The Apple In Your Eye: Exploring Further With Ritual

The apples that sit in our fruit bowl, that are tucked into lunches, that we eat year-round. An apple a day keeps the doctor away. The apple, a simple standby, a round form that is as familiar to us as bread or honey. As American as apple pie. But apples are not native here. They came from ancient Asia and made their way to the New World far, far later, changing form with every planted seed. (The only way to get the same baby apple tree as the parent is to graft it, since each apple seed contains a different genetic code.) We forget their mercurial, exotic history. Instead, “A” is for “apple” as we learn the alphabet. Apples are common, nearly invisible in their prevalence.

The apple: a symbol of the mundane, but also of sin. Something so innocent as to grace school lunches, but so seductive that it has been blamed for the Fall of Man (at least according to Christianity.) As Maia Toll so perfectly puts it in her book The Illustrated Herbiary: 

“Apple has been given grief since ‘In the beginning…,’ when she learned that feeding people and teaching them to know themselves can be a dangerous thing. She became associated with snakes, shame, and fig leaves, and it’s been all dance lessons, curtsies, and domestication from there. Apple is the witch of the wild wood forced to clean up and come in for tea…”

How fascinating it can be to shift our attention to something we know so well we have forgotten to explore deeper. In one of my favorite childrens’ books, Heartbeat by Sharon Creech, the pre-teen narrator takes that journey as well. When her art teacher, Miss Feely, assigns the class to draw the same apple every day for one hundred days, there is a lot of confusion. The teacher puts an end to the questioning with: 

“Yes, Miss Feely said.

I think you will discover some interesting things. 

I think you will discover the un-ordinary-ness of an apple.”

This ritual is about noticing the details and seeing something as common as an apple in a whole new light. It will take several hours, so be prepared to commit to the process on a calm winter evening. This ritual is not about perfection. In fact, it is about pushing yourself past your initial viewpoints to a new kind of expression. You are under no obligation to show your drawings to anyone at all, so release that perfectionism or fear! 

You’ll need: 

A large pad of inexpensive paper

An easel (optional) 

An apple

Drawing materials of choice - colored pencils, chalk and/or oil pastels, markers, paint pens, etc. 

Instrumental background music (optional) 

Directions: 

1. Set up your drawing space. Put on some background music. Use an easel if that is more comfortable for you, or just lay the pad in front of you on the table. Illuminate the apple in some way. 

2. Set a timer for one hour. In this time, you are going to create 6 drawings, which means you’ll have 10 minutes for each one. You’ll be drawing the same apple for all of your drawings. You can turn it, change the lighting, change your medium, and change your interpretation - but always, the same apple. 

3. Once your first hour has finished, take a little break. Give your eyes a rest, stand up and stretch a bit, maybe grab a snack. Then, sit back down at your work area and set a timer for another hour. This time, you’re going to draw 30 pictures of that apple, giving you only two minutes per drawing. You’ll need to release any perfectionism and start drawing in more expressive ways. Get creative about capturing the essence of that apple on the paper. Push yourself. 

4. At the end of your second hour, take a little break. Use your third hour to look over your many drawings and pick one or two to expand on. Give them careful attention and see if you can express the apple in its truest form, what it feels like to you. Focus closely so your brain doesn’t have any time for the doubting thoughts that sometimes pay a visit during creative endeavors. Remember, this ritual is not about the finished artwork, it’s about the process. (Though you may be surprised at how much you like some of your creations!) 

5. When you’re finished with your three hours of drawing, cut up the apple. Really taste it. Notice the flavor, the texture, how it feels in your mouth. Is it sweet? Sour? Take some time to journal about your experience both eating and drawing the apple. How did it make you feel? Did you learn anything? Do you have any new insights? What did you perceive as the essence of the apple? 

Perhaps you, like me, were drawn to the sweet flavor of a shiny red apple. I suppose our cultural love of apples begins with sweetness, after all. The desire for sweetness is hard-wired into our biology. It’s left over from a time when sweetness in nature was rare and special, representing something high in calories, something that was good for us. For centuries we have sought out perfectly-ripe fruit; in fact, the color red itself is associated with the flavor of being sweet. According to the experimental psychologist Charles Spence, foods served from red vessels taste sweeter than foods served from any other color. And apples are one such vessel: a perfect container of sweetness that is easily stored and transported. 

The sweetness of apples were their ticket to the world. Apples originated in Central Asia, but soon enticed travelers into transporting them into China along the spice route known as “The Silk Road.” According to Michael Pollan in his wonderful book The Botany of Desire, “Thousands of years ago, the apple put us to work, transporting its genes from its native ground in central Asia, to the far corners of the earth.” From Asia, apples spread throughout Europe, settling into the culture and folklore of many ancient civilizations, where they continued to seduce. These stuffed apples are my ode to this fruit of commonality, pleasure, and temptation. 

Red Apples Stuffed With Braised Cabbage and Cherries:

This plant-based dish makes a wonderful side dish at a winter meal. Spiced red cabbage with cherries is full of flavor and rich red colors, all housed inside shiny red apples. Serves 8. 

Ingredients: 

1 Tbs. olive oil

1 red onion, finely chopped

1 star anise

1 tsp. Wild fennel seeds

1 cinnamon stick

½ c. dry red wine

½ red cabbage, finely sliced

1 Tbs. brown sugar

2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar

½ c. dried cherries, roughly chopped

Salt, to taste

Juice from 1 lemon

8 large red apples

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan on medium heat. Add the onion and cook until softened and translucent. Add the star anise, cinnamon stick, and red wine and simmer for 2 minutes. 

2. Add the cabbage, sugar, and cherries and stir well. Cover and simmer on low for (1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes or so. 

3. Meanwhile, prepare your apples: slice the top off, then scoop out the insides with a melon baller, leaving a ¼” thick shell. (Be careful not to punch through to the bottom!) As you go, dip the top and the bottom of the lid into lemon juice. Place the hollowed apples onto a small baking tray.

4. Reserve 1 ½ c. apple pieces (avoid the cores) and chop roughly. Add the reserved apple pieces and cook for another 20 minutes.  Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350F. 

5. Once the cabbage is done cooking, Remove cinnamon and star anise. Stuff the hollow apples with cabbage filling and place the tops back on. Add ¼” water to the bottom of the baking tray (this will keep the apples from sticking.)

6. Bake the filled apples for 25-35 minutes, or until softened to your liking. Garnish with more dried cherries and a star anise and serve warm or cold!

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