APPLES AS CULTURAL- By Katrina Foxton, Department of Archaeology, York MAPPING APPLES POLITICAL ARTEFACTS @KFOXTON9
MALUS SIEVERSII • ASIA & KAZAKHSTAN • SWEET • UP TO 8CM MANY ORCHARDS CLOSED BETWEEN 1970-2000 IN BERKSHIRE. THE OWNER OF THE CROSS LANES FRUIT FARM BOUGHT THE WOODEN APPLE BOXES WHICH USED TO BELONG TO THE OLD ORCHARDS, WITH THE PREVIOUS BRAND LOGOS AND MALUS SYLVESTRIS PREVIOUS PRICES (SOMETIMES IN SHILLINGS) • EUROPE • BITTER • 1-3CM DIAMETER
MALUS ORIENTALIS • CAUCASIAN AREA • BITTER • 2-4CM DIAMETER THE DOMESTIC APPLE (MALUS DOMESTICA) HAS EVOLVED OVER THOUSANDS OF YEARS THROUGH THE HYBRIDIZATION OF WILD APPLES SUCH AS THE MALUS ORIENTALIS, MALUS SYLVESTRIS AND MALUS SIEVERSII (THE LATTER IS ARGUED TO BE THE MOST DOMINANT WITHIN DOMESTIC APPLE DNA) (VAUGAN & GEISSLER 2009, CORNILLE ET AL 2014). WILD APPLES WERE INTERGRATED AND TRANSPORTED ALONG THE ‘SILK ROAD’ (INDICATED IN RED) AND CULTIVATED BY DIFFERENT CULTURES OVERTIME. EVENTUALLY IN THE 3RD CENTURY AD THE ROMANS BROUGHT THEIR APPLES TO BRITAIN AND BEGAN TO PLANT ORCHARDS (MORGAN 2013). AFTER THE EMPIRE COLLAPSED, CHRISTIAN MONESTRIES CONTINUED TO CULTIVATE THE FRUIT.
THE BREEDING OF APPLES INCLUDES ‘GRAFTING’ YOUNG SHOOTS & PLANTING PIPS (WHICH GENERATES A NEW SPECIES OF APPLES FROM THE ORIGINAL TREE). THIS ALLOWS GROWERS TO PRODUCE VARIETIES OF FRUIT SUITED TO DIFFERENT CLIMATES AND SEASONS.
MANY VARIETIES WERE PRODUCED THROUGHOUT THE 16TH-20TH CENTRURY IN BRITAIN AND IN COMMONWEALTH COUNTRIES BY EXPLORERS, FARMERS AND WEALTHY LANDOWNERS
SPARTAN MALLING KENT BLENHEIM ORANGE RIBSTON PIPPIN GREENSLEEEVES Bred in 1926 Canada by RC Bred in 1949 UK Kent by Discovered 1740 Oxon, UK by Grown from pips in 1708 sent Bred in 1966 Kent, UK by Dr Palmer Tydeman Kempster (later sent to from Normandy to Ribston Alston Parents: McIntosh x Yellow Parents: Cox’s Orange Pippin x Massachusetts and Australia) Hall, Yorkshire, UK. Parents: James Grieve x Newtown Pippin Jonathan Parents: Unknown Parents: Unknown Golden Delicious Pick Oct (eat Dec-April) Pick Dec (eat Jan-April) Pick Sept (eat Oct-Jan) Pick Oct (eat Nov-Jan) Pick Sept (eat Oct-Dec) Thick fig colouring skin with a Ruddy red blush and green Burnt-Orange red and green Green, mottled sometimes Lime green fleck skin with ‘blush’, sweet strawberry skin flecked skin, firm and sweet blushed skins, prone to scab. slightly blue calix. taste. Strong nectar flavour with flesh Strong hearty flavour equal Fresh, juicy and sweet early in WEEKLY OR MONTHLY FARMERS Cox’s zing measure of sweet and zing. season, matures overtime to develop gingery tones. MARKETS IN THE LOCAL AREA PROVIDED OPPORTUNITY FOR THE CROSSLANES FRUIT FARM TO SELL THE APPLES THEY HAD GROWN DURING THE APPLE SEASON (SEPT-JAN). OFTEN UK ORCHARDS THESE MARKETS CONSISTED OF LEISURE SHOPPING RATHER THAN DURING THE MID 20TH CENTURY THERE WERE AMENTITIES. NUMEROUS APPLE FARMS AND ORCHARDS. HOWEVER FROM THE 1950’S ONWARDS, BRITISH OFTEN CUSTOMERS WOULD RECALL FARMERS BEGAN TO STOP PRODUCING APPLES OLD NAMES OF THE APPLES AND TREES THEMSELVES IN ORDER TO PRODUCE OTHER OF THEIR GRANDPARENTS, WHICH MORE SELLABLE FOODSTUFFS. IMPORTS SUCH AS THEY HAD KNOWN (AND CLIMBED) IN GOLDEN DELICIOUS (FRANCE) BRAEBURN (NEW THEIR CHILDHOOD. ZEALAND/CHILE) & GRANNY SMITH (AUSTRALIA) ALSO BECAME MORE COMMON BECAUSE THEY HAD BEEN BRED FOR GOOD SUPERMARKET SHELF-LIFE.
IN 1977, CROSS LANES FRUIT FARM IN BERKSHIRE, BEGAN TO COLLECT OLD VARIETY APPLES IN AN ATTEMPT TO DIVERSIFY THE LOCAL MARKETS AND BRING GOOD FLAVOURED APPLES BACK INTO PEOPLES HOMES. INITIATIVES SUCH AS COMMON GROUND AND THE NATIONAL TRUST BEGAN TO CAMPAIGN TO SAVE APPLE ORCHARDS (PASTON-WILLIAMS 2009).
ABOUT THIS POSTER LOCAL YOUNG PEOPLE AND PEOPLE LOOKING FOR PART-TIME WORK WERE RECRUITED AT THE FARM. This poster is an attempt to conceive of apples as cultural artefacts which reveal THEY WERE TAUGHT ABOUT the development of agriculture in the UK and the demands of the urban on the FARMING TECHNIQUES INCLUDING rural at a global scale. It also highlights concepts of ‘local’ and the impact of PICKING, GRADING, TASTING, SELLING AND PRUNING. THIS EXPERT local experiences. It is a mix of desk-based research and inspiration from the KNOWLEDGE IS ALSO OFFERED AS author’s experience as an apple farmer in 2012-3. The drawings are fictional TRAIING COURSES FOR INDIVIDUAL OR COMPANY TRAINING DAYS AS A interpretations of experience on the farm. WAY OF UNDERSTANDING Thanks go to the Cross Lanes Orchard owner, Gill Franklin, who helped with TEAMWORK AND MANUAL LABOUR. the making of the poster. REFERENCES CORNILLE, A, GIRAUD, T, SMULDERS, M.J.M, ROLDAN-RUIZ, I & GLADIEUX, P. (2014) “THE DOMESTICATION AND EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY OF APPLES” IN TRENDS IN GENETICS 30 (2). 57-65. MORGAN, J. (2013) THE NEW BOOK OF APPLES. OXFORD: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS. Kat Foxton: [email protected] PASTON-WILLIAMS, S. (2009) APPLES: A GUIDE TO BRITISH APPLE VARIETIES. LONDON: NATIONAL TRUST BOOKS. VAUGAN, JG & GEISSLER, CA. (2009) THE NEW OXFORD BOOK OF FOOD PLANTS. OXFORD: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS.