<P> Apples appear in many religious traditions, often as a mystical or forbidden fruit . One of the problems identifying apples in religion, mythology and folktales is that the word "apple" was used as a generic term for all (foreign) fruit, other than berries, including nuts, as late as the 17th century . For instance, in Greek mythology, the Greek hero Heracles, as a part of his Twelve Labours, was required to travel to the Garden of the Hesperides and pick the golden apples off the Tree of Life growing at its center . </P> <P> The Greek goddess of discord, Eris, became disgruntled after she was excluded from the wedding of Peleus and Thetis . In retaliation, she tossed a golden apple inscribed Καλλίστη (Kalliste, sometimes transliterated Kallisti,' For the most beautiful one'), into the wedding party . Three goddesses claimed the apple: Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite . Paris of Troy was appointed to select the recipient . After being bribed by both Hera and Athena, Aphrodite tempted him with the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen of Sparta . He awarded the apple to Aphrodite, thus indirectly causing the Trojan War . </P> <P> The apple was thus considered, in ancient Greece, to be sacred to Aphrodite, and to throw an apple at someone was to symbolically declare one's love; and similarly, to catch it was to symbolically show one's acceptance of that love . An epigram claiming authorship by Plato states: </P> <P> I throw the apple at you, and if you are willing to love me, take it and share your girlhood with me; but if your thoughts are what I pray they are not, even then take it, and consider how short - lived is beauty . </P>

Where does the flesh of an apple come from