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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] feral apples/heirlooms

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  • From: road's end farm <organic101@linkny.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] feral apples/heirlooms
  • Date: Mon, 3 May 2004 10:49:11 -0400


On Monday, May 3, 2004, at 12:17 AM, Lisa Almarode wrote:

There's a certain amount of, hmm, value or cachet
given to heirlooms: vegetables, chicken or sheep
breeds, roses, etc. Often cited is that modern
varities have had the
flavor/hardiness/scent/uniqueness
bred out of them in search of shipability/fast
growth/high production/perfect blossoms/uniformity,
i.e. that mass production breds characteristics that
are desireable for the mass producers, but not
necessarily for the home grower/small producers.
Also, that heirlooms tend to be are adapted to a
particular climate and therefore less suitable for
national marketing, but possibly more suitable for
local use.

When it comes to fruit, would you experts say this
tradeoff holds true? I do get the urge to grow
heirlooms (tomatoes and livestock as well as
fruit), but it's a little silly to grow macintosh in
this area, I think... hmm, as I recall Hudson's Golden
Gem is from southern oregon.

Don't know that I'm an expert, but . . .

It's my experience, at least with tomatoes, that best flavor is very location-dependent; a variety that produces excellent flavor on one side of the hill may be mediocre on the other, let alone in an entirely different climate. It's also my experience that many modern varieties (not all) do seem to have been bred for characteristics other than flavor, texture, and nutrition; that not everyone has the same priorities for what they feel most important in a fruit; and that not everyone agrees as to what is the best flavor. (I find it's not unusual, if for instance I'm asking customers for opinions on relative flavor of three different strawberry varieties, to find that there's massive disagreement; the variety rated worst by one person may be rated best by somebody else.)

Heirlooms in particular may be best suited for specific places, and one that's in a spot it's well suited to may outperform a modern variety bred for adequate performance all over the country. It may however do far worse than that modern variety in a spot it's not suited for. And it's certainly true that some old varieties have been greatly improved upon over the years; just as it's true that some modern varieties have been bred entirely for shippability and production, you can dribble them like a basketball without visible bruises but they taste about the same as one.

I'd recommend talking to your neighbors (and if possible to former owners of your land); reading descriptions from varying sources; and then using trial-and-error on your own place to select among varieties that sound interesting to you. Heirlooms or moderns isn't an either-or choice; you can try some of both. If something tastes terrible to you, or always gets eaten by something else, or produces mostly mold spores to infect the others, take it back out. This is of course a time-consuming process; but I can think of lots worse things to be here for.

One other note, applicable both to heirlooms and to "new" varieties, many of which disappear from catalogues again almost as soon as they appear: while not everyone has room or time for this (and no one has room or time for everything), keeping as many varieties as possible in existence in the world does help protect us against future blights etc. A variety that produces mediocre fruit everywhere except, maybe, in one tiny spot with exactly the right conditions; or even one which has mediocre fruit everywhere; may be carrying some genes we don't yet know that we're going to need.

--Rivka
Finger Lakes NY; zone 5 mostly





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