Heritage Apples

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Weedygarden

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https://applesearch.org/?fbclid=IwAR1NXhvjTCefnLIM5bKAm6q8ee1GdicQ6enNjYLfTBk3qpC5TIjyvFfk23Y

Heritage Apples are the apples of our Grandparents and Great-grandparents. Their uses were varied--for drying, frying, fresh eating, Halloween treats, baking, brandy, cider (hard and sweet), vinegar, livestock feed, and much more. The diversity of their shapes, sizes, colors,textures, tastes and times of ripening was amazing. For every early farm family an extensive orchard was essential. As more and more land was settled, a well developed orchard was a sure sign that civilization had reached the American frontier.

These old timey apples are part of our agricultural heritage, but they are rapidly being lost forever. The trees are being cut down and the older people who remember the apple names are passing away. The window to still find and save these wonderful apples is rapidly closing.

Tom Brown of Clemmons, NC, became interested in finding and saving these apples in 1999. Some of the results from this effort are presented here. The apple trees are saved for future generations to enjoy by donations of scionwood to heritage apple nurseries and preservation orchards, plus trees are grafted for return to their original counties. To date over 1,000 apple varieties have been discovered, with an actual original tree being found in each case.
 
Weedy down here we can't grow fruit trees one day tree is full of blooms,next day its frozen.
We had two apple trees for about 10 years, one year we got enough to make an apple pie, call it ' one apple pie tree'.
 
Weedy down here we can't grow fruit trees one day tree is full of blooms,next day its frozen.
We had two apple trees for about 10 years, one year we got enough to make an apple pie, call it ' one apple pie tree'.
Well, that is a bummer! We have a similar problem in Colorado. A peach tree can be in full bloom, and then we have freezing weather. Pears seem to go through a freeze after the tree blooms, and then will bloom some more. I am not sure why, but pears seem to be heartier than some other fruit trees.
 
One of my hillbilly friends from 7th grade on had a Queen Bess tree in his dooryard. I thought they were the best 'right off the tree' apples I had ever tasted. Of course there were 'jungle' apples in many places in the woods, but they were either bitter or tasteless.
Those apples might be bitter or tasteless, but they could be used for animal feed, as part of a blend in a cider or apple sauce, jam, or jelly.
 
We have a number of apples trees on our family farm, but sadly we lost the oldest & largest in a storm last year. I bet there have been a 5,000+ pies, crisps, cobblers, kuchen, and other deserts made from the fruit of those trees. And that's not counting how many have been eaten right off the branches.
 
Those apples might be bitter or tasteless, but they could be used for animal feed, as part of a blend in a cider or apple sauce, jam, or jelly.
Those trees had ancestors that fed farm families before 1860, when most of Vermont's forest had been cut, and sheep farming was the state's main farm industry. After the war, many of the returning soldiers picked up their portable property and went West. The marginally profitable hill farms were abandoned, and the forest eventually came back, surrounding the apple trees.
 
One of my hillbilly friends from 7th grade on had a Queen Bess tree in his dooryard. I thought they were the best 'right off the tree' apples I had ever tasted. Of course there were 'jungle' apples in many places in the woods, but they were either bitter or tasteless.
Subject change: what is a dooryard, @VThillman ? Is it the area on a property you'd see in front of a home, back of the home, or what?
 
Hey, thanks Patchouli! Never looked close at the term before. Dooryard isn't front yard, isn't back yard. It's the yard outside the door the occupants go in and out of most, the yard where friends park their 'wheels'. Where I have lived, it's the kitchen door, but it doesn't have to be.
 
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Have 4 apple trees up the river: crab apple, Macintosh, and 2 others I don't know the name of. One is a large sweet yellow/pink juicy apple. The other smaller not as sweet or juicy (but my fav.) red apple good for pies etc.
Sorry to add to the mystery . . . there are several varieties of crab apple.
A good pie apple tree is a treasure. Macintosh - for instance - is a good pie apple only if picked just before it is ripe - a condition that lasts only a few days.
My neighbor across the road during my childhood had an apple tree that produced very large, firm, red apples - that had no flavor at all. She never picked them, just let them drop. I asked her what their name was; she said 'wolf apple'. I think that meant that it was a crossbreed that didn't turn out well.
 
Sorry to add to the mystery . . . there are several varieties of crab apple.
A good pie apple tree is a treasure. Macintosh - for instance - is a good pie apple only if picked just before it is ripe - a condition that lasts only a few days.
My neighbor across the road during my childhood had an apple tree that produced very large, firm, red apples - that had no flavor at all. She never picked them, just let them drop. I asked her what their name was; she said 'wolf apple'. I think that meant that it was a crossbreed that didn't turn out well.
That would be a good filler apple to mix with others in a cider, apple sauce, or vinegar.

Edit: could be used for animal food as well.
 
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Horses probably would as well.
Probably, but Uncle Earl was kinda particular what he fed his team. Told be more than once that "the hay don't get into the barn by itself". Sure, he was talking about my efforts, but the team was a way bigger part of the work than I was.
 
