This apple has streaks of red running
through its white flesh. The tale begins on a spring day in 1693 when a
jewelry peddler visited old Micah Rood's farm in Franklin, Pennsylvania.
Shortly after, the peddler was found murdered under an apple tree in
Rood's orchard, but his jewelry was never recovered. Rood wasn"t convicted
of the crime. According to legend, though, all the apples harvested from
the tree that autumn had streaks of blood inside. Rood died of fright
after seeing them, and the "damned" spots or streaks were called "Micah
Rood's curse" from that day on. When recounting this story, don't ruin it
by quibbling that apples with red streaks running through the flesh were
common before Rood's time, that they are simply 'sports," or mutations
like the famous Golden Delicious variety and many others. There seems to
be no record of a farmer named Micah Rood, but two peddlers were murdered
around that time.