Do you want to return to fall
in your mind? Then stop. Before you read farther, grab an
apple from your fruit bowl, roll it between your hands and
feel for a smooth edge. Found it? Take your first bite and
let the apple breathe onto your tongue.
Now read on.
There is no fruit more Ontarian than an apple and there
is no trail where I’ve seen more apples than the Bruce
Trail. Each time the pathway crosses through farmland, there
seems to be an old gnarled tree marking a former orchard.
All apples in the world come from Kazakhstan in Russia
where apple trees grow up to 60 feet tall. Malus sieversii,
species that grow in Kazakhstan, became malus domestica
when brought to Europe and they were carted as grafted plants
when settlers immigrated to North America.
Although one of the most ancient edible fruits, initially
mentioned in the Old Testament, the first reference of apple
propagation in Ontario is in the diary of Charles Woolverton
of Grimsby Township. He describes the sale of 200 acres
of land to his grandfather, John Woolverton in 1796, bound
by the inclusion of 5 natural apple trees. By 1880, 84 apple
varieties were grown in Ontario.
The first McIntosh tree was discovered in 1811 at Dundela,
Dundas County, Ontario by John McIntosh, the son of Scottish
immigrants to the United States. While clearing his land,
he discovered an overgrown orchard on this property and
transplanted twenty of the healthiest seedlings to new ground.
One survived and its fruit were the ancestors of the McIntosh
apple. The original tree lived for 114 years and bore fruit
until 1906. Today, McIntosh are cultivated in nearly every
apple growing area of North America and were used in developing
such varieties as the Cortland, Spartan and Empire apples.
I often mix the tart flavour of McIntosh with sweeter
apple varieties into an applesauce blend. It’s one
way to keep the scent sensation all year long. Try it while
you’re reading this article. Pick some apples from
your bowl and quarter them.
I leave the skin on. It reminds me of trees dotted red
in the fall. Now set the magazine down for a moment, place
the quartered apples in a saucepan and partially cover with
water. Cook the apples over gentle heat or they will pop,
gurgle and sputter. Pull your chair up to the pot and let
the scent rise into your face. Apple essence.
As the apples get softer, stir them with your spoon. You
can crush, mush, or dip your spoon in and scoop some into
your mouth. When it’s soft enough, set the pot aside.
If you like the scent and sight of apples, the Primrose
Loop is the section you should walk each fall. You’ll
pass through more old apple orchards than on any other section
of the Bruce Trail and you’ll reach high, panoramic
lookout points along the way.
Since the Bruce Trail passes through private property and
encourages hikers to leave a place untouched, let the wild
apples remain for the animals. These old orchards, however,
carry apple varieties that aren’t being grown anymore.
“We need to keep going back to the wild to maintain
healthy fruit production,” says Henry Kock, horticulturist
at the University of Guelph Arboretum. “It’s
in the wild apple that evolution is continuous. Horticultural
apples are all grafted. Every red delicious is genetically
identical. They are all the same and have been the same
for the last 60-70 years whereas the diseases and insects
are evolving. In order for our fruit to continue to be useful,
they must evolve with the disease. If someone tastes a wild
apple and it’s incredible, we need to propagate those.
They need to alert an apple connoisseur and tell them they
tasted the apple and have a map of how to get to it.”
It’s food for thought. Ontario once had a variety
of apples before the regular cultured selections took over.
Country Heritage Park in Milton maintains a heritage apple
orchard where you’ll see Snow Red Jones, Red Aimson
Beauty, Astrachan Red, Ben Davis, Dutchess, Margarett Pratt,
Wealthy, Ribston Pippin, Yellow Harvest, Baldwin, Yellow
Transparent and St. Lawrence.
Unfortunately there isn’t much information available
on Canadian heritage apples, but there are such varieties
on the Primrose Loop. The short section through Boyne Valley
Provincial Park is closed in by evergreens and descends
through a large milkweed field, great for spotting monarch
butterflies in the fall. The pathway then leads to Pinnacle
Hill, with a panoramic view of the region - a great spot
to stop for lunch. Dark green wooded sections outline the
farm fields and pastures, and on a clear day, the Nottawasaga
Bay spreads into the distance. From here you head through
a forest into the largest old apple orchard I’ve ever
encountered on the trail.
Speaking of apples, your puree should have cooled by now.
You’ll want to blend it and then return the pulp to
your saucepan. This is where your options are wide open:
blend tart and sweet varieties of apple; sprinkle in cinnamon,
nutmeg or ginger; add raspberries, pineapple or blueberries;
garnish with slivered almonds, chopped walnuts or sprigs
of mint.
When you follow the Primrose Loop trail across the road,
you’ll also walk past a pine plantation. If you sit
still long enough, the light moves through the forest, dripping
off branches, then dusting trees as if a light snowfall.
The forest seems fragile as it turns from the morning’s
soft pink to early afternoon’s dusky purple —
the shades of apple skins and pulp blending in your pot.
So grab an apple from the tree and bite into one, then
leave it on the ground for a deer. Remember, you’ve
got a jar of applesauce waiting at home.
FOOD
FOR THOUGHT
