History of Fruit

Fruit has been with us for a while, as the following brief, selective history will show. If you want to know more, the books mentioned at the end of this history are more than comprehensive.

Almonds are native to western Asia and the Middle East. They were known to the Phoenicians and the ancient Hebrews and so are mentioned in the Bible. The Egyptians also grew them. The Romans also grew almonds and they have been popular ever since. They are now widely grown in California, South Africa and South Australia.

The apple has been grown for thousands of years. Indeed, it could be said it goes back to the beginning of time as it is purported to have led to the Fall of Adam and Eve. It is also said that an apple refreshed Mohammed just before he breathed his last. Back on earth, it was well-known in Ancient China and Egypt, as well as to the ancient Greeks and Romans: Pliny the Elder talked of 37 varieties when writing in 23AD. Apples have been popular and widely available ever since. Indeed, today there are over 5,000 named apple varieties. The term “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” appears to have originated in the 19th century and is still quoted, with some accuracy, to this day. (Also see pomegranate).

Apricots originally came from China or Siberia – some 4000 years ago, it is said. In ancient times they spread across Persia to the Mediterranean region and the Romans knew them and loved them. However, they never succeeded in transplanting them to Northern Europe. Apricots did reach Britain in the 13th century but were only successfully introduced in the 16th century. Later the Arabs grew apricots. The luxury of eating them fresh is still fairly rare as the season is quite short: the canned version is just not the same...

Avocados originated in Central America and the Spanish discovered them there in the 16th century. Its anglicised name is a corruption of the Aztec world ahuacatl, which was apparently used to both describe the fruit and the testicle. In the 19th century avocados were introduced to the USA and Australia. However in Europe avocados only really became popular in the late 20th century. There are three main types: Guatemalans are mostly large, green and warty, except for the purple but still very warty Hass; Mexicans are smaller and West Indian avocados are large and smooth-skinned.

Bananas are native to South-East Asia and most tropical and semi-tropical regions and most cultivated bananas are probably descendants of wild bananas from eastern Asia and Indonesia. However by 500BC they were being grown in India. The Egyptians also cooked with the Abyssinian banana. Alexander the Great ate them and his men took them back to the Western World. By 200AD bananas were being grown in China. Bananas were probably taken to Madagascar by the Arabs and spread from there to mainland Africa. In the 16th century the Portuguese took bananas to the New World. The first recorded sale of bananas in England was in 1633. However, they were a rare and expensive fruit until the end of the 19th century. Bananas were first sold in the USA in the 1870s – probably by a certain Dole Fruit Company.

Blackberries grew wild in Europe, Asia and North and South America – and still do. For thousands of years people ate blackberries and blackberry remains have been found in many of the earliest European habitations. So much fruit has been available in hedges and woods that it has never been cultivated on a large scale. It has also, since ancient times, been used as a medicine. High in antioxidants like all berries, they are good for the cardiovascular system in particular.

In the Middle Ages and for centuries afterwards blackcurrants were used only as a medicine. During World War II the government encouraged people to grow them as they were a rich source of Vitamin C. Most were made into cordial and blackcurrant drinks have remained popular in Britain and Europe since then. A product called Ribena (the name comes from the black currant’s Latin name: Ribes) is a part of growing up in Britain to this day.

Blueberries, huckleberries or whortleberries are native to Europe as a low shrub found on heaths and moors but the fruit is particularly popular now in North America, where they were eaten by Native Americans (sometimes with meat). They were also used as a medicine. Europeans learned how to grow blueberries and from the late 19th century they were canned. Blueberries are better-fruiting than huckleberries, which is why they remain largely unknown today (apart from Mark Twain’s eponymous character, Huckleberry Finn). The smaller, related Northern European bilberry is very hard to cultivate so remains largely a wild fruit.

Cherries are native to Asia and Cherry Blossom Time is particularly celebrated in Japan. Cherries were eaten by the Chinese, the Greeks and the Romans. However in Northern Europe cherries only really became popular in the late Middle Ages. In Britain, that coincided with Henry VIII reintroducing them from France and by 1640 the cherry orchards of Kent were well established. In the 17th century colonists also took cherries to North America. There are sweet and sour cherries (such as the Morello), all used for cooking. Short-seasoned like apricots, they are a particular luxury fresh.

