What you can do to find and savor these forgotten fruits.
Red Delicious, Granny Smith, McIntosh: these names are so familiar because only 11 varieties
represent 90 percent of all apples sold in chain grocery stores. Few of us know Black Oxford, a purple-black apple with crisp
white flesh; or Roxbury Russet, which dates back to the early 1600s and has a guava-nectar taste; or Rhode Island Greening,
traced by legend to the Garden of Eden. More than 15,000 apple varieties have been grown and named in North America, but
today’s orchard keepers only have access to 3,000 (the loss of diversity is ascribed to the decline of independent
nurseries). Renewing America’s Food Traditions (RAFT) Alliance has declared 2010 the year of the heirloom apple. RAFT has
targeted 90 varieties in each of the three regions with highest-surviving apple diversity—the Great Lakes, New England and
Appalachia—to restore. Bringing back heritage apples can require some creativity: John Bunker of RAFT put up “Wanted” posters
in counties where the “lost apples” once grew. Thus alerted, old-timers have helped relocate obsolete apples. To find an
heirloom apple orchard, download Forgotten Fruits Manual and Manifesto - APPLES from raftalliance.org.