The Apple Detectives

[Toliver]

This sort of reminds me of the sleuthing @gfron1 has been doing for his restaurant:

 

"Apple sleuths hunt Northwest for varieties believed extinct"

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The apple tree stands alone near the top of a steep hill, wind whipping through its branches as a perfect sunset paints its leaves a vibrant gold.

It has been there for more than a century, and there is no hint that the tree or its apples are anything out of the ordinary. But this scraggly specimen produces the Arkansas Beauty, a so-called heritage fruit long believed to be extinct until amateur botanists in the Pacific Northwest tracked it down three years ago.

It’s one of 13 long-lost apple varieties rediscovered by a pair of retirees in the remote canyons, wind-swept fields and hidden ravines of what was once the Oregon Territory.

 

 

[Smithy]

The University of Minnesota in Duluth has had an experimental apple farm since the early 1900's that was allowed to go derelict, then rediscovered and revived within the past 10 years. One of their projects a few years ago was an apple DNA project: bring in a leaf from your apple tree, and see if they could trace it to one of the varieties planted in the area. There are scads of apple trees in my area, associated with abandoned farmsteads and old fields. Most of the apples are of the tiny crab persuasion, but some are more sizeable. I took leaves from my favorites. No match. I was disappointed, but I still think it's a neat project.

[liuzhou]

You may be interested in this.

 

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The National Fruit Collection is one of the largest fruit collections in the world and includes over 3,500 named Apple, Pear, Plum, Cherry, Bush fruit, Vine and Cob Nut cultivars.

 

[heidih]

What sprang immediately to my strange mind was the New Yorker article about David Karp "The Fruit Detective"  https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/08/19/the-fruit-detective

 

I miss our apples. Interesting varieties. Hard for me to purchase apples these days.

[pastrygirl]

There's such a huge variety of apples, all beautiful and unique, check out this guy's Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/pomme_queen/

[Toliver]

Success for the Apple Sleuths...more "lost" apples found:

 

"10 pioneer-era apple varieties, thought extinct, found in Pacific Northwest"

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A team of retirees who scour the remote ravines and windswept plains of the Pacific Northwest for long-forgotten pioneer orchards has rediscovered 10 apple varieties that were believed to be extinct — the largest number ever unearthed in a single season by the nonprofit Lost Apple Project.

The Butter Sweet of Pennsylvania sounds intriguing. The name itself makes me want to taste it. 

 

 

 

[Toliver]

More lost apples found:

 

"7 apple varieties previously thought lost have been located"

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Seven apple varieties previously believed to be lost or extinct have been found in eastern Washington state, including several on land near the communities of Pullman, Colfax and Moscow.

The striped apples sound interesting. It makes me wonder how they taste.

[dans]

I kept in touch with the first boss I worked for in high school but lost touch when he retired. That was in 1974. Many years later, I saw mention of  him on a website and sent him a message. Long story short, my wife and I went to meet him and his wife in Las Vegas where they had moved. When I asked if I could bring anything from New England, he said "Bring me a Baldwin apple. My father used to grow them and we had a barrel full of them in the basement when I was growing up." I did some research and found that there was only one orchard near me that had any baldwin apples and they only had a portion of a single tree.  He was very happy when I showed up with a couple.

 

My wife and I stayed in touch, visiting, emailing, calling, etc. until he passed away at the age of 96.