The apple, Malus pumila, one of the first fruits to have been cultivated, is now the most important fruit in Europe, N. America, and temperate regions in both northern and southern hemispheres.
There are about 7,000–8,000 named varieties, although only a small proportion of these are of commercial or historical importance. An alphabetical list of some interesting ones is given under apple varieties below.
The large, sweet apple familiar in modern times is essentially a cultivated product, much changed from the tiny, sour fruits, such as those of the crabapple, which were its wild ancestors. The natural strategy for an apple tree, in order to propagate itself most effectively, was to produce hundreds of tiny fruits instead of a small number of large ones. The apple's wild relatives in the rose family, e.g. the rowan and hawthorn, all do this. It was no easy task to persuade apple trees, by selection, to evolve against their natural bent to give larger apples, some of which may now weigh over 500 g (1.25 lb).
The original wild crabapple of Europe, Malus sylvestris, is not the direct ancestor of the cultivated apple, although it and other small wild apples contributed to the apple's development through interbreeding. The main ancestor of the modern apple was M. pumila var mitis, a native of the Caucasus where it still grows wild. Early, small, apples were pale green, yellow, or red and consisted principally of core, the part of the apple which is useful for the tree's reproduction; it is the seed box, consisting of five compartments, each usually holding two seeds. The edible fleshy part surrounding the seed box is called the torus. Selective breeding enlarged the torus whilst leaving the core little larger than it had been originally.
The production of reliable, consistent apple trees is not easy. Apple seeds grow into trees resembling their parents no more than human daughters resemble their mothers. The flowers of most varieties can be fertilized only by the pollen of other varieties. And there is a natural tendency for offspring to revert to the wild state. As Behr (1992) puts it: ‘Without the techniques of grafting (or of rooting a branch), each tree in the world would constitute its own variety, distinct from every other.’ These techniques are a legacy to the modern world from classical times.
The first written mention of apples, in Homer's Odyssey, is not specific, since the Greek word melon is used for almost any kind of round fruit which grows on a tree. Thus the legendary ‘apples’ of Greek myth—given by Paris to Aphrodite, or thrown down by Hippomenes to distract Atalanta, or growing in the Hesperides—may have been other kinds of fruit, or no particular kind at all.
In later Greek writings a distinction was made between the apple and the related quince, which had been growing in the E. Mediterranean region before the arrival of the apple. The ‘apples’ with which the Shulamite in the Song of Solomon asked to be comforted would probably have been quinces. The Hebrew word used, tappuach, meant ‘apple’ later, but not necessarily then.
The Bible is not specific about the nature of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The notion that it was an apple came much later, possibly because of the high opinion of the apple which was general in Roman times, or perhaps later still when the apple had become the standard fruit of W. Europe, the one which would come to mind first whenever fruit was mentioned. Paintings of the temptation of Eve always show an apple; but these are all European, the Jews being forbidden to make religious pictures.
At some time in the classical period it was discovered how to produce apples of a consistent variety: by taking cuttings (‘scions’) of a good tree and grafting them onto a suitable rootstock, where they grow into branches producing the desired fruits. The process is first described in De Agricultura, written in the 2nd century bc by Cato the Elder.
The Romans considered the apple a luxury fruit, better than the fig. It seems at least probable that two or three varieties known to them are identical with kinds grown today. See Api and Court pendu plat under apple varieties below.
After the fall of the Roman Empire the cultivation of apples lapsed into disarray. Although the Arabs preserved many classical techniques, including that of grafting trees of all kinds, they were not in a position to reorganize European apple-growing, since they invaded Europe from the south, through hot regions unsuitable for apples.
However, apples continued to be grown, and certain distinct types were recognized. In England the two leading kinds were the Costard, a large variety, and the Pearmain. These were both known in the 13th century. There are recipes for apple dishes in 14th-century works such as the Menagier de Paris and the Forme of Cury(e), which also includes one for a caudle made with apple blossom.
