[Sca-cooks] Historical Apples

[Stefan li Rous]

Urtatim said:

<<< I cannot grow my own trees in my second floor apartment, but if
someone has land, here's a great source of historical fruiting plants
(not just apples)
http://www.treesofantiquity.com/  >>>

<<< And, yes, i read the Florilegium file, apples-msg. The link above is
to growers who have replaced the Sonoma Antique Apple Nursery, which
is no longer. The URL for SAAN is now a placeholder only and has
nothing about fruit trees on it. >>>

Thank you. I'll see if I can find that message in the file and edit  
it appropriately.

I will also add the rest of this message to the Florilegium.

<<< So, what varieties are available today (without growing one's own)
that are period or close to period? Are Pippins as close as we can
get? (crab apples are an awful lot of work for a feast) >>>

Why are crabapples a lot of work for a feast? Because they are small?

There is also this file in the same section in the Florilegium, but  
it may not have specific apple varieties mentioned:
Hst-U-o-Aples-art (24K)  1/21/06    "The Historical Uses of Apples"
                                        by Mistress Andrea MacIntyre.

The fruits-msg file also has some info on period varieties of  
different apples.  The messages in there talk about different fruits  
which is why I probably did not copy them to the apples-msg file. For  
instance:

======
Not only are apples period, some period varieties are still grown. In
particular, Rameau d'ete, aka Summer Rambo, is often available in the
Pennsic area about the time of Pennsic. The following list of period or
near period fruit varieties is from an article in _The Miscellany_ (also
T.I.).

Pre 1650 Fruits

              Apples
Calville Blanc D'Hiver (1627)
Court Pendu Plat (16th century–possibly Roman)
Devonshire Quarendon (1690)
Drap d'Or (=Coe's Golden Drop?)
Lady Apple (1628)
Old Nonpareil
Pomme Royale
Reinette Franche
Roxbury Russett (Early 17th century)
Scarlet Crofton
Sops of Wine
Summer Rambo (16th century)
Winter Pearmain
Fenouilette Gris
Golden Reinette

  David/Cariadoc
=========

And in a later message:
========
 > > Autumn Permain syn Summer Permain late 1500's England
 > > Court Pendu Plat syn Wise Apple plus others pre-1500 Europe
 > > Devonshire Quarrenden pre-1678 England possibly from France
 > > Fenouillet Gris syn Carraway Russet 1608 France
 > > Golden Harvey syn Brandy Apple 1600's England (Herts.)
 > > Gravenstein possibly Schleswig-Holstein pre-1667 possibly Italy
 > > Issac Newton's Tree (original tree unknown) c.1660 England (Lincs.)
 > > London Pippin syn Five Crown 1580 England
I have the perfect answer for you, AND it keeps it in the family ; ) My
father in law was the director for the Brogdale Trust ( a charity) ,  
which
hold the UK gene banks for apples, pears, plums, cherries, vines etc etc
etc....

Gerry said he had something like 4500 different varieties of apple  
trees on
site. They can provide information, seminars, root stock - you name  
it. They
have a web site at http://www.brogdale.org.uk/  - they run a mail order
service etc. I don't know about the legalities of importing stock into
Australia, but I'm sure they can help. I recommend just browsing through
their mail order service .......

Karin
=========

For messages on seed and plant sources I often place them in this  
file in the PLANTS, HERBS AND SPICES section:
seeds-msg         (66K)  5/24/06    Sources for period plants and seeds.

This file in the FOOD section does included sources for various hard- 
to-find food items, although I don't see a specific source for period  
apples listed.  How about applewood smoked dulse? :-)
food-sources-msg  (68K)  1/31/08    Modern sources for unusual  
medieval meats
                                        and other foods.

I hope this helps, despite my long-windedness.

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 ****