We get a grass fed beef each year. The folks we get it from have a small apple orchard. They get so many apples, any that are bruised or beaten get pitched over to the steers. Makes a pretty tasty steak :)
 
Watching "Death and Nightingales." Man said he had Bramleys so I had to go look at what they are. They are an unusual apple, sour, 3 times as large as the apples we eat and a British variety.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bramley_apple
Malus domestica (Bramley's Seedling, commonly known as the Bramley apple, or simply Bramley, Bramleys or Bramley's) is a cultivar of apple that is usually eaten cooked due to its sourness. The variety comes from a pip planted by Mary Ann Brailsford. The Concise Household Encyclopedia states, "Some people eat this apple raw in order to cleanse the palate, but Bramley's seedling is essentially the fruit for tart, pie, or dumpling."[2] Once cooked, however, it has a lighter flavour. A peculiarity of the variety is that when cooked it becomes golden and fluffy. Vitamin C 15mg/100g.[3]

Tree
Bramley's Seedling apple trees are large, vigorous, spreading and long-lived. They tolerate some shade. The apples are very large, two or three times the weight of a typical dessert apple. They are flat with a vivid green skin that becomes red on the side that receives direct sunlight.[2] The tree is resistant to apple scab and mildew and does best when grown as a standard in somewhat heavy clay soil.[2] It is a heavy and regular bearer, and as a triploid, it has sterile pollen. It needs a pollinator but cannot pollinate in return, so it is normally grown with two other varieties of apple for pollination. It has won many awards[4] and currently holds the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit (H4).[5]


Edward Cocking, the scientist who developed the Bramley Clones
Most of the stock of Bramley's Seedling commercially available is slightly different in its growth habit and other characteristics from the original tree, probably because of a chance mutation (or mutations) that occurred unnoticed over the years. Plants produced from the still-surviving (then 180-year-old) tree by tissue culture in 1990 have proved to be much more compact and free-branching than the widely available commercial stock. The cloning work was done by scientists at the University of Nottingham, including Professor Edward Cocking, because the original tree was suffering from old age and was under attack by honey fungus. Twelve of the cloned trees now grow in the University grounds; one was also planted beside the old tree at Southwell, but was cut down when it was 10 years old.[6]

History

Bramley's Seedling apples from Nottinghamshire
The first Bramley's Seedling tree grew from pips planted by Mary Ann Brailsford in her garden when she was a young girl in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, UK in 1809. Mary left the house when she married and possibly never saw the apples that were produced. She died in 1852 never knowing that "her" seedling was to become famous.[7] The tree she had planted in the garden was later included in the purchase of the cottage by a local butcher, Matthew Bramley, in 1846. In 1856, a local nurseryman, Henry Merryweather, asked if he could take cuttings from the tree and start to sell the apples. Bramley agreed but insisted that the apples should bear his name.

On 31 October 1862, the first recorded sale of a Bramley was noted in Merryweather's accounts. He sold "three Bramley apples for 2/- to Mr Geo Cooper of Upton Hall". On 6 December 1876, the Bramley was highly commended at the Royal Horticultural Society's Fruit Committee exhibition.

In 1900, the original tree was knocked over during violent storms; it survived, and is still bearing fruit two centuries after it was planted. However, it was reported in 2016 that the tree was suffering from a fungal infection and may be dying.[8] The variety is now the most important cooking apple in England and Wales, with 21.68 km², 95% of total culinary apple orchards in 2007.[9]

The Bramley is almost exclusively a British variety; however, it is also grown by a few United States farms,[10] and can be found in Canada, Australia[11] and Japan.[12]

The town of Southwell hosts many celebrations of the Bramley Apple including the Bramley Apple Festival. On the 3rd Saturday in October, Southwell Minster hosts the Opening Ceremony and the Food & Drink Festival. The Bramley Apple Inn is located just a few doors away from the original apple tree,[13] which is considered to be a town treasure. In 2018, 27 Church Street was bought by Nottingham Trent University to preserve the building and the tree for posterity. The tree can be visited by prior appointment.

A blue plaque on the house in Southwell now commemorates the apple,[14] and in 2009 a window commemorating the 200th anniversary of the planting of the tree was installed in Southwell Minster.[15]

MaythorneOrchard.jpg
As a young man Henry Merryweather worked as a gardener on the nearby Norwood Park Estate, and when John Ralph Starkey bought the hall, gardens and pasture in 1880, he turned to Henry Merryweather for advice about which apples and fruit he should be planting on his acreage. The Bramley Apple was suggested and the first commercial orchard of Bramley was established in 1910[16] at Maythorne Orchard, close to the Lower Kirklington Road on what is now a Golf course.[17]

more
 
Armagh Bramleys
Bramley apples from County Armagh enjoy Protected Geographical Indication status within the European Union.[18] The apples have a tarter taste than those grown in England, and over 40,000 tonnes are produced annually.[18]

Cooking
Bramleys work well in pies, cooked fruit compotes and salads, crumbles, and other dessert dishes. They are also used for chutneys but only form a base for cider, due to their acidity. Whole Bramley apples, cored and filled with dried fruit, baked, and served with custard is an inexpensive and traditional British dessert. Bramleys are also used for apple sauce.

