Among the most versatile and mythologized of all foods, apples come in over 7000 varieties, all descendants of the original, very tart, barely edible wild crab apple, native either to the Caucasus Mountains or to the Asian part of Turkey. (No one is sure.) Apples are members of the large and illustrious Rose family, and are now grown in almost every state of the U.S., especially Washington state, which produces more than one-quarter of the entire crop. The average American consumption of apples (including processed apple products) is about 120 per year, or roughly 40 pounds. That's per person per year! I would venture to guess the apple is the most-consumed fruit in this country.

APPLE LORE
Apples have been the subject of so much myth and lore, it's fun to list just a few of the legends, in highly abbreviated form:

• Aphrodite holds one in her hand
• Eve takes the fateful bite
• The serpent guards it
• It is the healing fruit of the Arabs
• It bestows immortality on the Turks
• Jealousy and greed over a golden apple indirectly trigger the anger that ignites the Trojan War
• Hercules obtains golden apples from the Gardens of Hesperides and uses them for I don't know what
• The Norse goddess, Idun, supplies magic apples to all the gods to provide eternal youth.
• Grimm fairy tales use apples as plot devices in at least several of their famous stories (most notably in Snow White) - symbolic of something or other
• A guy named Johnny Appleseed is largely responsible for spreading the cultivation of apples in the New World. (This last one is actually true, except, of course, that his name wasn't really Johnny Appleseed.)

Culinarily Speaking:
Buy firm, nicely-colored fruităblemish-free, and with intact stems, if possible. Store them in the refrigerator, for longest keeping. Ask your produce seller to let you taste the different varieties as they come into season, so you can get familiar with the many various kinds.

Apples are the most versatile of all fruits and vegetables! You can use them in savory or sweet dishes (see this month's recipes) and they are endlessly portable, so they are the world's most reliable snack. But you know all this! There is very little new to say about apples, other than to come up with countless new recipes, which is one of my favorite pastimes.

The two things I appreciate most about cooking/baking with apples:

• Apples blend incredibly well with other fruit without dominating the flavor of the finished product. So you can use apples to "fill out" fruit recipes featuring other fruit. For example, if you are making a fruit pie or a fruit crisp featuring a more expensive or rare fruit, like raspberries or quince, and you can't get enough of that precious fruit to fill the amount required, add apples to increase the volume. You will still get the benefit of the special other fruit's flavor, but apples will provide the needed bulk.
• Different types of apples blend beautifully with one another. When you combine various apple varieties in applesauce or a plain apple pie, you get wonderful, subtle layers of slightly different apple flavors. This is especially effective when you restrain yourself from using too much cinnamon (a uniquely American fixation, according to my English friend Tina) and instead add a dash of fresh lemon juice.

Nutritionally Speaking:
Apples are a good diuretic and an astringent. Full of fiber and water, they are very cleansing, especially for the digestive tract and the liver. When consumed raw, apples are good for cleaning the teeth and massaging the gums. Apples also contain pectin, a gel-forming fiber that helps the digestion of protein. And although the apple itself is not a substantial source of iron, it contains an element that improves the absorption and assimilation of iron in other foods.