Love Letters in Crayon: Granny Smith Apple
Every decision you make could leave seeds in our shared story.
Every Friday afternoon, “64 to Infinity: Love Letters in Crayon” will illustrate the long, strange story of humankind in one of the 64 colors that make up this world-famous primary palette. Previously, we examined the vast potential found in working with our beautiful homeworld instead of against it through a Love Letter to the Goldenrod crayon. This week, nature rewards our stewardship with Granny Smith Apples!
Tantalizingly tart and tangy, the Granny Smith Apple that gives this crayon its name has a backstory that is arguably tastier than the fruit itself.
This product of Australia came into existence through that most reliable of human mediums: pure happenstance.
According to historians, this variety of apple was introduced to the global pantry by--you guessed it--a woman by the name of Granny Smith.
Answering to "Maria Ann" in her earlier years, Granny Smith is said to have written her page in the story of Earth food by simply tossing the core of an unsatisfactory apple out the window of her home one fateful day in the mid-1800s.
Taking root by chance after being pollinated by a nearby native, the seeds of this apple core soon bloomed into a strange-looking tree bearing a type of produce never before tasted in the 5,000 years of written history that preceded its appearance.
Granny Smith grew to love her accidental apples, and indeed, every apple of the type in existence today is a clone of the magical mistake growing in some humble hamlet just north of Sydney.
Turns out life, uh, finds a way.
The silhouette of this particular variety of apple provides the iconic logo of one of the most recognized names in multimedia...and if you're thinking of a certain computer company, any fan of the “Fab Four” will be happy to tell you just how wrong you are.
The granny smith apple was the emblem of Apple Corps Ltd, a multidivisional conglomerate formed by the band in 1968 to promote their music as well as other marketing ventures around the world.
As you might imagine, there was a fair bit of legal entanglement between the original Apple and the copycat founded in 1976, which was finally settled 30 years later in 2007 so everyone could finally let it be.
Today, the granny smith apple itself is widely utilized in cooking recipes for its firm texture and acidic zing. The bright green fruit also gives us the default apple flavoring used in candies, drinks, and other sugary delights, and now you see why I am obsessed with this color.
Some of my personal favorite pages from our shared story contain heavy doses of serendipity along with other nutrients, and Granny Smith Apple delivered more than its fair share. Tune in next week as we keep it in this family of shade with a crayon that represents the dead-center of our perceptive power when it comes to color: classic Green!
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