Apples
“I know the look of an apple that is roasting and sizzling on the hearth on a winter’s evening, and I know the comfort that comes of eating it hot, along with some sugar and a drench of cream… I know how the nuts taken in conjunction with winter apples, cider, and doughnuts, make old people’s tales and old jokes sound fresh and crisp and enchanting.”
Mark Twain
Now, I know what some of you are thinking. Believe me this has nothing to do with that famous garden located in the Middle East or that forbidden fruit.
Tilly: It’s all Solomon’s fault: “Comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love.”
Although many historians believe it was the fig not the apple, due in part the apple or crab apple in this case is from the caucus area.
Tilly: Apples originated in Kazakhstan, in central Asia, east of the Caspian Sea. Alma Ata, capital of Kazakhstan until 1997, means “full of apples.” By 1500 BC, apple seeds had been carried throughout Europe.
So now for the fun part.
It has been said that apples have a recorded history that dates back to the prehistoric times. Archaeologists found carbonized remains of apples in Switzerland dating to the Iron Age. They have confirmation that apples were eaten and preserved by slicing and sun drying in Europe in the Stone Age.
Tilly: The fruit then probably looked like a tiny, long-stalked, bitter apple, something like Malus baccata, the Siberian crab apple. The pips may have been carried in a bird’s crop or stuck onto feet or feathers. A far cry from today’s delicious looking offerings!
For birders: A likely carrier-bird candidate is the beautiful azure-winged magpie (Cyanopica cyanus), which now occurs as relict but virtually identical populations at both ends of the transcontinental forest in southern Europe and eastern China.
Bears and wild horses also contributed to the spread of appleseeds.
Historians have found writings of China, Egypt, and Babylon mentioned “man understood the art of budding and grafting these trees 20 centuries ago. “
Tilly: No wonder the Chinese think those in the West are barbarians.
So just how did they make their way into Europe and into America. Blame the Greeks, Etruscans and those damn Romans who cultivated apples. It was the Romans that carried apples and seeds throughout Europe and finally into Tilly’s home turf the British Isles.
Tilly: It is sad that so many legacy apples have and are disappearing and our choices reduced.
So Tilly, once the Romans learned selective breeding of Apples they brought not only the seeds once they conquered your island they started to grow the apples, due to your islands location the apples became bigger, sweeter and tasted a hell of a lot better. So you can thank those ancient roman ancestors.
Tilly: Oh, I do, I do. But I hope our Roman ancestors thanked us for providing such hospitable conditions, Terry Pratchett has an interesting take on apples: “Christ managed to boil down an awful lot of commandments to a few very simple rules for living. It’s when you go backwards through the ‘begats’ and the Garden of Eden, and you start thinking, ‘Hang on, that’s a big punishment for eating one lousy apple… There’s a human-rights issue.’”
Going forward in your countries history, Dr. John Caius (1510-1573), physician to Edward VI, Mary I, and Queen Elizabeth I. Wrote that the patient “‘smele to an old swete apple to recover his strengthe.”
Tilly: Benjamin Franklin said that an apple a day keeps the doctor away – but – An apple a day keeps anyone away, if you throw it hard enough. – Stephen Colbert. Yes, there is some truth in the ‘apple a day’ proverb. Apples are naturally high in fibre, low on the glycaemic index and rich in protective plant compounds. Apples have a host of health benefits:
- Grated apple can be help with diarrhoea, gastritis, ulcers, fluid retention; let the apple go brown first. Very useful for babies with upset tums.
- The pectin in apples can bind with heavy metals such as lead and remove them from the body.
- Past folk rememdies: apples were used to treat flu, earache, fevers, bronchial problems, lethergy and anaemia, to decongest the nose and chest. Mashed with sulphur, they were applied to the skin to treat scabies and ringworm. Mixed with equal quantities of olive oil, they were used for lingering wounds. Baked apple pulp was effective against cold sores/herpes simplex. Cooked apples were valued as a sedative to calm anxiety and help with restful sleep.
Hell, even that fellow in Shakespears time they were serving apples seasoned with caraway as a dessert. Trinity College and Cambridge still serve this dish.
So just when did they arrive in my neck of the world. Well those English colonist. They only found crab apples which by the way is the only native apples in the United States.
They had a bit of trouble growing your apples here produced few apples do in part to no honey bees. So what did your ancestors do…want to guess Tilly. They shipped the damn things here from England.
Tilly: Just be glad they were so concerned about your health and diet. And were generous enough to share.
