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Pomologists Bite Off More Than They Can Chew With 200-Year-Old Apple Mystery
The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 1-30-2007 | Richard Savill

Posted on 01/29/2007 6:40:07 PM PST by blam

Pomologists bite off more than they can chew with 200-year-old apple mystery

By Richard Savill
Last Updated: 2:01am GMT 30/01/2007

The identity of an apple variety that has been growing in Dorset for 200 years has left fruit specialists baffled.

For generations, the family of Diana Toms has affectionately referred to the fruit as Granfer's Apple, after her great, great grandfather who planted the tree in 1803.

The family has asked pomologists to help establish the cooking apple's identity but they have so far been unable to solve the mystery.

Mrs Toms, 83, said: "I am rather pleased it is baffling all these people. If nobody knows what it is then it should be officially called Granfer's Apple. I would like that."

Mrs Toms' great, great grandfather, Isaac Bugler, grew the tree in an orchard attached to the family home in the village of Beaminster, Dorset. Mrs Toms said: "When I was a child I learnt to catch by standing under the tree. My father would climb up and drop the apples down to me. It is a wonderful cooking apple and my family has used it in cakes and pies for years and years. But if you like a sharp and crisp taste, then the apple is equally good for eating."

Mrs Toms called in specialists at the Symondsbury Apple Day in Dorset but they could not identify it. David Squirrell, of the Symondsbury Apple Project, said: "Its appearance doesn't match up with any other variety. There are lots of things about it, the shape, closed eye and length of stalk. "It might be a new variety that nobody knows about but it is probably an old one that was forgotten about many, many years ago. A completely new variety is very, very rare."


TOPICS: Heated Discussion
KEYWORDS: agriculture; apple; apples; dietandcuisine; dorset; forgottenvariety; fruit; fruits; gardening; godsgravesglyphs; granfersapple; helixmakemineadouble; johnnyappleseed; mystery; old; oldapple; pomologist; pomologists; pomologiy; pomology; pompomologists
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1 posted on 01/29/2007 6:40:13 PM PST by blam
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To: SunkenCiv; Pharmboy

FYI.


2 posted on 01/29/2007 6:40:49 PM PST by blam
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To: blam

I LOVE this, blam!


3 posted on 01/29/2007 6:41:25 PM PST by paulat
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To: blam

Would it kill the Telegraph to publish a picture?


4 posted on 01/29/2007 6:46:20 PM PST by null and void (<----- Shocked and odd...)
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To: blam
Pomologist?

Or maybe that's pompomologist. Who cares. The pic is a good one. :O)

5 posted on 01/29/2007 6:49:32 PM PST by jdm
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To: blam

Well, how do you like THEM apples? :O)


6 posted on 01/29/2007 6:50:02 PM PST by Mad_Tom_Rackham (Well, it's 2007. Time to get ready for 2008.)
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To: jdm

You're a jerk. My kids read FR.


7 posted on 01/29/2007 6:50:24 PM PST by paulat
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To: blam

I would love to see pictures! My husband and I own an old ranch in the California mountains. We have an orchard of heirloom apples. Planted 100 years ago, we still haven't identified all of the varieties of apples we grow yet.


8 posted on 01/29/2007 6:50:33 PM PST by passionfruit
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To: jdm
Unfortunately, most pomologists are into fruit!
9 posted on 01/29/2007 6:52:29 PM PST by Jagman (I drank François Rabelais under the table!)
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To: jdm

LOL! Now go to your room!


10 posted on 01/29/2007 6:52:30 PM PST by Mad_Tom_Rackham (Well, it's 2007. Time to get ready for 2008.)
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To: passionfruit
...its appearance doesn't match up with any other variety...

A picture is worth a thousand words.

11 posted on 01/29/2007 6:53:51 PM PST by Rudder
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To: paulat

They aren't old enough then..


12 posted on 01/29/2007 6:53:54 PM PST by ARA
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To: paulat

Get over it. It was a great pic and I would be fine with my 8 & 9 yr old boys seeing it.


13 posted on 01/29/2007 6:54:16 PM PST by wireplay
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To: jdm

That's a peach.


14 posted on 01/29/2007 6:55:04 PM PST by Rudder
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To: Mad_Tom_Rackham

My kids were interested in this new species...but the jerk you are applauding means I can't let them read this thread.

Grow up!


15 posted on 01/29/2007 6:55:10 PM PST by paulat
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To: blam

From the standpoint of PoMo, I'm not sure that we can say that the apple actually has an objective reality, and may not really exist at all.


16 posted on 01/29/2007 6:55:17 PM PST by ClearCase_guy (Enoch Powell was right.)
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To: paulat
You're a jerk. My kids read FR.

Sorry. I thought it was G-rated. Nothing you wouldn't see on network TV after Noon on any given Saturday or Sunday.

I saw Pomologist and immediately thought that Pompomologist could be used to describe a cheerleader. It seemed original.

Oh well, I can't win them all.

17 posted on 01/29/2007 6:56:21 PM PST by jdm
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Comment #18 Removed by Moderator

To: blam
"But if you like a sharp and crisp taste"

It sounds like a winesap.
Winesaps makes the best apple pie and I like them raw also!
19 posted on 01/29/2007 6:56:54 PM PST by HuntsvilleTxVeteran ("Remember the Alamo, Goliad and WACO, It is Time for a new San Jacinto")
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To: wireplay
Get over it. It was a great pic and I would be fine with my 8 & 9 yr old boys seeing it.

I feel sorry for them. Innocence is a short time.

20 posted on 01/29/2007 6:57:03 PM PST by paulat
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