Grafting was reintroduced and became systematic by the 16th century. Good new varieties of apples were developed, mostly in France, and soon spread to England where their superiority over native apples was acknowledged, although the conservative English would not allow the newcomers to supplant entirely the older kinds. The new apples included the first Pippins, from which many good eating varieties were developed.
From the same ancestors came the Reinettes, mostly small, dull coloured, and very late to ripen. The Reinettes were most important in France, and are still widely grown there. Apples of this type also spread to other countries, e.g. Boskoop (or Belle de Boskoop), a late variety popular in the Netherlands.
Apples of other types known in Britain before 1600 were the Nonpareil; the White Joaneting; and the Royal Russet, ancestor of a long succession of russet apples with a matt brown skin and a pearlike flavour.
In N. Europe, especially in Scandinavia and Russia, the climate required apples which would ripen quickly in the short summer. The most satisfactory were of a type whose best-known example now is White Transparent. All are light coloured, sometimes with a crimson flash or stripes, and with soft, juicy flesh.
Emigrants to America at first took apple pips rather than scions, which would have died on the voyage, in order to establish the domestic apple in the New World. This procedure gave rise to entirely new varieties, which were further diversified by interbreeding with native American crabapples. As a result American apples became and remain a distinct group. Some have European characteristics, such as Boston Russet, a variety raised in the mid-17th century. Others are unlike their ancestors. For example, the famous Newtown Pippin is quite different from any European pippin.
A two-way trade in varieties arose. Gravenstein, the best of the N. German and Danish apples, became popular in the USA. American Mother, a red, juicy, mid-autumn apple, enjoyed a vogue in Britain in the 19th century.
The spread of apple cultivation in America was encouraged by a notable eccentric, Johnny Appleseed, born John Chapman in Leominster, Massachusetts, in 1775. He collected large amounts of apple seeds from cider mills and journeyed up and down the country planting them wherever he went.
Apples could also be grown successfully in some parts of the southern hemisphere, and new varieties were developed there too, e.g. Bismarck, a brilliant crimson cooking apple, in Tasmania. S. Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Chile are now all major exporters of apples to the northern hemisphere, taking advantage of the reversed seasons to sell when local apples are scarce.
In the Middle East and most of Asia the climate does not suit apples except in some cooler, hilly areas. Thus they are grown in the upland, but not the lowland, parts of Lebanon. India produces apples in the northern hills and some are grown in Nepal and on the mountain slopes of E. Java. China has grown apples since well before ad1000, and its crop now accounts for 41% of the world harvest. Japan produces apples extensively, and has contributed the variety Mutsu to the international repertoire.
In the latter part of the 20th century, European production of apples was highest in Italy and France. In N. America, the leading US states were Washington, Michigan, and New York, while Canada was also a significant producer (Ontario the most important state).
National tastes affect not only the choice of varieties but also the categorization of apples.
In Britain apples are divided clearly into eating and cooking varieties, a distinction which is much less rigid in other countries. (An English cooking apple disintegrates to a purée when cooked. This effect is brought about by a high content of malic acid, which is characteristic of early, soft, green-skinned apples of the Codlin type, such as Grenadier; and of the late, long-keeping, red-striped Lane's Prince Albert family which includes the familiar Bramleys.)
As for eating apples, the British are catholic in their taste. It may still be possible to discern some traces of the effects produced by the Victorian and Edwardian custom of taking dessert with port; this prompted enthusiasm for apples with a ‘nutty’ flavour which would complement the port. It was also partly responsible for a small tide of gastronomic prose about apples which washed over England in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (see pomology), and which embodied language which resembled writing about fine wines. But none of this had much effect on the vast majority of British people. They accept with docile pleasure the imported golden and red delicious, but their greatest favourite is still the Cox. They are not deterred by the curious appearance of the russets, which has caused these to be neglected in other countries.
