To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] sour apples
Date: Sat, 1 May 2010 08:32:43 -0500
Maria, there was a local apple collector who had a variety he said was
called "Big Jelly" because it was used to make apple jelly. He said it was
"sour enough to make a pig squeal". Alas after collecting about 150 vars
of apples and pears he discovered he was in a frost pocket and the blooms
were wiped out year after year, so he cut the trees down. Mind you, he'd
grafted and given away many hundreds of trees in the meanwhile. I had never
thought about growing a sour apple, but now that you have mentioned it I
quite like the idea. I planted Toya Nishiki flowering quince because I'd
found out how useful the fruit were for preserves, only to find that it
freezes out most years on our windy site. Alas, meanwhile the nice big bush
at Tech has been removed, so I have lost my source of free quince fruit. An
apple might make a more reliable substitute for our property. I don't know
if "Big Jelly" can still be found locally, so does anyone know of any
southern type sour apples? Donna