North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Harry Burton <burtonh@saltspring.com>
Date: September 21, 2008 8:50:57 PM PDT
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Van Sun Article about Red Fleshed apples and the Salt Spring Island Apple FEstival

>  
> In The Garden: Apples ready for the pickin'
>  
> Steve Whysall
> Vancouver Sun
>
> Thursday, September 18, 2008

CREDIT: Derrick Lundy/Special to The Vancouver Sun
> Harry and Debbie Burton in their orchard on Salt Spring Island.
>
> VANCOUVER - There are all sorts of great apples. 'Melrose' is a crisp, firm apple, perfect for cooking. 'Honeycrisp' is a big apple with a distinctive crunchy-crisp texture.
>
> Most people have heard of 'Spartan' and 'Jonagold',  both handsome, medium-sized apples with beautiful red-green skins and a delicious sweet-tart flavour.
>
> Then there's old favourites like 'Gravenstein', 'King', 'Ambrosia' and 'Fuji'.
>
> And who doesn't know 'Golden Delicious', 'Gala', 'Red Delicious' and 'Granny Smith'.
>
> If you originate from the U.K., you'll recognize names such as 'Bramley' (a great cooking apple) and 'Cox's Orange Pippin' (supposedly gets its name from the rattling sound the pips make when the apple is shaken).
>
> And if you come from a German or Dutch background,  you'll be more familiar with 'Belle de Boskoop', a largy, dull-red apple that serves is suitable for both  savoury salads as well as traditional pies.
>
> People who have lived all their life in B.C. and are in their 70s and 80s will still remember tasting apples like 'Northern Spry' and 'Transparent'.
>
> Ideal for growing in coastal gardens are cultivars either totally immune or extremely resistant to "scab," the most common fungal disease to affect apples.
>
> Highly recommended are 'Pristine,' 'Liberty,''Akane,' 'Dayton,' 'Priam','Bramley,' and 'Prima', which is a particularly reliable all-purpose cultivar that consistently delivers a good yield.
>
> In 2003, a new apple, 'Aurora Golden Gala', was introduced in Kelowna by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. It has a thin, glossy yellow skin and juicy, crisp sweet flesh.
>
> But the hottest trend today in apples is the emerging popularity of the red-fleshed apple.  
>
> Harry Burton, an orchardist on Salt Spring Island who has planted at least 40 red-fleshed apple trees in his 300-tree Apple Luscious Organic Orchard, says this kind of apple is being sought after by chefs at top restaurants all along the West Coast, especially in San Francisco.
>
> "These are the apples of the future," says Burton, who taught evironmental technology at a college in Ontario before retiring to Salt Spring in 1986 to grow apples.
>
> "I predicted that these apples will become the dominant apple of the future in the same way that red grapefruit has replaced white grapefruit as the common type."
>
> Burton says the red colouring of the apple's flesh is caused by anthocyanins that are excellent antioxidants.
>
> "These apples taste even better than they look. The reaction most people have to biting into the red flesh is 'Wow!' You never have to encourage a child to eat them," he says.
>
> When they are baked in a pie, the apples retain their colour, but the colour does disappear when the fruit is fermented and turned into wine or cider.
>
> However, the history of the red-fleshed apple has not always been so rosy.
>
> The original 'Surprise' cultivar is thought to have originated in Turkestan.  It has a yellow skin with creamy, white red-strained flesh. By 1830, it was being grown in England.
>
> In North America, 'Surprise' was used by California apple breeder Albert Etter to produce what is now the most popular form of red-fleshed apple, 'Pink Pearl.'
>
> Unfortunately, since these types of apples are late to ripen, usually not being ready to pick until mid-October, they were dismissed as by orchardists in the eastern U.S. as having little or no value.
>
> Etter discovered that red-fleshed apples did much better in California's climate. He played with 'Surprise' and produced as many as 40 named hybrids including 'Blush Rosette', 'Christmas Pink', 'Grenadine' and 'Pink Parfait'.
>
>  One of his more admired hybrids is 'Pink Pearmain' which has red stripes when ripe, and a tart, mildly sweet aromatic flavour.
>
> At his orchard on Salt Spring, Burton and his wife, Debbie, started growing red-fleshed apples in the 1980s.  They collected hard-to-find cultivars from amateur apple growers all over the world.
>
> From June to  September they thin clusters to produce bigger apples. And they hand pick more than 5,000 pounds from late September through to November.
>
> On Sept. 28, the Burtons will be one of 15 orchard farms on Salt Spring that will take part in the island's 10th Annual Apple Festival.
>
> About 300 varieties will be displayed aphabetically in Fulford Hall and there will be at least 125 varieties for tasting.
>
> All of the apples are grown organically without the use of pesticides.
>
> Harry believes a little scab doesn't hurt an apple, but actually makes it more nutritious because in fighting off the fungus the apple produces more beneficial antioxidants.
>
> As well, to ensure his trees get adequate pollination, he maintains two colonies of blue orchard mason bees on site.
>
> "They don't roam very far and that is part of their value," he says.
>
> For more details about the apple festival on Salt Spring go to www.saltspringmarket.com
>
> /apples/
By Steve Whysall, of the Vancouver Sun
> swhysall@vancouversun.com


Apple Luscious Organic Orchard
Growing over 200 connoisseur apple varieties
Certified Organic by IOPA (#902)
Harry  Burton
110 Heidi Place
Salt Spring Island, BC      V8K-1W5
www.appleluscious.com
250-653-2007

Contact Person for CAPTAIN APPLE.

The 10th Annual Salt Spring Island Apple Festival
Theme:  Celebrating Red-Fleshed Apples - THE APPLES OF THE FUTURE
Growing over 350 varieties of apples organically.
Sunday, Sept 28, 2008
A chance to visit Apple Heaven while still on earth!
http://www.saltspringmarket.com/apples/