From apple pie on Thanksgiving Day to Johnny Appleseed stories passed down for generations, the apple has been a symbol of American culture. But the first apples actually originated halfway around the world, below the towering, snow-capped mountains of Central Asia in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. And now, wild apples growing in that very region might be the key to ensuring the long-term survival of a fruit whose genetic diversity consists of more than a century of agricultural cultivation practices.
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