Apple Press

The Holy Grail of Apple Nerdery is Here…

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When I apprenticed for John Bunker in Maine, one of my paid gigs was to help create an online apple key. All summer and fall, I entered apple descriptions into the computer from a gigantic three ring binder containing 16,000+ apple varieties. That three ring binder was Dan Bussey’s book, version 1 of The Illustrated History of Apples in the United States and Canada….in size 5 font with no pictures.  I didn’t even make it out of the B’s that year.

The Illustrated History of Apples in the United States and Canada

7 years later, the day has come for this 7 VOLUME SET to now be available for purchase and hugging. This, friends, is truly the holy grail of apple nerdery. And it’s affordable at $350 (which includes shipping). Don’t believe me? Try buying an original copy of Apples of New York Volumes 1 and 2. (and you only get 2 volumes compared with 7)

I just bought a set and thought I’d share it on this blog because I’m excited about it and want Dan to sell thousands of volumes. With the exception of William Cox’s A View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees (which I’ll probably never own a real copy of), I’m fairly certain my heirloom apple library is now complete with this acquisition.

Wondering what to get that special someone in your life who enjoys apples? Why not get them the most overwhelming 7 volume set of apples you possibly can this year. The pictures alone are worth the $350.

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Ugly Fruit is Especially Nutritious

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And this spin off from Jill Neimark’s NPR piece just happened, this time in Food&Wine!

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By James Oliver Cury Posted April 27, 2016

Bruised and scabbed apples have more antioxidants and sugars because they’ve fought off natural stressors.

Grocery shoppers don’t generally make a beeline to the scabbed and blemished apples. But maybe they should. New research shows that trauma to the fruit—stresses from fighting heat, bugs, and fungus—forces apples to produce antioxidants such as flavonoids, phenolic acids, anthocyanins and carotenoids. And these compounds have all kinds of nutritional value.

Click here to read more!  Continue reading →

Nature’s Secret: We May Have Totally Underestimated Scarred Fruit

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marred-apples-market

A spin-off article from yesterday’s NPR article on eating ugly fruit, this time on weather.com! I’m so psyched this is getting attention. It’s only the beginning!!

Let’s face it: ugly fruit gets a bad rap. It’s often left behind at grocery stores and sold at steep discounts at farmers markets. More often than not, it gets tossed on top of an ever-growing pile of wasted produce.

But it turns out, these ugly fruits are fine to eat – and they may even be more nutritious.

 

Read more: Here!

From seed to fruit, islands good hosts to apples

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best-appletree-water-MDI-nWeb

This is an essay written by my friend Barb Fernald for the Working Waterfront newspaper in Maine. She gives me a big mention! You can click to it here!

Fall has been a season of superlatives in the Cranberry Isles. Along with a November that might turn out to be the warmest on record, in Maine, the foliage has been the brightest we’ve seen in years. A simple walk or trip to the mainland begs one to pull out the camera time and again. Best of all, this has been an amazing fall for apples. All over the islands the trees have been loaded.

On a November Saturday, I caught up with my neighbor, Kaitlyn Duggan, and her two-year-old son, Bode, as they were going down the road by our house. They were each eating an apple from the tree in Mark and Vicky Fernald’s yard.

When I said I was going to write about apples Kaitlyn’s eyes lit up. “I love picking apples on the island. It’s one of my most favorite things to do! Getting outside in the fall sun, picking with a view of the water, it’s the best. And it’s free food!”

We commented on the tree filled with yellow apples by Jack and Ellie’s house on the edge of the Sand Beach.

“I’ve probably picked six grocery bags full from that tree this year,” she said. I and many others have been to the same tree several times, picking up drops and reaching the low branches to pick, with a view of the Islesford harbor.

Kaitlyn’s husband, Cory, has been making cider, experimenting with different blends of island apples. He figures he has pressed, pasteurized and preserved at least 40 gallons this year. Kaitlyn has made several batches of applesauce, adding flavor and color with rose hips from her own garden. I asked if she knew what kind of trees were around the island. She said, “You really should give Eliza a call.”

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