Mildly interesting
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In Kazakhstan's majestic Tian Shan mountains lies the birthplace of every apple you've ever eaten. These ancient forests are home to Malus sieversii, the wild ancestor of all modern apple varieties.
Long before the Silk Road connected East and West, bears and birds spread apple seeds throughout these pristine mountain ranges. When traders eventually discovered these sweet mountain fruits, they carried them across continents, leading to natural hybridization with other wild species.
The legacy of these ancient apples lives on in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, whose name literally means "Father of Apples." But time hasn't been kind to these precious forests - today, only 1% of the original wild apple forests remain in their ancestral home.
These hardy mountain trees gave rise to the thousands of apple varieties we enjoy today - from the crisp Honeycrisp to the tart Granny Smith. Their genetic diversity holds the key to developing disease-resistant and climate-adaptable apples for future generations.
Sources: Research by Soviet scientist Nikolai Vavilov (1929), Kazakh geneticist Aimak Dzangaliev's studies, The Royal Horticultural Society
