Who Are The Influencers of the Fruit World?

I'm sure we've all heard of Influencers, those people with blogs and YouTube channels who are helping companies market their products. So we thought, what about those old-school influencers, those people who discovered different fruits and made them so popular they are now sitting in fruit bowls around the world? We decided to find out.

Avocados

The avocado, which is now a staple of many people's diet, has been in the Mecican diet for almost 10,000 years, having originated in central Mexico. The first Europeans to eat avocados were Spanish explorers, who travelled to Central and South America in the 16th century. They called them "aguacate", which they took from the Mexican name, "ahuacatl". By this time, avocados had spread from Mexican into parts of South America. The Spanish then brought avocados to Europe and sold them to other countries.

Who is the Influencer in this story? Well, there's a couple; Sir Hans Sloane, an Irish naturalist, is beliueved to be the person who coined the word "avocado" in 1696. Then we have Henry Perrine, a horticulturalist, who first planted avocados in Florida in 1833. They didn't become a corporate crop until the 1950's, when people started putting them in salads.

Pink Crisp apples

Pink Crisp (or otherwise known as it's brand name, Pink Lady) is a delicious apple which is a cross between a Golden Delicious, and a Lady Williams. Who was the influencer who made this delicious apple? It was John Cripps, an Australian plant- breeder who had the ingenious idea to cross these two fruits in 1973, creating an apple which is one of our most popular apples!

Satsuma

We believe the satsuma may have originated in China, but it was first reported in Japan more than 700 years ago where it is the major cultivar grown. The Influencer in this case? The wife of a United States minister to Japan, General Van Valkenberg, is believed to have coined the name "satasuma", and the General sent tres home in 1878 from Satsuma, the name of a former province (now Kagoshima Prefecture), on the southern tip of Kyushu island.

Pears

The Williams Pear is one of our most eaten pears, but where did it come from?
The Williams pear is thought to date from 1765 to 1770,from an English schoolmaster called Mr. John Stair. A nurseryman, our Influencer in this case, later acquired the variety, and after he introduced it to the rest of England, it became known as the Williams pear, as per his last name. The pear's full name is William's Bon Chretien, or "Williams' Good Christian". It is known in the US as the Barlett pear.

Who's your favourite fruit influencer out of these four? Let us know @office_fruit!