Review

Perhaps one of the most delightful small volumes on food I’ve seen, The National Trust’s (UK) book on apples is probably everything a good British gardener would need to develop an orchard of delicious lesser-known apple varieties. One of a National Trust series of useful little books (including Beekeeping, Henkeeping, and Wild Foods), this slim 96-page volume covers some history of the apple culinary and cultural, the supposed health benefits, origins of various cultivars old and new, and horticultural tips for growing trees in various settings.

The audience is exclusively British, with no regard given to non-British varieties (except where they are the bad commercial imports that have drowned out British variety). Nonetheless, the wonderful diversity of varieties over a relatively small landmass is fascinating. The author’s claim that apples are as different as wines is perhaps pushing things a bit far, but there is no denying that the relatively mild differences in texture, fragrance and flavour that everyday consumers experience in commercial cultivars are just a hint of the broad range of characteristics to be found across such delightfully named varieties as D’Arcy Spice (1785; “hot, spicy, nutmeg-like flavour”), Scrumptious (1985; “tasting of cherries, licorice and wine”), or Peasgood’s Nonsuch (1853).

The book presents three divisions of apples: dessert, cooking and cider varieties, with a handful of recipes. Reading the descriptions of these many apples gives a small insight into how much is lost in commercial production and, how creative horticulturalists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were (and how much I’d like to make my own cider!). It is also a timely reminder of how easily you can grow some fruit trees in even small gardens under the right conditions, and the information on growing apples in various settings and from different rootstocks is extremely valuable.

Although the section on the history of the apple is probably strongly derivative of other works listed under Further Reading, and the section on health benefits seemed to this reviewer to be largely out of place, full of claimed health benefits of very mixed reliability, this is still a valuable and charming book for British readers and for curious fruit growers and apple lovers in other places.