Post by nutsberryfarm 🏜 on Apr 27, 2020 0:22:01 GMT
nypost.com/2020/04/18/apple-detectives-find-10-lost-fruit-varieties/
Brandt, a Vietnam veteran, and Benscoter, a former FBI agent, learned the names of their delicious discoveries from botanists at Temperate Orchard Conservancy in Oregon, who identified the apples by comparing them to watercolor illustrations from the 1800s and early 1900s and by poring over written descriptions in old botany textbooks and reference guides.
With their double-digit treasure trove, plucked from rural Idaho and Washington state, Brandt and Benscoter have rediscovered 23 varieties. North America once had 17,000 named varieties of domesticated apples, but now has only about 4,500.
Their latest finds include the Sary Sinap, an ancient apple from Turkey; the Streaked Pippin, which may have originated as early as 1744 in New York; and the Butter Sweet of Pennsylvania, a variety that was first noted in a trial orchard in Illinois in 1901.
