18
Escarpment Magazine Fall 2012
Apples...
grow here!
Contrary to popular belief
,
there is no mention of an apple as
the forbidden fruit in the Bible. It is referred to as "fruit from the Tree of
Knowledge" with no specification as to which kind of fruit. It was Hugo
Van Der Goes who first implicated the apple as the forbidden fruit in
his 1470 A.D. painting, The Fall of Man. After that, it became popular
to depict the apple as the forbidden fruit. It is believed that the apple
tree is the first fruit tree to be cultivated and while there is some debate,
many historians believe Romans were the first to plant and harvest the
fruit and that its origins are rooted from Southwestern Asia, between
the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea.
The early 19
th
century saw the first apple plantings in the Beaver Valley
where the temperate climate of Southern Georgian Bay combined with
the fertile soil of the Escarpment offered excellent sites for establishing
orchards. Apples quickly became an important ingredient of daily life
and valuable uses for themwere discovered. Settlers found ways to dry
apples to preserve them and developed methods to make apple butter,
apple pies and sauces. Apples provided juice, cider, vinegar and food
for their animals and as old trees were chopped down, the fragrant,
dense wood that resists wear, was used for making toys, bowls, furniture
and provided warm fires during the long winter months.
Today this region, renowned for growing the finest apples in the world,
is home to approximately 60 different commercial fruit growing oper-
ations. Pioneering families established orchards starting back in the mid-
17
th
century.
*
FEATURE
|
apples grow here