North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[fluffy bunny <the.fluffy.bunny@juno.com>]

Lon wrote:

>Just heard on the radio...... why don,t Cox's Orange Pippin apples
rattle
>anymore when shaken. This once used to be a clear sign of a ripe apple
but
>alas no more. Any ideas?

My reply:

I believe this is a water swelling thing associated with chemical
fertilizer...this is hard to state in a non-nutcase way but the belief is
held by some "natural" type growers that soil high in organic matter
produce "meatier" fruits, ala less water in a loosely packed cell
structure then fruits grown on think soils using dry fertilizers.

I think there might be some minor merit to the argument based on a couple
of small experiments I did by splitting a branch and wicking water to
it...the fruit seemed mushier compared to the other ones on the
tree...but this is real small scale curiosity based experimentation and
nothing else

Doreen wrote:

The last Cox's Orange Pippin's I bought rattled.  In fact, I thought
something was wrong with them until I ate one.  That batch was the best
flavored COPs I've had in the 6 years I've been buying them.

My reply:

The term Pippin is a reflection of this "rattling characteristic.

Wishing all of you the best as we dream of harvests yet to come,

                                TFB






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