SC - Period Kinds of apples/Pears

[Catherine Keegan]

Funny you should ask... We are planting an orchard and are including a few
varieties that date back to the SCA period!

For Apples, all of the grocery-store varieties are modern.  The variety
"Court Pendu Plat" (or "Corps Pendu")  is supposed to date from at least
the 1590's and may actually be derived from the old Roman variety called
Sementinum... according to one of the catalogs.  I think at least one
reference claimed that "White Winter Pearmain" was originally a 13th
century variety.   And Frank Browning mentions in his book "Apples,"  that
the rootstock variety now know as "M9" is actually derived from the
"Paradise" apple that was popular from the 13th century; it was supposed to
be a small yellow apple.  

To approximate medieval culinary apples, you would need to find an orchard
growing the old vintage varieties.  Or, you could use crabapples - I
recommend the Whitney Crab; small yellow fruit with red stripes, sweet and
tangy fresh.  About the closest thing in the grocery store, if they have a
really good selection, would be a Pippin.

For pears, it's a little easier:  The variety known as Bartlett in America
is called "Williams Bon Chretien" in England and "Bon Chretien" in France,
and it supposedly is very ancient, possibly late medieval or Early Modern.
 (It was brought to England in about 1700 by a guy named WiIliams, but it
had apparently been growing in France for a very long time.)

"Apples, the story of the fruit of temptation" by Frank Browning, North
Point Press, 1998. ISBN 0-86547-579-2.  Has a great discussion of the
origin and history of apples.

Get the Sonoma Antique Apple Nursery catalog for descriptions of vintage
varieties: www.applenursery.com

At 01:45 PM 10/27/99 -0700, you wrote:
>	Me again!
>	Just wondering what kind of apples we find in the grocery store
>would be closest to a period apple. 
>	And while I am asking, what about pears too? 

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