The word apple is always on a cell by itself?
=COUNTIF(your_range,"apple")

If it isn't, then try:
=COUNTIF(your_range,"*"&"apple"&"*")

TJ

"CJ" wrote:

I would like to be able to count the instances of "apple" in the
following example, where each line is the value in one cell:

column 1

x apple
apple x
x x
x apple x

to get the answer = 4 instances of apple.

How can I do this in excel?

any help greatly appreciated

CJ