In the USA apples are judged more by their appearance, and red varieties are preferred. While some deep red apples are good, there are also insipid varieties such as Rome Beauty which sell on their looks alone; and there are popular varieties of other colours: Golden Delicious is of American origin. Few kinds are sold purely as eating or cooking apples, and most are used for both purposes.
Storing apples is simple in principle, but exacting in practice. The requirements are that the apples should be of a well-keeping—which means late—variety; that they should be absolutely sound, for even a small bruise or a break in the skin releases enzymes which hasten decay; that the place should be dry and cool; and that the apples should not touch each other, lest infection be spread by contagion.
The practical details were understood early. Pliny the Elder (1st century ad) warned against trying to store windfalls or apples picked on wet days. He recommended a cool, dry room with windows on the side away from the sun which could be opened on warm days. The apples were to be stored in a way that would permit free circulation of air around them.
From early times apples were preserved by drying. The usual method in medieval Europe was to peel and core the apples and dry them whole, threaded on strings: this required a warm and airy drying room. The later method of cutting apples across into rings is more reliable, since these dry faster.
An unusual old drying method was the preparation of Norfolk ‘biffins’. These were apples which were dried, whole and unpeeled, in warm bread ovens so that they shrivelled into a form like roundish, red prunes. The partial cooking helped to preserve them. They were close packed in layers as they dried. The pommes tapées of the Loire Valley in France are somewhat similar, but are peeled first; then dried in special ovens for about five days, during which they are occasionally ‘tapped’ with a mallet to encourage them to subside into a flattish shape, for ease of storage. It is usual to soak them in red wine before eating them. Similar treatment produced poires tapées in the past but, although they were famous in the 19th century, these have virtually disappeared.
Apple butter, which is apple sauce concentrated by boiling it down with cider, was a traditional European product associated especially with the Dutch. It was they who introduced it to America, now its principal stronghold.
All these old preservation methods were made less necessary at the beginning of the 20th century by the introduction of chilled storage, and more recently by inert nitrogen storage. (Nitrogen, which makes up three-quarters of the atmosphere, is harmless to fruit. It is only the oxygen in the air which contributes to spoilage; so, if this is removed, keeping time is much prolonged.)
The main commercial apple products are fresh apple juice and cider (the alcoholic kind—see cider for the American meaning of the term). This latter is a major industry in parts of France, especially Normandy, and the west of England; and the traditional cider-making in the Basque region of Spain is being revived. Calvados and its American counterpart, applejack, are distilled spirits derived from apples (applejack also means apple turnover in E. England).
Verjuice, formerly used as souring agent in the same way as vinegar, was sometimes made from apples, though more usually from crabapples. Cider vinegar is mentioned under vinegar. Apple pectin is extracted from apple pomace (pulp, including rejects and trimmings).
Since apples were the fruits best known to the Europeans who colonized the other continents, they naturally used the name as a point of reference in describing strange fruits which they met. Thus misuse of the name ‘apple’ for unrelated fruits is more prevalent than with any other fruit name. A few examples are custard apple, rose-apple, sugar-apple, wood apple; and, of course, pineapple—the most famous example of all.
The general section on apple above explains what a large number of varieties there are, some of great antiquity. This alphabetical list gives brief details of just a few, not including the most recent arrivals whose staying power is not yet fully established.
Allington Pippin is one of the sweet/sharp varieties which exemplifies the manner in which an apple's taste can change with age. As Joan Morgan (1985) points out, it ‘can be almost bitter sweet in early November but mellows to a definite pineapple flavour by Christmas’. It also exemplifies complexity of flavour; one enthusiast claimed that he had found ‘pine and grape, the scent of quince and pear … the breath of honey from the hive in its gelid pores’.
Api (Pomme d'Api) or Lady apple, a small, hard, winter apple which may have originated in Roman times. Lister (1698), describing his visit to Paris in that year, wrote that it was served there for show more than use, ‘being a small flat apple, very beautiful red on one side, and pale or white on the other, and may serve the ladies at their Toilets a Pattern to Paint by’. The flavour, residing chiefly in the perfumed skin, is good.
