A friend of mine pointed out an interesting website today: applesearch.org. This is well and truly off my normal set of blog topics (as ill defined as those might seem) but I must admit that I find it fascinating.

See, apples are fascinating.

Most people can name five or six varieties of apples, and if you dig you might be able to come up with a dozen or so. But there are over 7,500 known cultivars (CULTIvated VARietys) of apples. Apples have been cultivated for a long time and used for a wide variety of purposes: for storage, for fresh eating, for cooking, for making cider, and even for livestock.

But this huge diversity of cultivated varieties are being totally dominated by just a few varieties which are selected mostly for looks and their ability to get to market in a cosmetically appealing state. No greater example need be presented than the misnamed “Red Delicious” apple, which is actually red, but to my taste is cruelly misnamed. I am not alone in this opinion. They are generally mealy and not at all to my liking, and its popularity has been falling since the introduction of other commercial varieties.

The story of the Red Delicious is an interesting story in itself.

But there is also an interesting genetic mechanism at work that has allowed so many different cultivars to be developed.

The odd thing about apples is that if you grow an apple tree from seed, chances are excellent that the fruit produced will be almost completely unlike the fruit of its “parent” tree. Apples possess a property called ‘extreme heterozygosity’. The entire industrial production of apples relies on grafting: taking stock from a particular tree that you like, and literally adding that branch to a new sapling where it can develop into a clone of the existing stock. This can even lead to “multi-grafted” apple trees, where several different varieties are grown on a single tree.

Anyway, I think that apples are cool.

Back to applesearch.

It’s the work of a gentleman named Tom Brown, who sees the dwindling of variety in apple cultivars to be something that he’s willing to dedicate his time and enthusiasm to combat. He basically goes around doing research and trying to identify varieties of apples which were thought to be lost, and find living stock. He does this largely by talking to old people about apples. He then cultivates them and makes them available to others who many wish to keep the varieties alive.

I think that’s a pretty darned cool way to spend your life.

Addendum: I rather like Pink Lady apples for applesauce.

The recipe couldn’t be simpler. A pound and a half of apples. Cut and cube up. If you have a food mill, then don’t even bother peeling. Add 1/2 cup of water, 3 tablespoons of sugar and a tiny amount (1/4 teaspoon) of cinnamon, and a dash of cardamom if you have it. Cook for 20 minutes over medium heat until the apples are soft. If you have the food mill, run it through that and all the peel will be left (although it will lend a rosy pink color to the sauce). If you peeled them, you can just have at it with a potato masher.

Home made applesauce (particularly the fresh sort like this) is delicious.