[Sca-cooks] more on period apple varieties
Stefan li Rous
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
Sun Nov 2 17:22:45 PST 2008
In looking through this file for into on pears, I saw this on apples
and thought it might be of interest considering the recent thread on
apples. This is from this Florilegium file:
Period-Fruit-art (60K) 1/13/02 "Fruit of Period Times" by Baron
Akim Yaroslavich.
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APPLES
Native to the Caucusus regions of Asia Minor (12), apples (Malus
pumila , Malus sylvestri, Malus domestica) have been cultivated since
around 2500 B.C.. Apples were grown in Palestine in 2000 B.C. and in
Egypt from 1300 B.C. (13). The rest of the Arab Middle East has a
climate not well suited to apple growing. The name apple derives from
Anglo-Saxon aepl or aeppel (14). The process of grafting of apple
buds has been known since classical times, described by Cato the
Elder in De Agricultura in the 2nd century B.C. (15). Pliny listed 23
varities (16) of which perhaps three survive. A surviving Roman
variety is the Api or Lady apple (Pommé d'Api) (17), a small, hard,
yellow winter apple with a red cheek. The Italian Decio (18) variety,
cream and red in appearance, is small, crisp and claims Roman origin.
Possibly the French variety Court pendu plat (19) may also be a Roman
legacy. It is small and flattened, green with faint red stripes and
richly flavoured. Other period varieties surviving include:
Codlins (20), was class of cooking apples which are elongated, pale
green or yellow with a reddish flush. British.
Old English Pearmain (21), a red and green variety of desert and
cider use, was recorded by the Normans in 1204 (22).
Golden Pippin (23), hard, long-keeping and acid apples, were popular
for cider-making and dessert apples in the 16th century. English.
Reinette (24), was a firm, dry-fleshed 16th century apple of dull
green skin, sometimes with matt brown russeting. French/ Germany
Golden Rennett (25)(Reinette) was a firm dry-fleshed fruit with
golden yellow skin russetted evenly with red speckling. English.
White Joaneting (26) (Jenneting), an early eating yellow apple
sometimes with a red flush, was well known to Elizabethans. English.
Borsdoff (27), was a yellow apple with a red-flushed skin. The flesh
was whitish-yellow, crisp and juicy with a very sweet flavour. It was
first recorded in Saxony in 1561. German.
Nonpareil (28), a medium sized dessert apple, yellow and red with
russet speckles, has been grown in Europe since before 1500 A.D.. It
was introduced into England in the 16th century. French / German
Many dishes using apples date from mediaeval times; 14th century
cookbooks give recipes for apples including applesauce, fritters,
rissoles (29) and ciders. Apple butter was popular throughout Europe.
The hardy crab-apple was a source for making verjus (30) in England
instead of green grapes, which were ripened more usefully for
winemaking.
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Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous Barony of Bryn Gwlad Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris Austin, Texas
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at: http://www.florilegium.org ****
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