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Windfalls: Found Apple Poems. Selections from The Letter B.

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assorted apples
 
Birmingham Pippin

Brummage Pippin, Grummage Pippin

Yellow russett,

round,

table, first rate:

January to June.

A Warwickshire apple.

– – –

 
Betsey.

-Yellowish russett,

oblate,

conical, middle-sized, table,

first-rate;

November to February;

tender juicy flesh.

– – –

 
Black Crab

( Black Borsdorffer ). – Darkish red,

roundish, small,

indifferent;

curious on account of it’s colour,

in other respects worthless.

– – –

The Gardener”s Monthly Volume.

The Apple

It’s Culture, Uses, and History

1847

by George William Johnson & R. Errington

via googlebooks

On The Shelf: What We’re Reading: On Cider and Taste of Place

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books5tintwithapple

Taste, Memory Forgotten Foods, Lost Flavors, and Why They Matter, by David Buchanan, Chelsea Green Publishing 2012

American Terroir Savoring the Flavors of Our Woods, Waters, and Fields, by Rowan Jacobsen, Bloomsbury USA 2010

Cider Making Using & Enjoying Sweet & Hard Cider, Annie Proulx & Lou Nichols, Storey Publishing LLC  2003

Cider Hard and Sweet by Ben Watson, The Countryman Press 2nd Edition 2009

The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz, Chelsea Green Publishing 2012

Old apple tree, we’ll wassail thee !

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WinterOrchard#1

Let The Wassailing Begin.

Traditionally wassailing the orchard occurs on Twelfth Night Eve, observed according to the “new” calendar of 1752, on January 5th. Celebrants following the “old” calendar will wassail on January 17th.

We at United States of Cider have decided to wassail from now through January 17th. Embracing both the Old and New. Being urban wassailers, we may just salute the old trees at our favorite local cider establishment.

The Churchill’s Jenn Dowds shared this wassail recipe with Rosie Schaap of The New York Times. Read the article, quoted below, for a little wassail history and additional wassail mixology suggestions.

“Therein lies the beauty of wassail: more than just another nice-tasting drink, it’s part of a long (if largely forgotten) tradition of celebrating the life that winter can seem determined to snuff out. It’s a fragrant, warming concoction mixed in bulk and set out for sharing…”

Wassailing We Shall Go !

Pomological Art: Rhode Island Greening 1916

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United States of Cider is featuring images from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection.

Beautiful images, and interesting details regarding variety, location collected, and artist who created. More images posted on tumblr.

Attribution: “U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection. Rare and Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705”

Rhode Island Greening

Malus domestica: Rhode Island Greening

Artist: Steadman, Royal Charles, b. 1875
Scientific name: Malus domestica
Common name: apples
Variety: Rhode Island Greening
Physical description: 1 art original : col. ; 17 x 25 cm.
Specimen: 88085
Year: 1916
Notes on original: Apple purchased in market
Date created: 1916-03-30