Bismarck, unusual among British-type cooking apples in having a bright red skin, was introduced from Tasmania, its place of origin, in 1890.
Blenheim Orange, one of the best apples of the Pippin family, was popular in England for a century after its introduction around 1818. It is large, dull yellow and red, and has crisp flesh and a flavour of unusually acid quality. Season: midwinter, so traditionally a Christmas apple.
Bramley's Seedling or Bramley, the most widely sold cooking apple in Britain, has a very long keeping season, from early autumn right through to next summer. It is usually very large and often irregular in shape. It is harvested commercially as a green apple, or green with faint red stripes, but will turn yellow if left on the tree; and there are also crimson varieties.
Calville blanche d'hiver, an old French variety, is a connoisseur's apple. It is large, ribbed, golden, juicy, and scented. Season: January and February.
Cider apples are of varieties quite distinct from eating or cooking apples, and are indeed almost inedible. Their chief characteristics are sourness, astringency, and bitterness. (In N. America ‘cider’ usually refers to unfermented apple juice, to which the above does not apply: see cider.)
Cortland, a modern American variety bred from Ben Davis and McIntosh, is useful for fruit salads because its flesh hardly browns when cut. Largish, yellow and red, with a sweet, moderately acid flavour. Season: late autumn.
Costard, an extinct family of British apples, was one of the first types to have a distinct name, which was already in use in the 13th century. The first important kitchen apple, large and flavourful, much used in pies until it began to disappear towards the end of the 17th century. ‘Costard’ was medieval slang for ‘head’. The name survives in the word ‘costermonger’, although such a person may now sell any kind of fruit or vegetable.
Court pendu plat, an old French variety dating from before 1600, may well be a survival from Roman times. It is small, flattened in shape, green with faint red stripes, and richly flavoured.
Cox's Orange Pippin, one of the best of the large family of Pippins (see Pippins, below). Since its introduction in the first half of the 19th century it has become the most popular British apple. It is a medium-sized, round apple, dull brownish-green with faint red stripes and a red flush on one side. It usually has a matt brown russeted area around the stem. The texture is crisp, the flavour solidly acid but balanced by sweetness. The skin is strongly scented and should be eaten. Season: late autumn to spring, but the best is midwinter.
Delicious, a red apple, whose name is often applied by an inept abbreviation to the unrelated Golden Delicious. Delicious began as a chance seedling on the farm of Jess Hiatt of Peru, Iowa, in 1872. He marketed it as Hiatt's Hawkeye. Stark Brothers, a large fruit-growing concern, bought out Hiatt and renamed the variety Delicious. Since the 1940s it has been the leading American apple, is also widely grown elsewhere and has given rise to new varieties such as Starking (sometimes Star King). The fruit is large, red, and elongated, with five projections at the bottom end. The flavour is sweet but insipid, lacking in acid. Season: autumn to early winter.
Discovery, so named because it was a chance discovery by an amateur grower, was first marketed on a large scale in the 1970s. A bright green and crimson apple, like a brighter version of a Worcester Pearmain, the flesh often has a pink tinge on the sunny side. The flavour is unusual, with a hint of raspberries.
Ellison's Orange is highly flavoured, tasting of aniseed and pear drops.
Faro, a French apple, red, large, juicy, sweet with a little acidity. Grown in Brie, a region renowned for apple cultivation, and known as long ago as the 14th century. For table use during winter and for making a tarte tatin.
Flower of Kent, a large, green variety now almost forgotten, but said to be the apple whose fall inspired Sir Isaac Newton to formulate his law of universal gravitation.
Gillyflower, a variety mentioned by many early authors such as Evelyn (1699) and praised for its rich and aromatic flavour.
Gladstone, a large early summer apple of pleasing flavour and aroma.
