The Old English Pearmain, recorded in 1204 and so named because of its pear-like shape, was the main dessert apple until well into the eighteenth century. Its cooking partner was the Costard, which was sold in the markets of Oxford from 1296 until the end of the seventeenth century and gave us the word 'costermonger' meaning someone who sells fruit and vegetables in the street. But prosperity declined as the country was hit by successive droughts, the Black Death and the Wars of the Roses. Fewer apples were produced and more were imported. This went on until the sixteenth century when Henry VIII ordered his chief fruiterer, Richard Harris, to visit France and learn about apple cultivation. Harris returned with a 'great store of grafts' including the famous Pippins, from which he grew the first ever modem-style orchard at Teynham in Kent. Apples are now grown all over the world from Himachal Pradesh in northern India to small luxury orchards throughout Africa. Most, though, are grown commercially and come from just half a dozen varieties usually chosen for their red skin or because they travel well rather than because they taste good. A plague of uniformity is sweeping the world, numbing the tastebuds and reducing the gene pool. While amateur gardeners in the UK have kept many old apple varieties alive, the US has lost forever most of the apples it had 100 years ago. But consumers are starting to demand more variety. We can't leave the responsibility of saving diversity in our apples or any other food.