GoombaP wrote:

> On the farm in Alcona, Co., Michigan we had a Wolf River apple tree. It
> often produced apples so big that one of them made an 8" pie. Full! Most
> often however it took 2 apples. It was a typical backyard apple variety that
> never made it commercially because the fruit bruised easily and didn't store
> well. How many such varieties of other fruits have we lost?

Actually, there are more varieties of apples in the world now than
there have ever been in the past. New hybrids are being developed
everywhere they're grown. The last count of varieties I saw was a
couple years ago and it was up around 7500. Some have undoubtedly been
lost for whatever reasons, but I don't feel as bad about them as I do
about all the lousy tomatoes that have supplanted good ones.

Pastorio

> "Jessica V." > wrote in message
> ...
>
>>Today was apple picking, a half bushel of sweet/tart MacIntosh apples. The
>>orchard is one that friends of my parents owned when I was a child, lots
>>of memories there, running down into the orchard to pick an apple for a
>>snack, talking to the migrant Jamaican apple pickers, hide and seek, apple
>>fights (ouch), my brother peeing on the electric fence...typical kid
>>stuff. ;0) But what I remembered most about the orchard were a few trees
>>with some unusual varieties of apples, sadly those trees are now gone.
>>The tree that produced "cannonballs" apples weighing over 20 ounces each
>>is gone too, two were enough for a pie.
>>
>>So far, I've made two apple crisps with my grandmother's recipe. Yeah,
>>yeah, I know Macs are for eating not cooking, but I like how they cook up.
>>
>>There are still pies and pancakes to be made. Will make another trip for
>>inexpensive utility apples for apple sauce and apple butter.
>>
>>I also intend to try an Apple Brownie recipe from _Cooking Downeast_,
>>Marjorie Standish, 1969.
>>
>>1 stick margarine
>>1 c sugar
>>1 egg
>>2 medium apples, pared, cored and chopped fine
>>1/2 c chopped nuts
>>1 c flour
>>1/2 t baking powder
>>1/2 t soda
>>1/4 t salt
>>1/2 t cinnamon
>>
>>Cream margarine. Add sugar gradually. Beat egg until light and beat into
>>mixture until creamy. Mix in the chopped apples and nuts. Sift flour and
>>measure. Sift together with powder, soda, salt and cinnamon. Stir lightly
>>into apple mixture.
>>
>>Turn ital a buttered 7 by 11-inch pan and bake at 350 degrees for 40
>>minutes. Cool, cut into bars.
>>
>>Jessica