Golden Delicious, an American apple which appeared as a chance seedling on a W. Virginia farm in about 1900, is now the most widely grown apple in many countries. It is not related to Delicious: the name is due to the fact that the same nursery firm bought the rights to both varieties. The apple is elongated, tapering to five points, pale green becoming yellow and sometimes aquiring a faint flush. The texture, at first light and crisp, later becomes flabby. The flavour varies. When the apple is grown in a cool climate, so that enough acid is formed, it can be good; but when grown in a warmer region it is insipid. Popular with growers because the tree crops heavily and the apples keep from early autumn to spring, albeit becoming more limp as time passes. Golden Delicious retains its shape when cooked, so it is a good choice for dishes containing sliced apples which are exposed to view, such as the French Tarte aux pommes.
Granny Smith is unusual, perhaps unique, in being a brilliant, almost emerald, green even when fully ripe. Much grown in warm climates, notably in S. Africa, Australia, Chile, and France. The texture is crisp and juicy, the flavour distinctive, with a hint of almond.
Gravenstein originated in N. Germany or Denmark before 1800. Scions were taken to California around 1820 and it soon became a popular American variety, especially for cooking; but it is also eaten by those who like rather acid apples. It is large, roundish and slightly lopsided, yellow with bright red and orange stripes. The texture is reasonably crisp, the flavour sharp and aromatic.
Greening or Rhode Island Greening is a pale green apple first grown from seed in 1748 by a Mr Green at Green's End, Rhode Island. Crisp and sharp in flavour, it is usually sold as a cooking apple, but is a good dessert apple too. It has a long season from late autumn to spring.
Idared (sometimes Ida Red), an American apple bred in the 1940s from the better-known Jonathan and Wagener, has become popular with British growers too because of its long keeping qualities. A medium-sized, round, red and yellow apple with a sweet, moderately acid flavour which makes it a satisfactory dessert variety; it also cooks well.
James Grieve, an English apple classified as ‘early dessert’, has a pleasantly balanced flavour and yields plenty of delicious juice.
Laxton apples, a large and important group, owe their name to the horticulturist Thomas Laxton (1830–90), whose sons produced thousands of cross-bred apples, from which many of the best British dessert apples are derived. A high proportion of them retain the family name Laxton. They bear a general resemblance to Coxes, but are usually brighter green, with less striping and russeting. The texture is crisp and the flavour light. The best-known late Laxtons include Laxton's Pearmain and Laxton's Superb. Laxton's Fortune is a yellow and red striped mid-season variety.
McIntosh, a popular Canadian variety which has been designated Canada's national apple. It was named after John McIntosh of Ontario, who discovered it in E. Ontario as a chance seedling in (probably) 1811. The apple is medium-sized, green or yellow overlaid with red stripes. The area where it grows is near the northern limits of apple country. Its texture is soft and juicy, the flavour a pleasing combination of tart and sweet; and it is aromatic. Good to eat out of hand, also a good cooking apple.
Macoun, a large, red American apple bred from McIntosh, which it surpasses in flavour. It also keeps better.
Mutsu, of Japanese origin, is grown in Britain under the name Crispin. A very late, long-keeping variety, developed from Golden Delicious but generally larger, of a duller green hue, with a more acid and more interesting flavour. For both cooking and eating.
Newtown Pippin, a fine, old established American variety, is little grown today because the tree is awkward to manage. Newtown was on Long Island, where Flushing now is. The original tree was found growing there soon after 1700. It produced a heavy crop of yellowish-green apples which were crisp but juicy, acid but sweet, and had exceptional keeping qualities.
Northern Spy, a large, yellow and red striped American apple resembling Baldwin but far better; indeed, it was for long the ne plus ultra of the cracker-barrel connoisseur and something of a legend for country people as well as urban gastronomes.
