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Appalachian Apple hunter who rescued 1k ‘lost’ varieties (2021)

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Re: Appalachian Apple hunter who rescued 1k ‘lost’ varieties (2021)

#71

Post by pvaldes »

pfdietz wrote: post #45

So, what is your favorite apple variety? The one I'm currently liking is the King David.

That would need to add a month time axis.

My favorite apple for January is Perpetu "Everest", a crab apple that is small, hard and edible only in the strict sense, but oh, the birds that it attracts in the middle of the winter... Is unique in that sense. Unless the other apple trees, It keeps the fruits from Dec until March when the birds need it most. In your climate the mileage may vary.

For eating, Mingan, Golden or Rubinette are very tasty if picked in their moment, but my favorite apple is any resistant to the most diseases possible. This means a thick skin.

Re: Appalachian Apple hunter who rescued 1k ‘lost’ varieties (2021)

#72

Post by jacquesm »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #34

Used to walk a neighborhood near where we used to live near downtown. Go down a side street, at the end was a hayfield and a pond! In the middle of town. And by the pond, an apple tree. With apples the size of cannonballs. Big as your head. Somebody would stack the ones that fell into tripods. It was surreal. Anyway the place is developed now, the pond gone, the apple tree just a memory.

There is a strain of Golden Reinette that makes enormous apples, very tasty and great to make applesauce from. A bit on the sour side for many people but I love them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Reinette

Re: Appalachian Apple hunter who rescued 1k ‘lost’ varieties (2021)

#73

Post by agtech_andy »

_a_a_a_ wrote: post #43
leipert wrote: post #24

Kind of related: in former Eastern Germany they bred all kinds of new Pear varieties. Pears are a little more finicky than apples and the fruit bruise more easily. Furthermore a lot of the varieties will go bad really quickly, so you basically have to eat them from the tree. Because of those reasons there are just one or two varieties available in stores and there is not a lot of commercial interest in Pears. With th…

As you seem to know something about this, what's an apple/pear hybrid like? I assume they do hybridise. How about pear/quince? That should be an interesting one.

Quince is able to hybridize with apples and pears.

https://cornusmas.eu/catalogue/intergeneric-hybrids

has some information about some interesting mixes (and he sends out great plants if you are in Europe).

Palms also form fascinating hybrids and there is an active community of people around the world doing this and sharing information.

Re: Appalachian Apple hunter who rescued 1k ‘lost’ varieties (2021)

#74

Post by _a_a_a_ »

_a_a_a_ wrote: post #43
leipert wrote: post #24

Kind of related: in former Eastern Germany they bred all kinds of new Pear varieties. Pears are a little more finicky than apples and the fruit bruise more easily. Furthermore a lot of the varieties will go bad really quickly, so you basically have to eat them from the tree. Because of those reasons there are just one or two varieties available in stores and there is not a lot of commercial interest in Pears. With th…

As you seem to know something about this, what's an apple/pear hybrid like? I assume they do hybridise. How about pear/quince? That should be an interesting one.

If anyone interested I stumbled on this https://www.agroforestry.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/site-files... "Rosaceae family intergeneric hybrids" which covers a number including those mentioned here, plus hawthorn, medlar and rowan mashups

Re: Appalachian Apple hunter who rescued 1k ‘lost’ varieties (2021)

#75

Post by twic »

leipert wrote: post #24

Kind of related: in former Eastern Germany they bred all kinds of new Pear varieties. Pears are a little more finicky than apples and the fruit bruise more easily. Furthermore a lot of the varieties will go bad really quickly, so you basically have to eat them from the tree. Because of those reasons there are just one or two varieties available in stores and there is not a lot of commercial interest in Pears. With th…

Fascinating! I went to look for more information about this, and didn't find anything at all, but did find this charming and interesting piece about German pear varieties from long before the descent of the Iron Curtain:

https://cider-review.com/2021/09/20/pyrus-a-personal-voyage/

Re: Appalachian Apple hunter who rescued 1k ‘lost’ varieties (2021)

#76

Post by twic »

leipert wrote: post #58
ranit wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Swiss Orange“. Which is so ironic because there was no access to Switzerland nor good Oranges. Perhaps this is what made it desirable.

