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This C19th medical man was clearly a big fan of the humble apple and its wealth of health-giving properties.

This historical document provides a fascinating insight into orcharding practises, and apple and pear varieties, of the C17th.

Cider Without Apples? An obvious fraud. You definitely shouldn’t try this C19th recipe. Seriously. Don’t do it.

Here’s a simple recipe for a light, creamy, stewed apple dessert dish, courtesy of a C17th pioneer of French cuisine.

Fine, you can have the pudding! Just stop singing at me. And you have to promise not to come back again tomorrow, okay?

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

Max’s latest episode takes a look at the tradition of wassailing and shows us how to make one of the classic wassail beverages.

An oven-baked pudding of stewed apple and breadcrumbs? Sounds good to me. This C19th recipe has the details.

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

Here’s a late C18th recipe for what amounts to a slightly less rich and spicy version of a modern-day Christmas Pud.

This C17th rosehip recipe sounds like an interesting way to make use of a hedgerow staple without resorting to cough syrup.

Whether you prefer your mincemeat pyes with or without actual meat, this pair of C18th recipes promises to deliver on plenty of fruity flavour.

Please excuse the lack of new content lately, but I’ve been busy with my ‘Beefing’ obsession…

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

Wondering what to do with your medlars once they start dropping from the tree? Here’s a C17th recipe that might come in useful.

If you’ve got a glut of quinces and have run out of recipes, this C17th method for keeping them “all the yeare” might just be useful.

This eighteenth century quince recipe is a tricky one to unravel, but the end result does sound interesting.

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

Here’s a nice little twist on a standard apple jelly recipe that should add a bit of a tang to your toast.

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.

This C17th recipe is for two types of marmelade – white or ordinary – depending on when you add the sugar to the fruit.

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 are two methods for preserving the bounty of your damson harvest, from Frederick Nutt’s C18th volume of confectionary cookery.

If you’ve tried growing melons but they’ve not quite ripened, here’s a recipe for preserving the green fruit with a fiery, spicy stuffing.

Here’s a C17th windfall apple apple pie that’s spiced and iced, although the recipe is frustratingly imprecise.

You know what you don’t see enough of these days? A bright green apple pie filling. This C18th recipe tells us how to make one.

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.

This C17th version of the classic fool is thickened with butter, sugar and egg yolks rather than the usual milk or cream.

Here’s a quick seventeenth century guide to preserving green or under-ripe fruit: gooseberries, plums, pippins, peaches and grapes.

It’s that fruitlet thinning time of year again! Grab your sharpest snips and head on down to your orchard.

Here’s an eighteenth century drop-scone pancake type recipe to help you use up some of your gooseberry glut.

This nineteenth century peach of a recipe is guaranteed to add a bit of sparkle to your dinner party dessert course.

I’ve been shunning the standard advice and only winter pruning trained apple trees for three years now. Here’s how it’s going.

A recently published research paper has outlined some of the possible implications of climate change for orchard growers.

In the face of all the best advice to the contrary, I’ve decided to try growing a new apple variety or two from seed.

Here’s an eighteenth century recipe for boozy, sugary, fried apple fritters that sounds like sweet simplicity itself.

Here’s how I went about creating a ‘family’ apple tree of six varieties, using the rind grafting technique.

Got an old fruit tree that could do with a boost? Mr Bellingham has a suggestion, but you might not like it very much…

I’ve pruned two very different crab apples this year – here’s how I approached each one, and the results of the work.

Spring-time in the orchard and beautiful blossom buds are about to burst into life. So why is it such a tense and worrying time..?

Here’s a fool-proof dish of stewed fruit, sugar, cream and eggs from a nineteenth century collection of veggie recipes.

A new project at the University of Reading needs UK fruit tree owners’ help to record changing blossom patterns.

Last year our fig tree was hit by a late frost. Every apical bud and fruitlet was killed. But that was far from the end of the story…

How would you prefer your apples, Sir James? Why, in a straw-lined, paper-padded barrel. Obviously.

The best laid plans of orchardists also gang aft a-gley, especially if you don’t think your clever ideas through properly…

A dish of baked apples fit for an Empress. You’ll definitely need your sweet tooth for this recipe.

You’re looking for an ironwork espalier fruit tree training frame? But of course. We have two models, which would you prefer?

The whole race of apple-trees is threatened with extirpation? Quick, to the chemicals cupboard!

Here’s one late nineteenth century Professor’s criteria for apple perfection. Do you agree?

Here’s another selection of fruit-related stories from the Atlas Obscura archives.

This new book on orchard planning, establishment and management covers all the essential bases.

Words of wisdom here on how to keep youngsters out of mischief by teaching them the art of apple tree grafting.

A quick shout out for Christopher Monk’s take on a late fourteenth century quince recipe from The Forme of Cury.

