What fruit is typically bobbed for on Halloween?

The fruit typically bobbed for on Halloween is apples.

In the game, apples float in a tub or basin of water, and players try to catch one using only their teeth, without their hands. The custom is commonly called “bobbing for apples,” “apple bobbing,” or “ducking for apples.”

The tradition is linked to older autumn and Halloween customs in Britain and Ireland. Apples were associated with the Roman goddess Pomona, whose festival celebrated fruit and harvests; Pomona’s symbol was the apple. By the 18th and 19th centuries, apple games had also become connected with Halloween fortune-telling and matchmaking. In some versions, the first person to retrieve an apple was thought to be the next to marry.

A common mix-up is confusing apple bobbing with other Halloween games involving fruit, such as biting an apple hanging from a string. Those games also use apples, but the classic water-based activity specifically involves bobbing for them.