I’m not talking about the apple you just bought at the grocery store that could in fact be up to a year old.

A year old.

Nope. I’m talking about how long apples have been in existence.

We’re getting existential here.

Proof of apple cultivation has been found in archeological sites from Switzerland and Austria dating back to 3000 B.C. The wild apple ancestors of these European varieties most likely originate from Central Asia in southern Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Xinjiang, China. [source]

We can tell from these digs that apples were dried and stored for winter.

Mmmm stone age apples. Yabba dabba doo.