Figs have been grown in the Middle East since prehistoric times: indeed, along with the apple, the fig leaf took a starring role in Eden, covering Adam’s private parts. They were also mentioned in Sumer (Iraq) as early as 2500 BC. They were a staple food in Egypt and were later grown by the Greeks and Romans. The Greeks claimed they were given to them by the goddess Aphrodite (Demeter). Pliny, in Roman times in 60AD, notes no fewer than 29 varieties of fig (he obviously had a thing about fruit!). Figs were probably introduced to England by the Romans and also to China in the 8th century AD. Figs were taken by Spaniards to the Americas in the 16th century. Figs were also introduced to England again in the 16th century. There are now over 600 fig species, including such well-known ornamentals as the India rubber plant and the weeping fig.

Gooseberries are native to Europe and Western Asia. Green and distinctively hairy, they were first mentioned in England in the 13th century when they were mentioned in purchases made for the Westminster garden of Edward I in 1276. By the 19th century they were a very popular food and the Victorians competed to grow larger and larger fruit. The name gooseberry may simply be goose berry because they were eaten with goose or it may be a corruption of the Dutch word kruisbes, which means cross berry.

The Cape Gooseberry is quite different – smooth, yellow-orange and wrapped in a papery cocoon, it is reputed to be native to Peru and Chile. A tropical South American plant (Physalis peruviana), it was grown by early settlers at the Cape of Good Hope before 1807. Soon after its adoption in the Cape of Good Hope it was carried to Australia and there acquired its common English name. It was one of the.few fresh fruits of the early settlers in New South Wales. There it has long been grown on a large scale and is abundantly naturalised.

It is not known exactly how the grapefruit originated although it was known as the “shaddock” or “shattuck” until the 1800s, taking the name from Captain Shaddock, who introduced the pomelo to the Caribbean from Polynesia in the 17th century. It was first formally recorded in 1750 by the Rev. Griffith Hughes describing specimens from Barbados, where the grapefruit is said to be one of the "Seven Wonders of Barbados”. It is believed to be a hybrid of two other fruits – the pomelo and the sweet orange. Pink grapefruit sealed grapefruit’s commercial. success. The Ruby Red has even become a symbol fruit for Texas, where white "inferior" grapefruit were eliminated and only red grapefruit grown for decades.

Vitis vitaceae (table) and vinifera (wine) grape varieties go back a long, long time. They were first cultivated in Caucasia in perhaps 6000BC. Cultivation progressed into Egypt and Phoenicia in about 3000BC. By 2000BC, viticulture reached Greece, and by 1000BC it had reached Italy, Sicily and North Africa. Residents of Spain, Portugal and France began viticulture in 500BC and finally the practice spread into eastern and Northern Europe and even the British Isles. Grapes were, obviously, used to make wine, whose history is considerable, and have a number of famous historical characters associated with them. Cleopatra, for instance, was said to have had a particular love for grapes and is purported by schoolboy myth to have come up with the sybaritic phrase: “Peel me a grape”. In 1970, per capita consumption of grapes in the United States was 2.5 pounds (just over a kilogramme). Today the total hovers around eight pounds (3.6kg). The move from seeded to seedless grapes is comparatively recent and Dole’s Mando varieties include a number of this increasingly popular variant, as well as a large-graped variety rejoicing in the name of Moonballs...

Hazelnuts were known in ancient times and are believed to be native to Asia. They were grown by the Chinese and also by the Greeks and the Romans. Hazelnuts were first grown in the USA in the 18th century.

Kiwifruit is native to South-East Asia. Although grown in China for centuries as the Chinese Gooseberry, kiwifruit were not commercially grown in the West until the 20th century. In fact, its resurgence in the West originated in New Zealand in 1904 when a certain Ms Isabel Fraser brought back some little black seeds from China and the New Zealand kiwifruit industry was born, taking its name from New Zealand’s national bird. In the last few decades of the 20th century kiwifruit has become popular throughout the world in both its green and more recently yellow-fleshed varieties.

Lemons originally came from Southern Asia and China. They later reached the Middle East, in the 10th century, and they were known to the Romans although they were rare in the Roman Empire. Later the Arabs introduced lemons to Spain and Sicily – and they are recorded as being grown in Genoa by the mid 15th century. Common in both North African and Middle Eastern cooking, they became more popular in northern Europe in the 15th century. Thereafter it appears Columbus did his bit in spreading them around the world, as they are recorded as growing in the Azores in 1494 and the Antilles in 1557. They had reached orchard size in South America in 1587 and Cuba was also covered in them at about the same time. They are now mainly grown in California, Florida, Israel, Spain and South Africa.

