In his commentary on Genesis 1:11, Rashi says
:
Fruit trees: That the taste of the tree should be like the taste of the fruit. It [the earth] did not do so, however, but “the earth gave forth, etc., trees producing fruit,” but the trees themselves were not fruit. Therefore, when man was cursed because of his iniquity, it [the earth] too was punished for its iniquity. - [from Gen. Rabbah 5:9].
If we took the time to read all the notes and notations associated with Rashi's comment (say in the
Sapirstein Edition Rashi), we'd come to appreciate that Rashi is claiming that when ha-adam was cursed by reason of his original sin, the ground, and its produce, the trees, was cursed right along with him. Rashi is saying something profound to those with circumcised ears. He's claiming that prior to ha-dam's original sin, Cain should have been born a righteous Jewish firstborn rather than a
rasha. Cain's conduct, his fruit, should have been like ha-adam's fruit, conduct, prior to the sin.
But that ain't so. Cain's fruit don't taste like ha-adam's prelapsarian fruit. Cain's conduct as a murderer tastes different than ha-adam's righteous acts prior to his first sin.
When Rashi says the fruit should taste like the tree, he's claiming we can eat the bark and it will taste exactly like the fruit, since prior to sin, the bark is fruit and the fruit hasn't the bite of sin, which, sin's bite, though it tastes fruity and good, ends up like wormwood in the belly of one subject to a death sentence like the one just written.