Apple Cookbook

247 Pages·2001·1.52 MB·English

by  Olwen Woodier

APPLE
Cookbook
Olwen Woodier
The mission of Storey Publishing is to serve our customers by publishing
practical information that encourages personal independence in harmony with
the environment.
COVER DESIGN AND ILLUSTRATION BY Rob Johnson
COVER PHOTOS BY Giles Prett and Richard Busch
TEXT DESIGN BY Erin Lincourt
BOOK PRODUCTION BY Erin Lincourt and Jennifer Jepson Smith
ILLUSTRATIONS BY Elayne Sears
EDITED BY Sally Patterson and Dianne M. Cutillo
INDEXED BY Nan Badgett/word•a•bil•i•ty © 2001, 1984 by Storey Publishing
LLC
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The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our
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Apple Cookbook was first published as The Apple Cookbook in 1984. All of the
information in the previous edition was reviewed and updated, and new recipes
and information were added.
Printed in the United States by Versa Press
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Woodier, Olwen, date.
Apple cookbook / by Olwen Woodier.
p. cm.
Originally published: Pownal, Vt.: Garden Way Pub., c1984.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-58017-389-6 (alk.paper) 1. Cookery (Apples) I. Title.
TX813.A6 W657 2001
641.6′411-dc21
2001020211
CONTENTS
Apple History
Cooking with Apples
Apple Breakfasts & Breads
Apple Drinks & Snacks
Apple Salads & Sides
Apples Make the Meal
Apple Pies & Cakes
Apple Desserts
Preserving the Apple Harvest
Meet the Apples: Apple Varieties
Appendixes
Index
Acknowledgments
Apple Cookbook is dedicated to the women who know that cooking for friends
and family is not about following recipes but adding an extra pinch of love to
nurture soul as well as body: Joyse Woodier, my mother (who, at 92, still bakes
almost daily and puts up jams); my daughter, Wendy Busch, and my longtime
best friend Ann Kojis Ziff.
There are so many people who made this book possible that I cannot mention
all of them, but special thanks go to:
My dear friends, family, colleagues, and orchardists for sharing your
recipes and knowledge of apples.
Julia Stewart Daly, Public Relations Director of the U.S. Apple
Association in McClean, Virginia, who introduced me to many people in
the apple industry and verified apple facts.
Dr. Susan Brown, head pomologist at Cornell University’s Department of
Horticultural Sciences at the New York State Agricultural Experiment
Station in Geneva, New York, who steered me through the complicated
issue of germ plasm and the process of breeding hybrid apples.
Jim Law of Linden Vineyards in Linden, Virginia, for his expert review of
sections of the manuscript regarding aspects of growing dwarf varieties
and employing Integrated Pesticide Methods.
John and Martha Storey for their faith in revising The Apple Cookbook
which, when first published in 1984, won a Taste-maker Award, now
known as the James Beard Foundation KitchenAid Book Award.
Sally Patterson, my editor at Storey, who guided me through the revision
manuscript, and editor Dianne M. Cutillo for her indefatigable spirit in
shepherding the book through its final editing.
Designers Erin Lincourt and Jennifer Jepson Smith, copyeditor Arlene
Bouras, and others at Storey Publishing who have been instrumental in
this new edition.

APPLE
History
MAN HAS BEEN MUNCHING on apples for about 750,000 years, ever since the food
gatherers of early Paleolithic times discovered sour, wild crab apples growing in
the forests in Kazakhstan, Central Asia. Botanists now believe that this region
holds the key to the genetic origins of the wild apples that are the ancestors of
the apples we enjoy today.
When U.S. botanists visited Kazakhstan in 1989, they found large stands of
ancient apple trees — trees that were 300 years old, 50 feet tall, and bearing
large red apples. These trees of Malus sieversii, the wild species now believed to
be the parent of all domesticated apples, were discovered in 1929 by Russian
botanist Nikolai I. Vavilov.
Unfortunately, Vavilov’s work in genetics led to his imprisonment during the
Stalin era. He died in prison in 1943. His wonderful discovery was finally
announced to the rest of the world by a former student and coworker of
Vavilov’s who, at the age of 80, felt the need to pass along the knowledge before
it was too late to save the forests of ancient apple trees.
Apples on the Move
The carbonized remains of apples unearthed in Asia Minor indicate that
Neolithic farmers were cultivating wild apples around 8,000 years ago. Later,
apples were carried as transportable food by migrating cultures. It is speculated
that somewhere along the way M. sieversii hybridized with M. orientalis and M.
sylvestris, two wild species producing small and very sour green apples.
THE ORIGIN OF THE APPLE
On discovering the ancient wild apple groves in Central Asia, Nikolai Vavilov
rejoiced:
“All around the city one could see a vast expanse of wild apples covering
the foothills. One could see with his own eyes that this beautiful site was the
origin of the cultivated apple.”
There is recorded evidence from 1300 B.C. of apple orchards being planted by
the Egyptians along the Nile Delta. The Greeks learned grafting techniques
around 800 B.C., and by 200 B.C. the Romans were planting apple orchards in
Britain.
Apples Settle in America
Colonists arriving in America found only four varieties of wild crab apples.
However, the French, Dutch, German, and English all brought seeds from their
homelands, and it wasn’t long before apple trees were growing outside their
rustic dwellings. The English colonists were the first to bring apple tree scions
(shoots) to North America.
The first American orchard was planted in Boston in 1625 by William
Blaxton, an English preacher. A few years later, orchards were established in the
same area by John Winthrop and John Endicott, governors of the Bay Colony
settlement.
In 1647, Peter Stuyvesant, governor of New Amsterdam (now New York),
planted the first Dutch apple trees on his farm, The Bouwerie. The first
commercial orchard was planted in Flushing, New York, in 1730.
Thousands of varieties of apple trees evolved during the 18th and 19th
centuries when colonial farmers decided to plant apple seeds instead of acquiring
young tree scions arriving from England and Europe. As the colonists moved
from the Atlantic coast westward, they planted apple seeds along the way.