The essence of an apple means: what it is fundamentally – it’s colour, shape, smell, texture, taste, how it grows, how it cooks. The truth is revealed by the perfect idea of an apple that exists in my mind. When I see an apple I know it is an apple. There are 7500 varieties in the world but it is always the same. I can recognise an apple whether it is an imperfect line drawing (and doesn’t really exist) or decayed (a shadow of the real thing) or hanging from a branch in an orchard.
A mature Red Delicious apple hanging from a commercial orchard tree.
Truth is the idea of apple in my mind which I can recognise in a drawing or rotten apple or apple on a tree.
Ruth Newell 