The wonderful world of apples and pears
While we might think that apples and pears are quite humble fruits, they each have their own interesting background.
They are probably two of the most commonly eaten fruits in this part of the world. Most likely while shopping in the supermarket, we may only see a couple of varieties which may be mainly imported and mass-produced varieties.
However, there are hundreds of other types of apples and pears, many of which are heritage varieties particular to the UK and Scotland that we rarely see in the public domain. A lot of work is happening to revive orchards; reintroduce and access heritage varieties; and promote their importance to our food culture. There is also lots of lore, myths, and storytelling around apples in many cultural traditions such as Scandinavia and the UK.
For many years, here at Greener Kirkcaldy, we have celebrated our apple and fruit harvests at Apple Days and our Wassailing events. With Harvest time upon us our ‘Apple Day’ in October to highlight these delicious fruits.
Fife Climate Festival is taking place across Fife from Saturday 21st September – Saturday 5th October with lots of apple-themed events to take part in!
As far as we know the apple tree species malus was developed in Central Asia where it’s original wild species can still be found. Apple tree spread across Europe and were often introduced elsewhere by movement the movement of people across the world. We also know that apples and the trees they grow on have evolved over centuries to give us the varieties we have today and for different purposes such as eating, cooking, drinking, and brewing. The revival of orchards is helping to keep ancient varieties in circulation.
Pears on the other hand are from the species pyrus and are native to temperate regions from lowlands to mountainous regions. It is believed that they have existed since prehistoric times and spread from what is now western China. Again, pears are used in eating, cooking, drinking, and brewing. Both apple and pear wood are valued in woodworking and manufacturing.
Greener Kirkcaldy’s Community Training Garden at Ravenscraig Walled Garden is home to over 100 varieties of fruit trees including 50 apple trees, many of which are heritage varieties with two local to Fife. We have two harvests: first harvest late August – early September; and second harvest – October. The second harvest keeps for longer. We use these apples in our kitchen, in our cooking classes and workshops; to juice at our Apple Day; in our Community Fridge; and share with others (all harvest dependent).
There are plenty of opportunities to get involved in celebrating apples and pears with us and partners across Fife over the next few weeks. We’d love to see you at some of our events and share some of our local produce with you and celebrate apples and pears.
More information
If you’d like to know more about the growing and production of apples and pears (and fruit trees) both in the UK and Scotland, here are some links for more info:
A Fruit Tree For Every Garden in Fife
Scottish Apple Producers – with a directory of orchards
Sources of fruit trees and tree care:
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