Pearmain, the oldest English apple name, was recorded in a Norfolk document of 1204. It is derived from the old French apple name ‘parmain’ or ‘permain’, referring perhaps to a group of apples rather than a single variety. All that modern Pearmains have in common is the green and red colouring typical of many British apples. The best known is Worcester Pearmain, an early autumn apple which has a good, sharp flavour, with a hint of strawberry, and a crisp texture when fresh, but does not keep. Its red parts are distinctively dark. Most other Pearmains ripen later.
Pippin, originally meaning any apple grown from a pip, is a name derived from the French ‘pépin’, meaning both ‘pip’ and the apple. By the 16th century the term had come to denote a hard, late-ripening, long-keeping apple of acid flavour. The first pippins brought over from France to England were cider apples, but eating varieties were soon developed. In relatively recent times Ribston Pippin became popular, and from it Cox's Orange Pippin (see above) was bred. Sturmer Pippin does well in the southern hemisphere, notably S. Africa and Australia.
In America the name ‘Pippin’ was used for different kinds of apple, the most famous being a purely American variety, Newtown Pippin (see above).
Reinette, an old French apple name, originally meant an apple propagated by grafting (Latin renatus, meaning ‘reborn’). The name soon came to denote instead a type of apple which was late ripening and long keeping, with a dull green skin, sometimes flushed and often ‘russeted’. It had firm, slightly dry flesh, and a good, sharp flavour. Golden Reinette has been popular in France since before 1650. Orléans Reinette, an 18th-century variety which is unusually sweet, is generally regarded as better.
Rome Beauty, an American apple, is named for Rome, Ohio, near where it was discovered around 1820 by the farmer Joel Gillett. One of his grafted trees had shot from below the graft. The stray branch began to produce large, red striped apples of handsome appearance and rocklike solidity. These keep crisp for a long time, but the flavour is insipid. Used for cooking, especially baking, because it keeps its shape well.
Russet is the name of a group of apples with distinctive matt brown skin, often spotted or with a faint red flush, and of a flattened lopsided shape. The flesh is crisp and the apples keep well. The flavour is unusual and pearlike.
Russets are used both for eating and for cooking. Their size varies from tiny to very large. Royal Russet, a variety known in England before the 17th century, remains popular on the mainland of Europe as a cooking apple. In Britain Egremont Russet and Golden Russet are the most popular kinds. An American variety, Roxbury Russet, is claimed to have originated in Roxbury, Massachusetts, in the early 17th century. If true, this would make it America's oldest named variety.
Wealthy, a large, bright red American apple, grows well in northern climates. It was developed for that purpose in the 1860s by Peter Gideon, the first American to breed apples scientifically. The name was not bestowed to suggest opulence, but was Mrs Gideon's (Puritan) Christian name. Has a good, sharp flavour suitable for table or kitchen use. Season: mid-autumn.
White Joaneting, an English apple known before 1600 (the Jenneting of Elizabethan writers), is still sometimes grown because it ripens before any other apple, in July. Its shiny skin is yellow, sometimes with a red flush. It has a good flavour and is juicy, but does not keep.
White Transparent, an apple of Scandinavian or Russian origin introduced to Britain and the USA in the mid-19th century. Very pale with a transparent skin and a mild flavour. The taste is mild but agreeable. Season: late summer. To be used as soon as ripe, while still crisp, and for cooking rather than dessert. Yellow Transparent is similar.
Winesap, an American apple, of medium size, elongated, bright red with a little yellow on the shaded side, and with firm, aromatic flesh.
Worcester apples form a group of which the Worcester Pearmain (see Pearmain) is the best known. Firm, sweet flesh with a strawberry flavour is characteristic of them.
York Imperial, a large American apple with good keeping qualities, much grown for use in the food-processing industry. It has crisp flesh with an attractively aromatic flavour, but its lopsided shape and patchy colour are unprepossessing, so it is seldom sold retail.
