Feature Articles | Orchard Notes

On the Quiet Joy of Fruit-Bookish Ephemera

Sometimes you find the most fascinating bits and bobs tucked away in second-hand fruit books. Here’s my latest discovery.

This historical document provides a fascinating insight into orcharding practises, and apple and pear varieties, of the C17th.

A few snowy and icy days provided an opportunity for some lovely, wintry photos of a rather superb crab apple.

Here’s my interpretation of William Hanbury’s C18th suggestion for a spicy, fruit-filled, baked squash. Yum!

Here are the extended highlights of this year’s harvest of apples, pears, quinces, plums and damsons. Top fruit galore!

The label says ‘Elstar;’ but the fruit says… something else. Time for another apple i.d. exercise.

I’ve often wondered about it, but never tried it, so I turned to a historical source or two, to see if I could find out how to do it.

In which an 18th century recipe for damson ice cream and some advice from Twitter inspires me to make my own delightful damson dessert.

Here’s a quick summary of my various orchard-related activities so far this year.

A summer afternoon in June was the perfect time to visit the home of Welsh Mountain Cider.