The Crab

 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 foragers delight' the crab apple is a useful fruit in the kitchen repertoire, to know what to do with one is where the Apple knowledge starts. I own 5, many people make a hedge with them as they can be thorny which keeps wildness at bay. Mine are English variety just a common crab, nothing fancy, will make jelly and cider though and help with cross pollination of the other apple trees around more easily. I may plant one or two in the hedge on the edge of the woods that borders my garden, there's a young looking Apple tree also at the edge of my garden, just down the hill a bit on the edge of the footpath that has been blossoming for the past few years, yet due to no pollination partner there's been no fruits. It was one of the first things I noticed when I moved here, watching it for the past couple years has been a simple pleasure and I chose a couple crabapples to attempt to return the fertility patterns to the lone tree. Hopefully, I'll see it fruit before I leave here and can tell the kind of Apple it supports. I'll leave the two sylvestris when i leave as they'll help keep the singleton fruiting and blossoming for potentially years into the future. That'd be nice. There's plenty of bees each year buzzing about looking for nectar while dropping pollen grains on the flowers they visit. That leaves me with three crabs myself! 5 for £15 might be the best deal I found so far with my mini orchard advances. One I may gift on to a buddy for Christmas in a few weeks time, as they already own a couple themselves and I fancied sending a little something that's in keeping with their own garden project ideas. In Wales this year there's a tree-planting-bee on where the Welsh Government is asking every resident of Wales to plant at least one tree. They have a few trees they've been giving away for free to people from the local collection points. I decided to buy one myself and plant it at the edge of the woods where I live, it'll be there for Wales not just for me. A "Diolch" if you like. 

The woods here is a reclaimed area from a waste parcel of land the community has put a volunteer group of workers together who maintain the new woodland project and get events on in the woods and include different uses for the area, and it's soothing to hear the owls hooting at night. They'll be pleased no doubt when they find the wild Apples fruiting abundantly for passers by to enjoy and relish.

Feeling good about my crabby gifts to nature this advent, and that it lasts with year round interest, doesn't need much attention, and likes to get on with doing their own thing, a bit like I few others I care not to mention as interfering isn't on my Christmas wish list.