Most of the dishes made with apples that we know today are of early origin. For example, to cook apples with fatty meats, so that their sharpness offsets the fat, is a practice which dates back at least as far as classical times when Apicius gave a recipe for a dish of diced pork with apples. Likewise the combination of fatty fish such as herring with apple, still popular in the Netherlands and N. Europe, is of ancient origin. The versatility of apples was already being exploited in medieval times; the Forme of Cury and the Menagier de Paris (14th century) give a range of recipes for apple sauce, fritters, rissoles, and drinks.
Before the introduction of the domestic oven apples were roasted whole in front of an open fire. Practical difficulties in cooking them evenly led to the development of more complicated ‘apple roasters’. These were metal racks incorporating curved tinplate reflectors to heat the far side of the apples.
Apple pie is perhaps the most famous apple dish, and exhibits interesting variations. The American apple pie, with pastry underneath and on top, is derived from the medieval raised pies (of which the British pork pie and French pâté en croûte are surviving examples) and various sweet and savoury dishes completely enclosed in ‘coffyns’ (see coffin) or pastry cases. In contrast, the modern British apple pie is normally baked in a deep pie dish with a crust on top only. This form too has a long history, since pies with an upper crust only had emerged as early as the 17th century. It was common in Britain to add verjuice for extra sharpness; and old recipes often included quinces which not only sharpened the flavour but gave an attractive pink colour.
In France the classic dish is Tarte aux pommes, which is topless. This is made on a round or square base of puff pastry (or simply short pastry), spread with raw apple slices arranged in elegant rows, baked, then often glazed with apple jelly. The choice of apple is important; the typical low-acid apples of the southerly growing areas, which retain their shape when cooked, are best. See also tarte tatin—cooked with apples underneath pastry and served ‘upside down’.
Further east the Apfeltorte (covered apple tart) and the well-known Apfelstrudel of German-speaking regions return to the completely enclosed form, which is also found in the apple dumplings which are traditional all over N. Europe as well as in Britain.
Apple dumpling (Rabot de pommes in French) used to be a conventional boiled dumpling: in 1849 Eliza Acton recommended wrapping it in a knitted cloth to make a decorative pattern on the surface. Soon after, it became usual to bake it, the method now preferred. A whole apple is peeled, cored, and filled with a sweet mixture (e.g. brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon plus a little grated lemon rind). The apple is then wrapped in shortcrust or puff pastry and baked. Why it should retain the name ‘dumpling’, when it is made in this way, is not clear; but it does.
The standard accompaniment for apple pie is cream. A recipe of 1704, written in heroic couplets by the little-known poet Leonard Welsted (not, as sometimes stated, the work of satirist William King), cautions against tasting the pie until the cream has had an opportunity to ‘give a softness to the tarter juice’. (The recipe sounds good. It includes quinces, brown sugar, cloves, and a little orange flower water.) It is a modern American practice to serve the pie with ice cream, giving an attractive contrast of heat and cold. In Britain it was often eaten with cheese, especially Derby.
Apple cakes are made by several different methods. In England they are plain cakes based on creamed or rubbed-in mixtures with chopped or grated raw apples, and are a speciality of the south-west. Swedish applecakes, on the other hand, are puddings made from layers of apple purée with fried and spiced bread crumbs, reminiscent of apple brown betty or apple charlotte.
The preceding paragraph shows how indistinct are the boundaries between cake and crumble and pudding.
There are many other sweet or dessert confections which can feature apple. See, for examples, cobbler; pandowdy.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
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Bultitude, John (1983), Apples, London: Macmillan.
Evelyn, John (1699), Acetaria: A Discourse of Sallets, facsimile edn, London: Prospect Books (1982).
Lister, Martin (1698), A Journey to Paris in the Year 1698, facsimile edn, New York: Arno Press (1971).
Morgan, Joan (1985), ‘In Praise of Older Apples’, PPC 20.
Morgan, Joan and Richards, Alison (1993), The Book of Apples, London: Ebury Press.
Sanders, Rosanne (1988), The English Apple, Oxford: Phaidon.
Smith, Muriel W. G. (1971), National Apple Register of the United Kingdom, London: Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries & Food.
