"There's a dish of leather-coats for you." Davy said to Bardolph in Shakespeare's Henry IV. Davy or anyone else, would have trouble finding a Leathercoat for Bardolph nowadays. This apple and many others, so popular from the fourteenth to the nineteenth centuries, have not only fallen from popular grace, they are all but forgotten.
Another apple, Ashmead's Kernel, is consistently the first choice among apple connoisseurs, yet unknown to most people. The Herdfordshire Pomona, a finely illustrated series of pomological books, published in England from 1876 to 1885, praised it as "firm, crisp, juicy, sugary, rich and highly aromatic …;it should be found in every garden." Though not found in every garden, it is still available in select private orchards.
Other choice unknowns include Saint Edmunds Pippin, Ross Nonpareil, Orleans Reinette, Carpentin, Zabergau Reinette, Pitmaston Pineapple, Sam Young, Egremont Russet, Fenouillet Gris, Hunt Russet, and Swayzie.
And these are not the only highly flavored, spicy, aromatic, or accented apples unavailable in local grocery stores. Pumainen Kaaneli, an apple of Finland, has a distinct cinnamon flavor; Wismer's Dessert, a Canadian one, suggests the taste of a buttery pear; Winter Banana, an Indiana favorite, has faint banana overtones; and Jewett's Fine Red, from New Hampshire, combines sweet and sour. Other distinctive apples include Calville Blanc d'Hiver, a French apple, served with pride to King Louis XIII. It is not only aromatic and spicy but is higher in vitamin C than an orange. Pomme d'Apis (Lady Apple), whose origin is traced to the Roman censor Appius Claudius, was popular among French ladies of society in the 1600s because it did not leave an unpleasant scent in their pockets. Cox's Orange Pippin, the undisputed choice of most Englishmen, has the most harmonious blend of apple flavors imaginable. The list of uniquely flavored dessert apples is endless.
Apples especially good for culinary use have received little attention in the United States. However, in Europe, particularly in Great Britain, cooking or kitchen apples are carefully selected. Bramley's Seedling is still the most popular cooking apple in Britain. It is most outstanding stewed, baked, or canned. Today there are over three million trees of this cultivar in Britain, and the original tree still lives.
Apple Chemistry
It's the taste of old-time apple cultivars that makes them superior to most modern commercial ones. Taste or flavor is a combination of sugars, acids, and to a lesser extent, tannins and other organic constituents. Pleasure in eating an apple is also associated with the aroma of the compounds contained in the fruit. A high-quality mature apple has the best level of all of these components.
Years ago, color was not relied upon to determine when to pick apples. In fact, many of the old-time cultivars had poor color by today's standards. Because color was not of prime importance, these apples were allowed to mature on the tree where they gained a higher sugar content, and therefore sweeter taste and more distinct flavor or astringency due to natural chemicals.
Many of the newer cultivars are specifically
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