Regardless of the dish, Bramley apples are generally cooked in the same basic way. First the fruit is peeled and then sliced, and the pieces covered in lemon juice (or some other acidic juice) to stop them turning brown. Sugar is often added. In pies and crumbles, the fruit is simply covered with the topping and baked; the moisture in the apples is sufficient to soften them while cooking. The flavour may be spiced, according to taste, with cloves, mixed spice or cinnamon. To make apple sauce, the apples are sliced and then stewed with sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan.

Bramley's Seedling apples are favoured for producing a jelly which is very pale in colour.[19] Because the tree is a heavy cropper and liable to glut, it is a fine candidate for the domestic production of fruit wine, alone or with other fruits, and cider if mixed with a sweeter Cox or similar.
 
Johnson Keeper
Johnson Keeper: This attractive, slightly flattened apple is a good producer and has excellent storing qualities. It may be the same apple as "Johnson's Red Winter", an apple thought to be extinct. Johnson's Red Winter orginiated near Jackson, Mississippi prior to 1885 and grows well in many climates in the South. As its name implies, is keeps well and often was still edible in the spring without modern-day refrigeration. The apple is sweet, juicy, and firm. Ripens in late October or early November.

johnsonkeeper.jpg


Johnson's Keeper

https://www.centuryfarmorchards.com/descripts/osapage2.html
 
Mary Reid
Mary Reid: There are many apples that are known only to a small community or to a family. These varieties have been handed down through generations due to qualities that made each worth keeping. Mary Reid is one of these varieties. It was grown by several families in southern Caswell County, N.C. where I grew up. As a child, I thought everyone had a Mary Reid tree. It was partially through the efforts of my aunt that this tree still exists. It is a good eating apple, fantastic for cooking, and it dries well. It is medium in size and can vary on the same tree. Its skin is green with a definite red on the sunny side, and it sometimes has stripes. Its flesh is white, fine grained, and somewhat tart. It ripens from late July into early September.

maryreid3.jpg


Mary Reid

https://www.centuryfarmorchards.com/descripts/osapage2.html
 
I grew up working with a nurseryman on a new by farm, we cut grass in town as he grew his nursery of plants.
On the old farm was a yellow June apple, I would eat them when i was there, they did not do much with them.
I found it at the Century farm Orchards, you can have fresh apples from late June till October with the right selection of trees.
 
Joel: Those are very impressive looking apples. Fuji apples are still my favorite. Someday Maybe, I would like to plant some trees in the yard.
 
Joel: Those are very impressive looking apples. Fuji apples are still my favorite. Someday Maybe, I would like to plant some trees in the yard.
I was thinking about this thread in the middle of the night, and other fruit trees we could have. I knew a Canadian man who died this spring, either 105 or 106 years old. After he retired, he planted 1000's of trees. After he had purchased a bunch, he started asking nurseries if they would donate the trees they had ready to ship, but hadn't sold. He got most of his trees this way. I don't have much land, but I have two pear trees, two peach trees and a Honeycrisp apple tree. I planted the Honeycrisp this spring. I wish I had started planting fruit trees when I first purchased my home, and planted at least one a year. I plant dwarf trees. They don't take up as much space and seem to produce sooner than regular sized trees.
 
I grew up working with a nurseryman on a new by farm, we cut grass in town as he grew his nursery of plants.
On the old farm was a yellow June apple, I would eat them when i was there, they did not do much with them.
I found it at the Century farm Orchards, you can have fresh apples from late June till October with the right selection of trees.

yellow transparent? if so they make the best applesauce ever.apparently theres 2 strains of these as well.
 
This is late June early July:
Carolina Red June
Carolina Red June : A North Carolina apple originating before 1800, this apple is perhaps the best eating apple to ripen before July. A cute, small to medium apple, its beauty is exceptional for such an early apple. It was prized for its cooking quality as well. The tree does well on many different soils, is productive, and tends to bloom late, assuring a crop most years. It is susceptible to apple scab and cedar apple rust. The fruit ripens over a period of several weeks. This apple is a must for apple lovers. The flesh is white, fine grained, tender, juicy, and briskly subacid. Ripens late June into July. (One of my favorites)

crj.jpg
 
This is the one that was in a pasture:

Yellow June

Yellow June:
This apple is of unknown origin, but it is has been known to exist since 1845. If this apple ripened during August or later, it may have slipped into extinction. There are many other varieties ripening later in the season that offer much more. The Yellow June is tart, it bruises easily, and does not keep well. However, timing is everything to this apple. As a child, I loved this apple because it was the first to ripen at my grandparents’ farm, often around Father’s Day in June. Rural southerners knew the advantages of an apple ripening this early and had waited many months to taste the first apple of the summer season. Since my childhood, I have discovered that this apple is also one of the best frying apples, having the consistency of a sauce. Though this apple does not have the fresh eating qualities of the Carolina Red June, it ripens slightly earlier, definitely cooks better, and is more tart. The fruit is medium in size, a bright yellow upon full ripening (green otherwise), and the flesh white, tender, and briskly subacid. Ripens in late June and early July.

yj.jpg


Thanks for the tip.
 
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