into the American mindset? That would be 34 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:05,960 Speaker 1: one John Chapman, also known by the more famous moniker 35 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:10,400 Speaker 1: of Johnny Appleseed. Contrary to popular belief, Appleseed was no 36 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:14,359 Speaker 1: mere American legend. He really did exist, and what's more, 37 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:17,200 Speaker 1: he planted apple nurseries around the turn of the nineteenth 38 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:21,120 Speaker 1: century throughout Ohio and other Midwestern states, and he sold 39 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:24,840 Speaker 1: them at a tidy profit. Appleseed also gave away countless 40 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:27,799 Speaker 1: more seedlings to pioneers who set up apple orchards across 41 00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:32,639 Speaker 1: the nation. He became legendary because he mostly walked estimates say, 42 00:02:32,639 --> 00:02:35,280 Speaker 1: somewhere around ten thousand miles over the course of his life, 43 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:39,119 Speaker 1: all barefoot and with nothing but a single knife for protection. 44 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:43,920 Speaker 1: He became a symbol of rugged individualism and frontier expansion, 45 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:47,280 Speaker 1: and in the years since the United States has developed 46 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:51,000 Speaker 1: a whole slew of truisms associated with apples, including an 47 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:53,680 Speaker 1: apple a day keeps the doctor away, and one bad 48 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:57,880 Speaker 1: apples spoils the bunch. The phrase American is apple pie 49 00:02:57,919 --> 00:03:00,400 Speaker 1: popped up in print as early as nineteen the eight 50 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:03,440 Speaker 1: It was being used to describe lou Henry Hoover, the 51 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:06,239 Speaker 1: first lady of the Hoover Presidency, and what a good 52 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:09,840 Speaker 1: homemaker she was, But it wasn't until World War Two 53 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 1: that apple pies really became stamped into the American consciousness 54 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:16,799 Speaker 1: as a patriotic pastry. By then, good apples had been 55 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:19,560 Speaker 1: common for a few generations, and the dish was thought 56 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:24,200 Speaker 1: of as homey and nostalgic, do perhaps to a popular 57 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:27,200 Speaker 1: song titled ma I Miss your apple Pie, published in 58 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:31,119 Speaker 1: nine and due to apple pie being the most frequently 59 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:34,440 Speaker 1: served dessert at American military posts during the war, it 60 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:37,320 Speaker 1: became a bit of a meme for American soldiers to 61 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:40,520 Speaker 1: tell reporters that they were fighting for mom and apple pie, 62 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:46,720 Speaker 1: and boom, the apple pie became American. Given apple pies 63 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:50,480 Speaker 1: strong associations with America, it's perhaps not surprising that it's 64 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:54,160 Speaker 1: not really a homegrown American product, but something baked overseas 65 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:57,280 Speaker 1: and brought to these shores. But since immigrants are a 66 00:03:57,360 --> 00:03:59,880 Speaker 1: key component of the United States, there's perhaps no but 67 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:08,400 Speaker 1: a symbol of America than this delicious dessert. Today's episode 68 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:10,960 Speaker 1: was written by Terry yr Lagata and produced by Tyler Clain. 69 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:13,360 Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is a production of I Heart Radio's How 70 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:15,280 Speaker 1: Stuff Works. For more in this and lots of other 71 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:18,520 Speaker 1: tasty topics, visit our home planet, how stuff Works dot com, 72 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:20,680 Speaker 1: and for more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the 73 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:23,440 Speaker 1: I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 74 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:24,400 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.