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Nobody knows when the first apples were specifically selected in Ireland. The earliest written record dates to 1598, “when a writer discusses the fruitful nature of Irish orchards and the merits of the fine old Irish varieties contained in them”. (A brief history | Cider Ireland) The next couple of centuries saw a blossoming of native Irish apples, as farmers and landowners selected varieties that suited their conditions. In the middle of the 20th century, however, those myriad varieties began to be lost as consolidation and uniformity took hold.
JGD Lamb (“informally known as Keith”) was one of the few people who worried about this loss. Lamb obtained his PhD in 1949 with a thesis entitled The Apple in Ireland: Its History and Varieties. In the process, he collected 53 old varieties, creating vigorous new trees by grafting them onto suitable rootstocks. These new trees formed the basis of the national collection at University College Dublin. Lamb also sent duplicates of many to the main apple breeding centre in the UK at Brogdale and it was just as well that he did, because some time later the UCD collection was grubbed up and destroyed. Whether by accident or design, nobody knows, but if it hadn’t been for the safety duplicates much of Lamb’s work would have been in vain.
In the early 1990s, Anita Hayes, founder of the Irish Seedsavers Association, launched a public hunt to recover the varieties Keith Lamb had collected and any that he missed. The end result was a restored national collection, the Lamb-Clarke collection at University College, Dublin, and the start of the Seedsavers own apple collection, which now numbers about 180 varieties. That includes 70 of Irish origin and the rest collected in Ireland but originally brought from elsewhere. And the hunt goes on. Roughly 50 Irish varieties that were documented in the past have so far not shown up.
Documentation is probably the hardest part of keeping a collection of apples (or any long-lived food) alive. Names change with time and place, memories fade, identities are appropriated and forgotten. DNA testing can tell you whether two samples are in fact one and the same, but not, as yet, any more than that. Meticulous, ongoing record-keeping gradually adds to the sum of knowledge but – as Eoin Keane explained in the podcast – sometimes it is a chance encouter that provides a vital bit of information that fleshes out an apple’s story. Unknown J, the apple I tasted and found so delicious, is no less delicious because we know nothing about it. But how much more would I like it if it had a romantic history to relate?
Notes
- I highly recommend a visit to the Irish Seedsavers Association in Scariff, County Clare.
- Tommy Hayes’ Apples in winter is “a celebration of the Irish apple in music, song, dance and film”. If I had my way I’d be enjoying it with a good russet and a sharp Cheddar, but that’s just me.
- Photos by me. The small one is Anita Hayes’ mystery medicinal apple.
A return to @EatPodcast to share another podcast about @IrishSeedSavers, this time about our work protecting Ireland’s heritage Apple collection. Put the kettle on, your feet up and enjoy! ow.ly/LRhm30mS4Y2 https://t.co/VEROjTtykJ
A return to @EatPodcast to share another podcast about @IrishSeedSavers, this time about our work protecting Ireland’s heritage Apple collection. Put the kettle on, your feet up and enjoy! ow.ly/LRhm30mS4Y2
A return to @EatPodcast to share another podcast about @IrishSeedSavers, this time about our work protecting Ireland’s heritage Apple collection. Put the kettle on, your feet up and enjoy! ow.ly/LRhm30mS4Y2
So well deserved. And you can hear all about their wonderful work at eatthispodcast.com/from-little-se… and eatthispodcast.com/irelands-apple… https://t.co/CSMB1M
http://media.blubrry.com/eatthispodcast/p/mange-tout.s3.amazonaws.com/2018/issa-veg.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 18:49 — 15.7MB)Subscribe: Android | Google Podcasts | RSS | More
No apologies for returning to the Irish Seed Savers Association in County Clare. An organisation like that usually sprouts from one person’s enthusiasm and drive, and it flourishes with the commitment and passion of volunteers and staff for whom the work is much more than a job. I spoke to Anita Hayes, who started ISSA, and Eoin Keane, who looks after the apple collection, in an episode last October. Today Anita and some of the people who are carrying her work forward talk some more about seed saving and the Irish Seed Savers Association.
At home and doing the math in a seedy polytunnel
A little context may be in order too. Why does something like ISSA need to exist? Can’t gardeners just buy the seeds they want in the shops? Short answer: no. Many of the seeds on offer to gardeners in Europe are varieties that were bred for commercial production. And older varieties, selected because they offered qualities valuable to home growers, cannot legally be offered for sale.
It’s a long story, and one that many people find hard to believe, but in essence the European Common Catalogue, established in the 1960s, says that any variety needs to be registered in order to be offered for sale, and the registration fee is the same for all varieties. That makes registration a trivial cost for a big-selling commercial variety and a huge drain on the profitability of a variety that appeals to even thousands of gardeners. As a result, gardeners in Europe had to establish their own living genebanks, finding, multiplying and distributing seeds using a variety of wheezes.
Ever since the Common Catalogue was first published there have been various attempts to open it up, and there has been some small movement. These experiments, however, still have not properly addressed the needs of home gardeners. Until they do, the Irish Seed Savers Association and organisations like it have a valuable job to do.
Notes
You can visit the Irish Seed Savers Association website and, better yet, the place itself.
In addition to Anita Hayes, in the episode you heard from Tony Kay, Flora Barteau, Janet Gooberman, Áine Ni Fhlatharta and Felice Rae. Thanks to them, to Jennifer McConnell, (who took the picture of me in the polytunnel) and to everyone else who welcomed me to ISSA.
In case you missed it, here’s the episode about Ireland’s apple collection.
The banner photo show’s Felice Rae’s favourite lettuce seeds, drying before she gets her hands on them.
You can now search the Common Catalogue online and even see all the varieties that have been deleted since the catalogue came into existence.
The music is 12 and 6, one of the tracks from AnTara, a collaboration between Tommy Hayes and Matthew Noone.
Full disclosure: I was closely involved with one of the first such seed libraries in the UK and had a very small part in helping ISSA get on its feet. I’ve also written about it ad nauseam. What I would like Europe to do about agricultural biodiversity is probably the least negative place to start, if you’ve a mind to.
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theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2…
Meanwhile, Across the Irish Sea … eatthispodcast.com/irelands-apple…
I remember apples packed in tea chests when I was a youngster. The room they were kept in had a special scent, in a good way!
I think we sometimes forget the contribution fruit can make to the smell of home. Quinces are one of those things that I’ll keep a bowl of on the table just because they can perfume a room.
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