Medicinal Trees: Apple (Malus)

judsoncarroll4

https://judsoncarroll.substack.com/p/medicinal-trees-apple-malus

Torey

Very interesting discussion!

There is only one species of apple native to BC; Malus fusca which we refer to here as the Pacific Crab Apple. It grows all along coastal regions right up the Alaskan Panhandle to the islands in Prince William Sound (north of 60°). It really seems to thrive in the salt air right on the coast and disappears as soon as you move inland.

Even though I grew up on the south coast of BC, I didn't know about our native apples until I was in the Nass Valley a few years ago. In my defence, most of the habitat for native crab apples had been lost in the area that I grew up and I moved inland when I was 17.

Very important food source for coastal First Nations.

For domestic apples, there are hundreds of varieties grown here in BC. Our Okanagan Valley is well known for its orchards. Salt Spring Island (between Vancouver Island and the mainland) has an apple festival every fall. They have had as many as 430 varieties of apples at the festival in past years. They estimate that there are over 500 varieties grown on the island. One of the orchards (Salt Spring Apple Co.) grows over 365 varieties on their property. Talk about obsessions!

I thought this statement from Mrs. Grieve was really intriguing. "A glucoside in small crystals is obtainable from the bark and root of the apple, peach and plum, which is said to induce artificial diabetes in animals, and thus can be used in curing it in human beings." Sounds like she is talking about using it in a homeopathic sense of "like cures like". I looked it up in my repertory but neither of the two apples listed have much written about them. It doesn't look like there have been any provings done on apples. Another project to add to my never ending list. She (and King's) also mention horseradish in cider, so an earlier version of fire cider.

We should all be adding more apples to our diets. In all forms; fresh, dried, cooked, apple sauce, fermented and juice & cider. ACV is both a prebiotic and a probiotic.

judsoncarroll4

https://community.thegrownetwork.com/discussion/comment/918015#Comment_918015

I agree, Torey! The national forests in my area are all on land that was taken by the government from early settlers. Everywhere I find an apple tree, I know was where there was an old homestead. Mostly, they are cider and pie apples - very tart. Many have wonderful flavors. I need to start grafting them.

water2world

@judsoncarroll4 Yes, please start grafting them. I have read that slicing into a branch then packing soil around the cut (in a sandwich bag or such), keeping it moist until you have a lot of roots, and then plant the root ball and the rest of the branch. The new plant will produce sooner, because it is part of the older tree. Never tried it, but sounds good! lol

water2world

@judsoncarroll4 Here are a couple of videos---not quite what I was looking for, but close ( Aspirin in the water??)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzENyjKHbiM

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OvVjHC2JV0&t=125s

judsoncarroll4

https://community.thegrownetwork.com/discussion/comment/918074#Comment_918074

Will do!

vickeym

@judsoncarroll4 This sounds very interesting. Will have to do more research. I see many crab apple varieties in the list.

@torey Now I will have to look harder at apple varieties. Have only heard of crab apples growing well here now I need to find out which varieties. I also would like some larger apples. You don't see or hear much about them here. Though I know some of the nurseries sell apples they say will grow here. Have never heard of the varieties they sell though.

Torey

@vickeym I think you should be able to grow varieties similar to ones that are hardy for my area.

The two varieties of apples that I have in my yard are Fall Red and Harcourt. The Harcourt is recommended as a very hardy apple (quite common at garden centres here) but the flavour isn't great and its soft and a bit mealy so good for sauce or adding to baked goods but not so much as an eating apple. Love the Fall Red for eating, baking, pies, sauce, etc. Good keeper. But we made cider a few years ago and the best cider was from the Harcourt. It was clear and delicious while the Fall Red produced a cloudy product that wasn't nearly as tasty. They are both over 25 years old.

I will ask my neighbour which varieties she has. They are of a similar age to mine. There are at least a couple of orchards in the area; one has over 30 varieties. But both are in a micro-climate that is a couple of zones warmer than me so I'm not sure that all of those varieties would survive at my house.

I'll let you know what I find out about other varieties that might work for you.

vickeym

@torey Thank you this is good to know and I really appreciate you checking out the other varieties. I am looking here as well to see if anyone in my area has anything besides crab apples and if those that have crab apples know what varieties.

Maybe someone with a good medicinal will let me try grafting if I can't find one.