Why is the apple scholarly?

A new school year is about to begin. Maybe you should bring the teacher a little gift for the first day of classes. How about an apple? Students are always giving teachers apples. Right? Why? Why not potatoes; they’re far more nutritious.

It turns out that back in the early 20th century, frontier schools rarely got any state or federal support. As a consequence, towns had to support their schools. Instead of money, a frontier teacher’s paycheck often consisted of baskets of food and a roof to sleep under. The apple by this time had been bred to be a sweet snack and was marketed as a wholesome super-food. This combined with its association with Eden’s Tree of Knowledge made it the perfect offering to a hungry scholar.

The moral of the story is that teachers have always been poor, but at least we used to feed them. So on the first day of school and maybe a few times a month, bring your starving teacher an apple . . . or a burrito . . . or a nice big salad . . . or maybe ice cream.

Brian Rutter, PhD, is the cofounder of Hundredfold Video and plant biologist working for 2Blades at the University of Minnesota. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive our “Sower Stories – Odd Facts About Plants” and video production tips in your inbox every month!