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Continued
from above
Apples were brought
to the New World by the Pilgrims in 1620. The beginning of
the westward cultivation of apple trees is credited to the now famous
Johnny Appleseed, although not by him simply tossing around apple seeds
as legend has it. Johnny Appleseed was born John Chapman in
Leominster Massachusetts in 1774.
Around 1800, starting in
Pennsylvania and moving westward to Indiana, he established nurseries
and planted apple trees everywhere he went until his death in 1845.
At about the same time, 1824, Captain Aemilius Simpson planted the first
apple seeds in the Northwest (Washington) which is the now the top apple
producer in the United States.
Apples come in so
many colors, shapes, and sizes. Their flavor can range from crisp
and sour to soft and sweet. The beauty of the apple is that its
taste will change from year to year depending on the growing conditions.
In fact, flavor can vary from apple tree to apple tree and even from
orchard to orchard. So whenever possible
buy your apples from a local orchard or farmer's market and remember
what Horace once said "Whatever variety of apple you eat, to get the best
make sure to buy only those picked by the light of the waning moon".
Sources:
Andrews, Tamra, Nectar and Ambrosia: An Encyclopedia of Food in World
Mythology. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, Inc., 2000.
Behr,
Edward. The Artful Eater. New York: The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1992.
Davidson, Alan
and Knox, Charlotte. Fruit. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991.
Davidson, Alan.
The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1999.
Grigson,
Jane.
Fruit Book. London: Penguin Books, 1982.
Harrison, S.G.,
Masefield, G.B., and Wallis, M. The Oxford Book of Food Plants.
London: Oxford University Press, 1969.
Liebling, A.J. Between Meals An Appetite for Paris, New York: Farrar,
Straus and Giroux, 1959.
Marian, John F.
The Dictionary of American Food & Drink, New Haven and New York:
Ticknor & Fields, 1983.
Root, Waverley, Food. New York: A Fireside
Book, 1980.
Whiteman, Kate.
The New Guide to Fruit. New York: Lorenz Books, 1999.
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