∗ Although the fruit is not actually named or described in the Bible, apples are commonly regarded as the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. This smudge on the apple´s reputation may be un-deserving, however, as archeological evidence argues that the apple was unknown in the Middle East at the time the Book of Genesis was written. The poet John Milton might have first named the apple is the biblical fruit of the Garden of Eden in Paradise Lost.

∗ During the Jewish celebration of Rosh Hashanah, apple slices are dipping in honey and eaten in hopes for a sweet new year. A traditional food of Passover is Haroset, a mixture of apple, nuts, win and spices, representing the bricks and mortar the Children of Israel were forced to use to build for their captors during their captivity in Egypt.