Limes are native to Southern Asia. The Arabs took them to the Mediterranean area and later the Crusaders took them to Europe. Columbus took limes to the West Indies. From 1795 British sailors were given rations of lime juice to prevent scurvy. A smaller tree than the lemon, the small green fruits do not travel well and are mainly consumed locally or made into cordial. Again, Rose’s Lime Juice Cordial is a staple of childhood memories all over the world. Limes are round and do not have the lemon’s characteristic nipple – useful for distinguishing unripe lemons sold as limes.

Loganberries are a hybrid of the American dewberry (a type of blackberry) and raspberries, raised by a Judge John H. Logan of California in 1882. They were introduced to Britain in 1897. Related varieties include the boysenberry and the Scottish tayberry. Loganberries are much prized in cookery for their size and taste – and are particularly good in jam.

Lychees or Litchis come from Malaysia and are also native to China, where they have been grown for centuries. However lychees were unknown in Europe until the 18th century. From the late 19th century lychees were grown in Hawaii, California and Florida and southern Africa. They need tropical conditions to flourish.

Mangoes are native to southern Asia and India in particular. In the 10th century Persian merchants brought them to the Middle East and they are recorded first by a Friar Jordanus in about 1300. By the 18th century they were grown in South America and the West Indies. Today they are also grown in Florida and southern Africa.

The early history of melons is unclear. However melons are probably native to western Asia. They were known in China and they were cultivated by the Arabs. In the Middle Ages they were imported into Europe. It seems the first reference to the sweet melons we know today comes from the 15th and 16th centuries, probably as a result of hybridisation of earlier, more bitter melons. In the 16th century melons were taken to the New World by the Spanish: indeed, Columbus writes of returning to the New World to find melons growing aplenty where his earlier expedition had landed and eaten melons, discarding the seeds. Likewise, melons have now reached most warm parts of the globe and are very popular with gardeners.

Oranges are native to China and they were grown in that country as early as 2,500 BC. The Romans imported oranges but after the fall of Rome they were forgotten in Western Europe. When the Arabs conquered Spain in the 8th century they introduced oranges and Seville oranges were born. Later they were introduced into Italy and oranges were recorded as growing in Sicily in 1002AD. In the 16th century Spaniards took oranges to the Americas. In the 17th century rich Englishmen began growing oranges: indeed, many stately homes had orangeries built onto them for this very purpose. By the 18th century, oranges were well-established throughout the world. It is probably, along with the apple, one of the most popular fruits to this day.

Passion fruits were native to central South America. They were given their name by the Spaniards who were reminded of the passion of Christ by the vine’s flower, which is extraordinarily intricate and beautiful. Passion fruits were introduced into Europe in 1699 and into England and Australia in the 19th century. Popular in warm countries, they are often grown in sunrooms and on patios – more for the flowers than the fruits, which are rather ugly and wrinkled when ripe (but deliciously sweet and tart inside).

The melon-like paw-paw or papaya is native to Central America. The Spanish discovered the paw-paw in 1541. However paw-paws did not become popular in Europe until the end of the 20th century. It is now popular in many warm countries.

Peaches came from China – Confucius writes of them - where they were grown by 800 BC. There were many varieties and stones produced many trees but few of them fruited. Later the Persians grew them and the Greeks and Romans ate them too. Peaches were brought to the Americas in the 16th century and thrived, perhaps because the necessary winters were on tap. They were eaten in England in the 17th century but they were rare and expensive until the 20th century.

Pears are native to Europe and North Asia. Pears were grown by the Greeks and by the Romans. Pliny (again) records 41 varieties, and a man called Palladius wrote of 56. Pears were grown in England in the Middle Ages and many new varieties were grown in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. In 1842, more than 700 varieties were recorded. Nowadays, the popular varieties such as Conference, Comice and Williams predominate. As well as being eaten pears were used to make perry: in England, a dreadful but strangely popular drink called Babycham was, in fact, a champagne perry (fizzy pear juice).

Pineapples originally grew in South America and Christopher Columbus discovered them in 1493: indeed, it appears that their discovery caused almost as much of a stir as the discovery of the New World itself. However, during the 16th and 17th centuries pineapples were very expensive in Europe as they had to be imported. By the early 18th century pineapples were grown in hothouses in Northern Europe but they were still very costly. In the 19th century pineapples became cheaper. Pineapples were first canned in the late 19th century - Dole was amongst the early pioneers - but canned pineapple first became really common in the early 20th century. Fresh pineapple is still a luxury in Northern Europe compared to its native lands, which are predominantly Hawaii (Dole’s original home), Australia, Malaysia and South Africa.