Jumping ahead a few centuries and the legend of “Johnny Appleseed” who became a folk hero and apple farmer. As eccentric as he might have been some historians today label him as “a very smart business man” . It is said that he travelled 10,000 square miles to plant the trees and passing some of the dried seeds to new settlers. Johnny Appleseed travelled Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa, West Virginia planting his seeds and orchards. So why would he do this, so the no one would go hungry. So just who was this “Johnny Appleseed, his true name was John Chapman (1774-1845) he was born in Massachusetts.
Tilly: A man after Martin Luther’s heart: “Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”
FUN FACTS:
In colonial time, apples were called winter banana or melt-in-the-mouth.
The largest apple ever picked weighed in at 3 pounds 2 ounces.
People who love apples are said to be outspoken, charismatic and enthusiastic.
Tilly: As an avid apple eater, what can I say? … I eat one every day at lunch. The only apples I don’t like are those red dessert apples, lacking in juice and flavour.
Apples are members of the rose family.
Apples are full of fiber and can help you feel full on fewer calories – which can ultimately help in weight management. Plus, fiber fights cholesterol and lowers your heart disease risk.
Tilly: They also contain potassium and magnesium. But apple seeds contain amygdalin, a chemical compound formed of sugar and cyanide. One gram of apple seeds contains around 0.6mg of cyanide, although the lethal dose of cyanide starts at over 50mg. You’d need to eat 100 apple seeds in one sitting to put yourself at risk!
Issac Newton is said to have thought up the law of gravity while sitting under an apple tree, observing the falling of apples.
Tilly: Lots of people saw apples fall to the ground – Newton was the one to ask why.
Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome Author: Apicius mentions using apples and pork in the recipe “MINUTAL À LA MATIUS”
Tilly: I bet he didn’t pass on this tip! To get a roaster clean, send something like baked apples in it to a neighbor. Neighbors always return pans spotless, and you won’t have to use a blow torch on it like you usually do. – Phyllis Diller
It takes about 36 apples to create one gallon of apple cider.
Tilly: Try onion and cider soup – great in cold weather.
There is evidence that applesauce came from Central Europe with the Dutch and Germans.
Tilly: Someone must have forgotten the apples in the saucepan and they fell to mush … fortunate because the sauce is the ideal foil for the richness of pork and goose.
And last “Fried Apples” a southern mountain treat, Served with pork or as a dessert. So good.
Olive: Do you fry apples Tilly?
Tilly: I do. Also stuff a pork loin with apple slices and baste with a sour cherry molasses to roast. Cheese, onion and apple pie is good too – don’t need pastry. Just layer the ingredients, season, with potatoes on top, baste with olive oil or duck or goose fat, bake in medium oven till tender throughout. Serve with a green vegetable or salad. Sliced apple and nduja sausage in pork chops is good, too. Apple and pork burgers are tasty when a good, sharp apple is included. Stuffed baked apples are a favourite, stuffed with mincemeat, dried fruits, marmalade, or blackcurrant jam. Do cut a line around the waist of the apple to stop it bursting when cooking. A sharp eating apple – Pink Lady perhaps – makes a good starter – wash and polish the skin, take out the core and stuff with interesting savoury goodies and vinaigrette. Windfalls make a delicious marmalade with grapefruit peel.
Tongue twister from Chompers:
Annie ate eight Arctic apples.
Olive: I had never heard of Nduja Sausage so asking Tilly this is her response. “’Nduja is a cured spicy spreadable sausage from southern Italy. It’s made from pork, fat, herbs, spices and local Calabrian chillies, which give the sausage its heat and dark red colour. It doesn’t require cooking and is often spread on toast, mixed into sauces and stews to add flavour, and used as a pizza topping.”
Olive and Tilly
4 Comments
Cristie
A crispy apple, no matter the color is one of my go to snacks. 😋
Olive
Thank you for your comment… crispier the better… I love green apples because of that…
Jeff Dawson
Truly a fascinating article. Had no idea crab apples were the only one in the US until those pesky Europeans thought it was good idea. Glad they did. Nothing like bakin a fresh apple pie for Thanksgiving. I used to that one a year with my granddaughters when they were a bit mit little. The openeing recipe had my mouth watering!!!!
Olive
Thank you for your comment… I love apple pie… but BUT… I love southern fried apples.. my mammaw did the best… I wonder what Tilly will think being called a “pesky European” lololol she does have a good sense of humor..