International Lifestyle Magazine Issue 51 | Page 93

As I look out of my kitchen window I am blessed with
views of an orchard, alas the orchard isn’t mine,
otherwise I would have picked up the hundreds of
apples and pears that lay wasted on the ground.

BAKED APPLES

Y

Words: Alan Coxon

ear after year I watch what I consider to be a criminal offence as the
wasted fruit return to the earth from which they came, knowing that
millions of people are dying from starvation, and the same amount
of people living on the poverty line, yet we still live surrounded by
examples of such wasteful abandon. On a positive note, I have seen
a few examples of common sense and generosity dotted around,
as those with an excess of fruit offer free bags of apples to those that
would appreciate and enjoy, after all who can resist the aromas of
a fresh baked apple pie with a hint of cinnamon or the sweet and
zesty flavours of an apple and blackberry crumble with lashings of fresh
vanilla custard or if feeling a little more cosmopolitain, an apple strudel
with thick fresh cream laced with a splash of calvados ,ho, I am drooling just
at the thought and I havn`t even had breakfast yet !

Apples hold strong in religious circles also for when cut in half they reveal a five pointed
star, this pentagram is known as the star of Bethlehem, the seeds within the star represent
the resurrection as this is how the fruit continues it`s life. In folklore, apple boughs hung
above the door frame of a house is said to bless the couple that resides within the house
with added peace and love whilst to the end of this month, kids will possibly break away
from their laptops and revert to an ancient game of apple bobbing!, a game that may
have originated in Ireland before being adopted by the Americans for All Hallows Eve
celebrations.
For centuries England has been an apple growing nation, mostly thanks to king Henry 8th
who planted orchards across Kent and who would have probably made a law against
such apple waste.
The notorious Monarch apparently had a great liking for Apples, pears, plums and cherries
and married them off with cream. Long before Henry however, the Romans were credited
with the perfection of the fruit and for spreading it across Europe. They cross bred varieties
to bring out sweetness and even had “pomologists “who employed the technique of
grafting.
In 23 AD Pliny the Elder (a Roman statesman) described 37 different varieties of cultivated
apples and farmers would auction apples whilst on the tree.
Even further back to 850 BC , the Ancient Greeks were using Apples and were mentioned
by Homer and were considered to be very valuable, men would propose to a woman by
giving her an apple whilst the famous Greek physician and father of medicine “Hippocrates”
who lived around 400 BC used apples in many of his prescriptions stating “Let your food be
your medicine and your medicine your food”!.
This October the UK celebrates “National Apple week” so let`s take a leaf out of our
ancestors book, and enjoy our precious harvest for all that it is worth.
For a few apple recipes, please visit my website www.alancoxon.com.

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