Plums are an ancient fruit. They grew wild in Europe, Western Asia and the Caucasus, as well as North America. Plums were grown by the Ancient Chinese and the Romans and later by the Arabs. They naturalised in Greece first and then throughout temperate climates. The Crusaders brought damsons back from the Middle East to Europe. They were imported to North America in the 17th century and flourished. Indeed, the notorious prune (a plum left to dry on the tree) was a major export for California. Today the many varieties of plum are one of the world’s most popular fruits and research has.recently proven that they are very good for us.

Pomegranates were native to Iran and they have been grown for thousands of years. They were eaten by the Egyptians and also by the Ancient Chinese, the Greeks and the Romans. Pomegranates were known in Europe in the Middle Ages and they were mentioned by Shakespeare. Pomegranates were introduced into the New World in the 16th century. Pomegranate is believed to be a corruption of the old French words.pome garnete, which meant seed apple. Not the easiest of fruit to eat, they nevertheless have a strong following due to their jewel-like flesh, attractive flowers and exotic allure. Some claim that Eden’s first forbidden fruit was in fact taken from a pomegranate tree and not an apple tree.

Raspberries are native to both Europe and Asia – prehistoric traces have been found in Switzerland. The Romans grew them and they were also grown in England from the Middle Ages onwards. Raspberries also grew wild, like brambles and blackberries, so were little mentioned in literature. This seems odd considering how delicious they are. Apparently, they were used as a medicine as well as a food and the bramble was considered a superior fruit at the time. Not the case today.

Rhubarb’s distinctive pink stems are native to China (records date form 2700BC) and for thousands of years people believed it was a medicine. Rhubarb reached Europe in the 17th century and by the 18th century the French (who else?) were using it as a food as well as medicine – making it into pies and tarts. Introduced to Maine in 1790, by the 19th century rhubarb had become a popular food in North America.

Strawberries grew wild in Europe and eastern North America. They were grown by the Romans and were a popular fruit in Europe during the Middle Ages. In the 19th century strawberries became widely cultivated in the USA. Nobody knows why they are called strawberries. They may once have been called strewn berries because the berries are strewn on the plant. Or the name may come from the old word strew, which meant to spread because runners spread from the plant. They are synonymous with summer and summer activities – Wimbledon being one.

Tangerines are native to South East Asia. They were introduced into Europe in the early 19th century and they were named Tangerines because they came from the port of Tangier in North Africa. Tangerines were introduced into the USA in the mid-19th century. Interchangeable with mandarins, clementines and naartjies, the tangerine is a popular winter fruit in Northern Europe and appears in the oddest place, most notably at the bottom of Christmas stockings for English children of a certain age and era.

Tomatoes are native to South America, spreading to Central and Northern America.with human migrations about 2000 years ago. The Spaniards came across them in the 16th century. However tomatoes were unknown in England until the end of the 16th century and were considered poisonous at first. It was first used as a food in, unsurprisingly, Italy – and has never looked back, partly because it was initially considered an aphrodisiac. It got to America again in the late 1700s and ketchup was being made as early as 1779. Thomas Jefferson had them in his garden and a certain Mr Heinz, of course, made it immortal. Today, it is a staple in almost every shopper’s trolley.

Walnuts first grew in Persia. They were grown by the Greeks and later by the Romans and walnuts spread through Europe from the 1st century BC. Grown for food and timber, walnuts are known for their distinctive appearance, tough exterior (many a walnut has travelled across a room in bits or whole when entrance has been attempted) and, interestingly as a valuable dietary source of phosphorus. History has yet to relate whether they therefore make you glow in the dark. Walnuts were well known in England by the 16th century and continue to be popular in cooking and chocolate. The Walnut Whip certainly made it famous in England in the 1960s. And it has never looked back..

Vegetables, Herbs and Fruit: An Illustrated Encyclopaedia by Matthew Biggs, Jekka McVicar and Bob Flowerdew (Firefly, San Diego, 2002)

Fruit – An Illustrated History by Peter Blackburn-Maze (Scriptum, London, 2002)

A Brief History of Fruit & Vegetables by Tim Lambert on www.localhistories.org