It’s a pretty good Apple as well. Very crisp and more fresh-sour after harvest and becomes more sweet when stored for a few weeks. And I stand corrected, it actually is Swiss and was created in 1935: https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schweizer_Orangenapfel

More information here for those of us who are teutonically challenged:

https://pomiferous.com/applebyname/schweitzer-orangenapfel-i...

Re: Appalachian Apple hunter who rescued 1k ‘lost’ varieties (2021)

#77

Post by twic »

GnarfGnarf wrote: post #6

Ironically, you will never find the best-tasting apples in your local grocery store. The tastiest apples are often smaller, brown or dark skin, not the big red 'juicy' apples the uninformed consumer thinks are the best. Viz. the Red "Delicious", whose flavor was bred out in favor of color and appearance. It is now insipid and flavorless. In the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia, the humble-looking Cox Orange is sweet a…

Cox's Orange Pippin is indeed a great apple (and perhaps more importantly, a parent to a huge number of delicious and more tractable varieties), but it's hardly brown or dark - it looks like a textbook apple to me:

https://pomiferous.com/applebyname/coxs-orange-pippin-id-213...

And careful with "your local" anything on the internet - in the UK, in season, every single supermarket in the country has Coxes.

Re: Appalachian Apple hunter who rescued 1k ‘lost’ varieties (2021)

#78

Post by twic »

walnutclosefarm wrote: post #36
floatrock wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> An apple variety is only really rescued when it has found a home in commerce and some significant consumer base wants it. This is such a sad viewpoint on the world when biodiversity is valued only if it is commercially exploitable. See other threads on what "home in commerce" really means: optimizing for transportability and uniformity at the expense of flavor and nutrition. Late to the heirloom party, but this sum…

> When you say something needs to be commercially successful to be viable, be careful what you're optimizing for. I'm optimizing for survival. If an apple variety has no market, it won't be eaten or enjoyed (so it becomes at best a museum accession), and in the longer term, it won't be grown, propagated or maintained, and because these things don't live forever, and don't propagate themselves, it will disappear. It d…

It takes money to keep a variety alive, but commerce isn't the only source of money. A properly supported public collection, for example:

https://brogdalecollections.org/the-fruit-collection/

Re: Appalachian Apple hunter who rescued 1k ‘lost’ varieties (2021)

#79

Post by dendrite9 »

blamazon wrote: post #2

I recently caught an apple-centric episode of 'Gastropod' and definitely recommend it. [1] I like podcasts that have transcripts, and invite you to this moment where a few layers were added to my understanding of well known American figure 'Johnny Appleseed'[2]: > TWILLEY: Johnny would get a mush of seeds and apple cores thrown out by a cider mill, and he would stick it in a dugout canoe, and tie that to another cano…

I also like podcasts with transcripts for when there are little segments I'd like to share with people. Sometimes they aren't the tagged segments, when available, but rather just a few lines in the middle.

Here's a podcast (w/transcript) about a collection of 120 old apple varieties in Massachusetts. https://awaytogarden.com/historic-apples-get-a-new-start-wit...

Re: Appalachian Apple hunter who rescued 1k ‘lost’ varieties (2021)

#80

Post by dieselgate »

leipert wrote: post #24

Kind of related: in former Eastern Germany they bred all kinds of new Pear varieties. Pears are a little more finicky than apples and the fruit bruise more easily. Furthermore a lot of the varieties will go bad really quickly, so you basically have to eat them from the tree. Because of those reasons there are just one or two varieties available in stores and there is not a lot of commercial interest in Pears. With th…

Interesting, thanks for the information especially on Eastern Germany. I'm not super familiar with many apple/pear varieties but worked as quality control for a pear packaging factory for a summer. The fruit are basically picked hard and processed/packaged the same day. The most common defects are punctures from the short stems and then maybe bruising. I think most defective pears are then used for canning or similar products.

They do ripen really quick and turn from hard green to yellow/brown in a few days. A perfect pear is so good..

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