Adam's Apples

Would you like to know an old-time apple recipe for Norfolk Biffin (or other fruit recipes , some from antiquity)?  ¶  Perhaps you'd be interested in a deep dive into claims that some apples date from Roman times ?  ¶  How about an introduction to apple and pear identification ? From a fellow who grew several score of different apples last fall?

Behold:  ❝ A pineapple fucked a pear and somehow made a baby that looks like an apple. That is the Cox’s Orange Pippin . ❞  or this:   ❝ Maiden’s Blush : Wet sad sandcastle heralds the death of summer, but at least it smells nice, so stick a wick in it and use it as a candle. ❞ 

Karim Habibi strides through his seedling orchard like a god, casually dispensing death.  ¶  This is the part of Keeper's Nursery where Karim plants seeds he hopes will grow into tasty new apple varieties.  ¶  Most of them don't make the cut. Off with their heads!

The London-based People's Trust for Endangered Species is mapping its Traditional Orchard Survey, an ongoing project to identify orchards in the United Kingdom. Another group maps community orchards in England and Scotland.

A GENEROSITY OF APPLES The encyclopedic website Pomiferous , cleverly organized and with links to related resources, is a labor of love by two "great friends," one an outdoors writer and the other a web designer. This ambitious, generous site is a work in progress, rough edges, loose ends, and all.

Gnarly Pippins is both website and nom-de-pomme of site author Matt Kaminsky. Kaminsky (aka Pippins) was profiled this past fall in the Boston Globe . He brings an enthusiasm for wild apples in the spirit of  Henry David Thoreau . Kaminsky's layered, meditative prose style also reminds me of apple-blogger Chris's Life of Apples (on hiatus, perhaps permanently).

APPLE DATABASE Feel like an apple? The National Gardening Association (U.S.) lists 1532 of them (as of this writing), with more added regularly.

Containing coloured figures and descriptions of the most esteemed kinds of apples and pears. Source: The Herefordshire Pomona, Volume II

More than a hundred thoughtful descriptions (and photos) of apples are tucked away in a small website set up to manage the Out on a Limb Apple CSA (community supported agriculture). The descriptions are unsigned, but authorship must certainly belong to one of the CSA's farmers, apple sleuth and rescuer John Bunker .

Since 2014, Eliza Greenman has been sharing her perspective and knowledge about growing apples in her blog, Unconventional Stories from an Apple Farmer . Greenman's observations often have a critical edge that borders on the subversive, from her exhortation to " Eat Ugly Apples " to her questions about "the ethics currently involved in producing the status quo" in the fruit world.

Where better to locate a regional focus on apples than my own New England? (Pardon my parochialism!) Photo: NASA And who better to write on that topic than the former director of the New England Apple Grower's Association (and its current senior writer), Russell Powell? Powell, who has penned two books about apples, publishes and writes New England Apples . It's an uncluttered blog that also features apple photos (and writing) by Bar Lois Weeks, the Association's current Executive Director. These columns blend commentary, recipes, history, and description with an emphasis on the first of these.

Cider is a profoundly social drink that has made a home on the lightest of the social media, Twitter. You don't need a Twitter account to check out the party.

Craft apple cider—hard, with a kick—is experiencing a renaissance in North America. Modern sensibilities and techniques have engendered what may just be American cider's golden age, its biggest comeback since Prohibition. This explosion of drinkable fruit has engendered a growing cohort of cider blogs. Indeed there are more blogs about cider than apples. Most are less than two years old. These bloggers join cider aficionados from Britain and beyond who’ve put a few more pints under their belts. Join me for a taste of web-based cider news and reviews.

The Massachusetts Department of Agriculture counts 369 apple farms in the Bay State . Many of them, along with hundreds of farm stands and farmers markets, are on an interactive map created by the Department. Massachusetts farmers markets

For the past few months I have been enjoying a steady stream of writing about apples and their role in American history and culture at American Orchard . This blog belongs to historian William Kerrigan, the author of Johnny Appleseed and the American Orchard , tantalizing excerpts of which sometimes find themselves into blog posts. This blog goes right to the heart of the apple as a profoundly social fruit, mediated by society but also mediating it, as in this post about hard cider and the election of 1840 .

If you miss the apple season as much as I do, you will enjoy Steven Edholm's recapitulation of the harvest on his farm. In a recent post on his blog, Turkeysong, Steven shares his apple tasting notes for the second half of his growing season, which, since he is located near Ukiah, California, lasts until late January.

What could be better than an opinionated catalog of apple reviews, sometimes blunt, sometimes wrong, never boring? Why, two  such collections, each with a different take. At The Fruit Gardener a blogger named Eric is busy cataloging and rating apples of all kinds. Eric lives a northwest of Albany, New York, and has access to some great varieties.

Got a mystery fruit? Seattle's Fruit Tree Society has classified 106 apple varieties across 22 different characteristics, from calyx-tube size to harvest date. Plus photos! If you've got one of these apples but don't know which, this handy web page will help you make a positive ID. It's pretty clever and worth a look, even if you do not know your abaxile core (65 varieties) from your axile (39). Update: Alas, this great resource has succumbed to the ravages of time. It is gone. The link above will take you to an archived version, worth viewing as a comprehensive list of apple attributes. However, it is no longer functional as a searchable database.

Pop the name of most any apple variety into your search engine and you will likely find a link to Yorkshire-based Orange Pippin , an admirable and delightful web site about apples. It has only gotten better since I first reviewed it here in 2008.

Out in San Diego—far from dour new England in more than miles—the Fruit Maven holds court. Her stylish, informative blog serves up fruit of all kinds and from different angles: recipes, drinks, even geometry.