A winter walk leads to the discovery of not one but two new orchards, one on the site of a former kitchen garden.

A very happy {insert holiday season of choice here} to Orchard Notes readers and fellow orchardists everywhere.

Here’s an eighteenth century twist on a seasonal classic, involving good winter pears and a pint of port.

This giant apple pie, served up with a quart of well-spiced ale, sounds like a recipe for my sort of Christmas feast.

Making medlar cheese and medlar jelly are great ways to get the best out of this unusual and tasty Autumn fruit. Here’s how.

Here are two versions of a biscuity, cobbler-like, stewed apple pudding from the early twentieth century.

I had a great time on Susan’s Urban Foresty Radio Show, talking heirloom fruit recipes with Brigitte Webster and Paul Couchman.

This festive season, give the gift of fruit trees to help enhance the environment for six urban communities ion the UK.

This syrupy, sugary baked apple dessert sounds simple enough to make, but could your teeth take the punishment?

We’ve had a mixed year on our allotment plot orchard. Here’s a round-up of the good, the bad and the downright ugly.

I’ll be talking heirloom fruit recipes with host Suzan Poizner and co-guests Brigitte Webster and Paul Couchman.

A few wise words on the benefits of serving fresh fruit and nuts at the dinner table, from the 1886 pen of Mrs Harland.

Here’s another entry from the cookery book of Mrs Mary J. Lincoln, this time helping to clear up a confusion of compôtes.

Here’s an idea for preserving your quince harvest, and maybe making quince flavoured cider at the same time.

This modern take on Thomas Dawson’s C16th recipe is a delicious combination of pears, candied orange, sugar and spice.

This sweetened, fruity soup, from a book of Austrian recipes, sounds like a perfect autumn warmer to me.

An interesting idea that still has potential, but mistakes (many mistakes) were made. Time to reboot.

Here’s a C18th recipe for a twisty toffee treat made from apples and sugar. just in time for Bonfire Night.

You’ll need a sweet tooth for this baked dessert of syrup-simmered apples topped with egg custard and meringue.

Here’s a delicious-sounding, rather boozy, spicy-sweet, early C18th recipe for baking and stewing Warden pears.

Here’s a simple but tasty-sounding method for slowly oven-baking pears… from a social history of Stuart-era Great Britain.

This panoramic overview of humanity’s relationship with fruit is a must-have for any pomological collection.

If it’s a fruit-pressing technological breakthrough that you’re looking for, you need look no further.

This nineteenth century ‘pudding’ recipe is really a fruity baked custard in disguise… still sounds delicious though.

Here’s a courtly recipe from sixteenth century Transylvania; an apple porridge fit for a Prince.

Here’s an intriguing pair of eighteenth century receipts for quince ‘cakes’ of the boiled, jellied gum-drop variety.

What’s an orchardist to do? It’s been a lean year for pears, not helped at all by the pointy beaks of the local wildlife.

A short but hugely informative book packed with juicy recipes and damson facts; a must-read for any damson fan.

How do you like your apple dumplings? Here are the simple-to-follow recipes for two Victorian-era options.

“Keepe cleane your vessels, and the places wheras your fruite doth lye” are wise words to make cyder by in any century.

Plus a potted history of the apple pie, from the fourteenth century to its ‘As American As…’ heyday.

These two rather Wonderous apples were harvested this week from the stepover tree on our allotment plot.

One of the most reliable fruits in the heritage orchard has a very long history and a very unique flavour.

Apples to store over winter? A few hundredweight of pit-sand, a kiln and several large jars to-hand? It’s your lucky day, isn’t it?

A nurseryman provides details of a common method for storing apples, pre-fridges.

In which I attempt to identify four unknown apple varieties – second opinions are very welcome!

Here’s a modern take on one of William Kitchiner’s apple recipes, courtesy of Ordsall Hall’s Head Gardener, Jo Green.

When it comes to perfect pears, practicing patience is the prudent path to proper picking.

Here are a few words of sixteenth century wisdom on the subject of managing your fruit harvest.

This eighteenth century method for drying greengages calls for candying your plum(b)s in syrup before setting them to dry.

Here’s a nineteenth century apple-based batter pudding, to warm you cockles and stick to your ribs on an Autumn evening.

A quick guide to spotting an unwanted lodger in that ripe, perfect-looking piece of fruit, *before* you bite into it…

This simple apple side-dish sounds like a tasty accompaniment to cheese, ham, or as Mrs Hill suggests: “hot or cold game”.

Spiced apple puree, sugar, eggs and cream, baked in a pastry case? It’s a nineteenth century apple quiche, surely?

Here’s why VGs is absolutely the best place in north Manchester / south Bury for fresh, seasonal, organic apples, bar none.

In which I apply a three-step apple i.d. process to see if I can find a match for these not-as-labelled apples.