Or guest columnist, Sherman Shifflett, shares with us his memories of apples and orchards
An Apple a Day
By Sherman Shifflett
From the time I can first remember, I lived around orchards. Dad worked most of his adult life in the orchards near Covesville in Albemarle County. He knew a lot about grafting, planting, pruning, thinning, spraying and picking apples.
Looking back, I feel that many of the old-timey varieties had better flavor than the pithy fruits we purchase today. I remember apples like Albemarle Pippin, Grimes Golden, Rome, Black Twig, York, Ben Davis, Lady, Cheese, Summer Rambo, Maiden Blush, Baldwin, Jonathan, McIntosh, Sptizenburg, Red Winesap, Stayman Winesap, Lowery and others.
One of my favorite apples is the Albemarle Pippin, sometimes called Newtown Pippin. It is a large, flat, yellow apple, and very tart. Pippins are hard to find today. Sometimes you will see them in the supermarket, but they are very small and the taste is not the same. In past few years, Carter’s Mountain has had them.
There’s also a small fruit stand on Rt. 250, just west of the I-64 Crozet exit, and occasionally they have the “Real McCoy”.
Grimes Golden is another of my favorites. This is a small golden apple with excellent taste. This apple originated in West Virginia. There was a Grimes Golden tree on my property when I purchased it in 1977, but a severe ice storm during the late 1980’s brought it down, along with other fruit trees, including the Lady apple tree. My Lowery apple tree fell during the storm too. The Lowery was also developed in Nelson County – a brown, striped variety with good taste. The Summer Rambo apple tree survived the storm and still produces. Summer Rambo is an excellent apple to fry.
The Lady apple variety is very small and has a unique taste. Years ago, these apples were used to decorate Christmas wreaths. The Pink Lady apple you see today in supermarkets is not the same. The Pink Lady apple is much larger and not nearly as good in my opinion.
At home, we always had a Yellow Transparent tree, and those apples were good to both fry or to eat out of hand. Some called it the “June Apple”.
One of the first apple trees I can remember is the Ben Davis – one of the worst apples I can recall eating. No flavor, not even good for making cider, no juice. Dad said, “It was better than eating a snowball.” I once asked him why growers and homeowners planted this particular tree. He said because it was a good pollinator. After Dad retired, I asked why so many of the good apple varieties had disappeared.
First, he explained, most people who lived in rural areas had apples trees at home, usually old varieties, and he did not see that as much
anymore. He also stated that commercial growers were most interested in making money, and some of the older varieties were not pretty. They were brown, brown/striped, etc. He suggested that shoppers wanted bright, shiny red or yellow apples. He also said that some of the old varieties did not keep very well and did not ship well and were therefore easily bruised. He also pointed out that some of the old apples did not ripen at the same time and had to be “spot picked”. That took time and was not cost-effective for big producers. Another thing he mentioned was that some of the old varieties did not bear a bountiful crop every year, but instead, produced only every other year.
About 35 years ago I planted about 20 of the old apple trees, including the Ben Davis. Most were dwarf varieties and did not live long. Others were destroyed by the ice storm. I still have the Summer Rambo, Buckingham and Maiden Blush.
“An apple a day keeps the doctor away”.
I’m not sure that is true, but I love apples and whenever I pack a lunch, for work, hunting or just hiking, I always include an apple or two.