Here’s a fascinating article from Atlas Obscura about Tom Brown, an Appalachian apple hunter who has rescued 1000 varieties from disappearing! It’s an interesting piece that shows how important this work is and why we don’t have much longer to get information from our elders.
Commercial orchards in the U.S. grew about 14,000 unique apple varieties in 1905, and most of them could be found in Appalachia, says William Kerrigan, author of Johnny Appleseed and the American Orchard and a professor of American history at Muskingum University.
The diversity was rooted in early colonial precautions.
“Water wasn’t always safe to drink, and episodes of sickness from contaminated water gave that substance a questionable reputation,” says Kerrigan. Fermented beverages were the go-to alternative. Importing wine was expensive, and native pests killed Old World grapes. Apple orchards were easier to maintain and more utilitarian than growing fields of barley for beer, so cider became the colonists’ choice beverage. By the mid-1700s, virtually every East Coast farm and homestead had an apple orchard.
At farmers markets and other events, Brown displays a variety of apples to incite pomaceous conversations. COURTESY OF TOM BROWN (from Atlas Obscura)
