Eve and the Apple

 A Bitter Companion to a sweet treat. The Malus Sylvestris aka Crab Apple is an interesting tree. A vast range of colourful bitter fruits from tiny fingernail sized to palm sized fruiters on large or small trees. Not well known as a delicacy itself the crab has a sharp bite, due to the high levels of pectin that are unique to this fruit making jams and jellies set with ease.  Crab-apples, Crab-apples, out in the wood, Little and bitter, yet little and good! The apples in orchards, so rosy and fine, Are children of wild little apples like mine. The branches are laden, and droop to the ground; The fairy-fruit falls in a circle around; Now all you good children, come gather them up: They’ll make you sweet jelly to spread when you sup. One little apple I’ll catch for myself; I’ll stew it, and strain it, to store on a shelf In four or five acorn-cups, locked with a key In a cupboard of mine at the root of the tree. Excerpt from: flowerfairies.com Also known as 'the forage...

 Winter It Seems is the time to plant trees. Apple trees in particular are particular, being cultivated domestically for such a long phase their needs when supplied to requirement gives a better taste. This in turn gives a broader range of varieties passing in favour over the centuries. Compared with the Mint genus it's not so odd, there could be over 7,000 varieties of Mint currently growing around the world for whatever their purpose, environmental input and output. This is subject to change through evolution. Perhaps not so associated with alcohol undeservingly, as Mint also makes a nice tipple. The Apple stands taller in a pretty picture I could stand next to a mint bush and it may smell nice, or I could stand next to an Apple tree and evoke thoughts about Issac Newton attempting to explain gravity, and the servant boy who stood with an Apple placed on his head for target practice, and myself considering why Adam got so upset about Eve and the Apple in the first place! Variety ...

 Root Cultures Rootstock Chart from the Internet This chart about Apple Tree rootstocks explains a lot about how the different size apple trees can be grown from grafting a variety you choose onto a root for the size of the mature tree to be decided. It's not bonsai. I am a fan of the M27, for a few reasons, firstly I don't need a ladder or climbing gear to pick the fruit or prune and train the branches. Secondly, I can grow the tree in pots which are easy to move if I have to. Thirdly, the nutrients that the trees receive can be more closely measured and it's easy for me to garden and dig around in a pot than the ground that may be too hard for me with my hand trowl.  Fourthly, with limited space and a desire for various varieties in my orchard the Dwarfed trees are an ideal selection. Fifthly, the big trees would give me way more apples than I need for my project. Sixthly, they're mega cute! As it states that the crop potential lasts approx 5 years, I will need to lea...

 And I don't want to hear a pip from you! How sweet? To keep a fond farewell as a pip in time. The end may yet be just a new beginning opportunely bearing a possible fruition for your endeavors. The pip, an end and a chance to grow on. I'm a fan of the Pippin varieties, pocket sized, sweet, and there's a few different types which makes for an interesting dessert fruit bowl. The Cox's Orange is perhaps the most well known and is accepted as a mainstay to a cheese board platter. Generally a mid-season fruiter the sweet fruits are edible straight from the tree. For over 190 years the Cox's Orange has been the most well known of the Pippins, originating from Buckinghamshire in 1825 it won numerous RHS Awards for many years. The self-fertile version developed in Kent released in 1994. Before that the Ribston Pippin essentially had the flavour favour introduced in 1707 from North Yorkshire near Knaresborough the year that England became known as Great Britain. The "A...

 As a Complete Newbie To this cider press gambit I obviously need the kit and the space. I was a cider drinker over the beer options available and knew the various brands around in the mid to late 1990's. A fan of "K" cider I liked the dry flavours more than the sweet ones. A jug of Scrumpy when at a party would go down particularly well and last me all weekend if not shared. Especially though an after dinner cider appertif would be nice on the table for those cheese board evenings as an accompaniment. I do have a large space for more cider and Apples in my life! Waiting for my own first Apple trees to fruit is quite a feeling that's new to me. I tend the pots, research how to grow the fruit best without using any processed chemicals, about to add used coffee grounds and vermiculite to the planters and bed down with some old rabbit hay to stop them from freezing up too solid in the winter. Getting cider from my own home grown Apple trees has long been an ambition of m...

 The English Making Cider since 3000 BCE, fermented apples in a variety of ways was perhaps the first thing the Stone Age Brits were famous for. Crab Apples, Old English Sweet Apples for drinking, and Cider Vinegar for washing and healthcare. The Apple was closely reveared by the Celtic peoples long before Julius Caesar or the introduction of Christianity. Possibly the reason that the Westcountry and Scotland never succumbed to the Roman occupation was that on arrival the Romans found the Celts to be so deft at Crabapple Cider, and viewed the process as quite interesting. Making Cider was very well established in the UK long before Jesus was even born and very important to the native humans there, which is understandable. Explaining to the ancient Celts that they should worship the Holy Trinity instead of trees, nature, and the environment did not go down too well and thereby was never completely adopted, the Celtic 'Religion' lives on to this day and forth. Gin, the highly dis...

  In The Garden Of Eden Growing fruits and salad greens for interesting times, my tale is currently drenched with noteworthy appraisals. A mini orchard of dwarf Apple trees weigh in on my thoughts. There are bountiful varieties of Malus, the fruit being older than the Bible itself with countable virtues that can't go without saying. I start this blog with a quote from Martin Luther, with the Apple Tree perhaps being a sign of hope. I consider for a minute whether there's a dove that's going to fly back to me after the flood and return with a branch as a gesture of finding dry land. I shall consider that further over the next few weeks while I'm researching dry cider methods and methodology. A stack of books later and I find a few other ways to effectively brighten the now dark by 5 o'clock days. A mushroom corner, an indoor growing kitchen vegetable starter pack from Thompson and Morgan and some colourful Italian Mixed Leaf Salad cut and grow selection packs and I...