Posted on 09/17/2022 6:15:27 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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The Culinary History Of America’s Favorite Fruit: Apples
Botanically speaking, the Malus genus of trees hails from the Rosaceae family of rose bushes. They are popular with pollinators and aesthetically pleasing, particularly when covered in their signature white and pink springtime blossoms, but much more importantly they yield a fruit that is among the most widely beloved and cultivated across the globe: the apple (Malus Domestica).
Per Illinois University Extension, sour, inedible crab apples are the only kind of apples that are native to U.S. soil; the rest originated in Asia. The apple that spawned Malus Domestica and all of the delicious hybrids that have since followed, is known scientifically as Malus sieversii. It came from Kazakhstan and was identified by a Russian scientist named Nikolai Vavilov in 1929 (via BBC Travel), back when wild apple trees covered untamed forests and hybridized themselves without restriction. Historians believe the Silk Road trade, notes Smithsonian Magazine, is what brought Malus sieversii out of Kazakhstan and into the rest of the world.
To grow and care for an apple tree, you’ll need a modest amount of space, some cold weather, and a ton of sunshine. However, if you’d like yours to bear fruit, you’ll need one more thing: a second apple tree. That’s because apple trees can only produce fruit if they receive pollen from another variety of apple trees, as explained by the University of Minnesota Extension.
Apples arrive in America
Malus Domestica finally made its way to American shores towards the end of the 1500s in the hands and pockets of French Jesuits, says North Carolina Historic Sites. Not long after that, apples hitched a ride across the ocean with the Pilgrims in the early 17th century, landing in what would become Massachusetts. The trees did so well in their new environment that, by the mid-1600s, it is believed that most of Maryland was covered in orchards.
The majority of trees grown in early colonial orchards produced fruits that were too tart to eat. Spitters, as they were called, were instead crushed into apple cider, which fermented quickly. No one appeared bothered by the alcoholic properties of the hard cider that was consumed by everyone, including children. Soon authorities declared that every able-bodied person was required to clear and improve land to keep it, reports Smithsonian Magazine, and planting an orchard was an easy way to do so.
Unfortunately, this solution to one problem did nothing to solve another; the colonists needed to hydrate their families and feed them. But just as domestic apple trees needed to be imported to the New World, so did the honey bee.
Well, no freeze last night. It didn’t get as cold as the night before so I didn’t need to cover everything after all.
You just never know.
Here in Western Pa our treetops are already beginning to turn. One particular tree I watch every year so I can gauge where the season is at.
Being Michigan raised - best apples are Mcintosh ...
Guess best Apple “arguments” are like best BBQ “arguments” - all a matter of taste...
Malus sieversii apples supposedly have a MUCH wider range of flavors than domesticated apples, and are very disease and pest resistant. One of my goals is to establish a dozen or or more of the better-tasting Malus sieversii trees on my farm. Getting hold of them is incredibly difficult, but I keep trying.
A riddle from OK (I think OK is in Zone 7). My tomato plants (”reborn” after the hellish June-July-August heat wave broke) still haven’t produced any tomatoes, just a multitude of blossoms. It’s been a few weeks, but the blossoms don’t produce fruit, nor do they shrivel up and fall off the stems.
Anyone have any thoughts? Do I leave them be, or go ahead and pull them up? It’s almost like they’re in “suspended animation”.
CLICK ON THE PICTURE!
I like a crisp apple, so my current favorite is Honeycrisp. Red Delicious and Golden Delicious are always mushy now, haven’t had a crisp one in many years. McIntosh and Winesap were family favorites when I was a kid. I haven’t seen Winesaps for a very long time.
7 reasons Tomatoes do not set fruit
You could take a small paint brush and try to hand pollinate and see if you can get some fruit. Depending on your season--its late--you might get some of them large enough to ripen, or large enough to bring inside to ripen! Good Luck!
Many thanks Pete! Will give it a try.
Good Morning!
Two apple stories .....
My dad’s college roommate & his wife used to visit during the fall for the Tobacco Festival football game. This was back before smoking was totally demonized, as you can tell by the name. Anyway, ‘Chick’ had a nursery and orchard and he would bring us a bushel basket each of Golden and Red Delicious apples. He personally picked them out of the harvest for us so they were ‘perfect’ and very large. We kept them in our basement (full basement) where it was cool. These apples were fresh off the trees, had never been in cold storage or laying around in a grocery store. We kids could not wait to get home and have an apple or two. From the top of the stairs, you could already SMELL them ... delicious before the first bite!. When you did actually eat them, they were oh-so-juicy, sweet and ‘crisp’ and the flavor was wonderful ... I have never had apples as good since.
When I was doing a lot of hiking in the mountains, there was one particular road coming out of the mountains where, near the bottom, there were apple stands where the ‘locals’ were selling some of their crop. These apples were also ‘fresh’ ... never in cold storage, etc. The two apples that I remember them selling are Rome & McIntosh. Probably some Granny Smith & Winesap were in the mix as well. I don’t recall the Red & Golden Delicious, but they were probably also at some of the stands. We would stop at a stand or two that looked interesting along the road and usually ended up with a couple of small brown paper bags with various apples varieties.
Mom and I were ‘talking apples’ yesterday & she was also remembering Chick’s fantastic apples. She wants to go to an orchard and pick some now, but there are no pick-your-own orchards near us - the closest are at least an hour & a half away so that’s a ‘no go’ for the folks, unfortunately. Two of my nieces live in ‘orchard territory’ so one of these years in the future, maybe I can tag along with them. :-)
My garden and yard took quite a beating during the relentless 105 degree days (12 days in all). Felt like I was living in Phoenix and Florida combined (humidity was high too).
Glad it's over and not looking forward to the power bill for all the a/c I had to run.
A few plants liked the heat as long as they were watered.
These hibiscus, "C'est Bon":
And "Hawaiian Crush":
Cactus also enjoyed the heat:
Happy Gardening! And pray for rain.
We’re starting to see color, too.
I don’t know where they get off saying that Cortlands are sweeter than Macs.
Perhaps they test actual sugar content but I would never have put them in that order.
Our family’s favorite for eating is Empire, hands down.
I put Cortlands right next to them. They are a very crisp and somewhat tart, apple.
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