Everything That Is Apples To Me
Poems, Recipes, Thoughts
How can I even begin to talk about apples? I suspect they may well be my favourite fruit, though I hold them to high standards.
They must be: crisp AF (I want to startle everyone including myself when I take that first bite), they must be as sour as they are sweet, and they must yield into the juiciest of juices, with some likely escaping and running down wrists to be licked off later.
The crunch is the thing, a certain joy in crashing through
living tissue, a memory of Neanderthal days.
—Edward Bunyard, The Anatomy of Dessert, 1929
To get apples like these, the only way is to eat them is in locally and in season, which is a limited window. The rest of time they’re powdery, their structural integrity is corrupt, and they’ve likely been flown from miles across the world. No thanks. It’s enough to make you dislike them and that would be a crying shame since they are a truly spectacular fruit.
Here are some more reasons to love apples. I don’t assume you don’t like them, though you may have fallen prey to a shitty supermarket apple and feel lacklustre. Please don’t because:
+ They clean your teeth
+ They help you poop
+ I have personally found that they are a good temporary headache relief (something to do with their effect on vascular flow)
+ They’re a good prebiotic
+ I have also found that if you pay attention to your body after eating one, they impart a sense of glee and liveliness
+ Have you ever tried bobbing for an apple?
+ Eating an apple is a nostalgic act, which is good for the heart and the mind in my opinion
+ Throughout history, apples represent knowledge, which is probably why they’re a excellent companion when reading a book - I like mine in slices and smeared with peanut butter
If you’re lucky enough to live near orchards, their states throughout the season are a great muse. Bright blossom in the spring, heaving branches in the late summer, applewood smoke in the dead of winter. They are usually quiet places, except for a thump or two when they fall from the trees. Or into your pocket. That’s how they get there, promise.
Apples, the Muse
Apples have long influenced the literary world, indeed one of the oldest stories of all time holds the apple at the centre of humanity’s downfall as Eve took that first bite. The ‘poisoned’ apple appears again and again. I wonder how the story would go if it was Adam who had submitted to his desires instead?
Let’s look at the apple as a muse. Can you recall a poem with an apple in that you like?
A Poison Tree, by William Blake
I was angry with my friend;
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.
And I waterd it in fears,
Night and morning with my tears:
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.
And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright.
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine.
And into my garden stole.
When the night had veiled the pole;
In the morning glad I see,
My foe outstretchd beneath the tree.
After Apple Picking, by Robert Frost
My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still,
And there's a barrel that I didn't fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn't pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.
I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight
I got from looking through a pane of glass
I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough
And held against the world of hoary grass.
It melted, and I let it fall and break.
But I was well
Upon my way to sleep before it fell,
And I could tell
What form my dreaming was about to take.
Magnified apples appear and disappear,
Stem end and blossom end,
And every fleck of russet showing clear.
My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend.
And I keep hearing from the cellar bin
The rumbling sound
Of load on load of apples coming in.
For I have had too much
Of apple-picking: I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.
There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,
Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.
For all
That struck the earth,
No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble,
Went surely to the cider-apple heap
As of no worth.
One can see what will trouble
This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is.
Were he not gone,
The woodchuck could say whether it's like his
Long sleep, as I describe its coming on,
Or just some human sleep.
Apple Song, by Enid Blyton
Apples on the apple trees, brown and red and yellow,
Apples on the grass below, juicy, sweet and mellow,
Apples in our baskets, apples by the score,
Apples in the apple-room, hundreds there and more!
Apples on the sideboard, polished till they gleam,
When the firelight flickers, how they wink and beam!
Apples in the kitchen, shivering in their skin,
Wondering why Cook has fetched her biggest baking-tin!
Apples in an apple-pie, baked a golden brown.
Apples in a dumpling, with a sugared crown.
Apples in a pudding, with custard for a tweet,
Apples raw and juicy, crisp and very sweet!
Oh, sing a song of apples, the nicest fruit of all,
Apples big and rosy, apples round and small,
And when we’ve finished singing, we’ll go and help ourselves,
And choose some lovely big ones from the store-room shelves!
Behold a boy I know that wrote haiku and stashed them among the spartans…
And here’s a couple of things I’ve written in the past that concern the apple in some form. I feel a proper apple poem coming on though - perhaps I’ll try and write it today?
A Real Soft Self
I had to bake some sense into myself today. From the train I caught the flickering red of apples and September light in far off orchards, suggesting that tarte tatin would be my remedy. Not for the goodness or sweetness of autumn fruit, but for the method of pinching flour into butter, rolling lengths of pastry like smoothing away fears, and for peeling skins as if they were my own - taking away that tough layer and revealing a real, soft self. A tarte tatin not for the comforting delight of a warm plate topped with creme fraiche but because baking is one of the few things I can do to soothe my little-girl mind when she runs to me with doubts and tears and babble. As I waited for it to bake, I wondered how it might turn out. Will it be burned? Will it be beautiful? There was nothing else to do but wait and see.
Duncan Always Loved An Apple
Duncan always loved an apple
The skin, the flesh, the core, the pips
Lips latching onto them as they do now
On the harmonica that moans in his mouth
Sending tremors along his impossibly strong arms
Taut blue veins beating fiercely with his life less ordinary
His fuchsia-pink leotard glimmers as he jabs and jerks his latest poem
Spitting out the grief that loiters a poison on his tongue
Wallow waning, waxing lyrical, an orchard heaving with fruit in his guts
Apple Recipes
Sal’s Apple Sauce
3 or 4 apples, roughly chopped
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp cinnamon
5 cloves
6 Sichuan peppercorns, crushed,
Pinch of salt (don’t know why, just cuz)
Cook on medium heat until mushy - probably about 30 mins
Store and serve with yoghurt and granola on misty autumn mornings (or any autumn morning for that matter)
Do you ever make meatloaf? You should. It’s just so easy and creative! Here I’ve tried something mostly classic but with a nutty twist, and there are others up my sleeve that I will share another day. The beauty of a meatloaf is using up the things that loiter in the kitchen each season, and also how it can be used as an amazing leftover by placing a thick wedge between two slices of bread for a sturdy sammy.
Pork, Apple & Cobnut Meatloaf
Ingredients
600g pork mince
3 Kentish apples, cored
1 leek
1 stick of celery
1 free range egg
1 banana shallot
120g breadcrumbs
3 x sage leaves
2 tbsps brown sugar
2 tbsps Dijon mustard
75ml tomato sauce
500g Kentish cobnuts
Method
Preheat oven to gas mark 5 / 200 degrees, 180 degrees fan.
Grease a loaf tin - approx 9” by 5” is best but you can use anything loaf like and adjust cooking time relative to size / shape.
Peel and crack your cobnuts - it’s a bit of a chore but get a production line going and it can be quite fun!
Blitz cobnuts with an extra leaf or two of sage until they are finely crumbed and add seasoning.
In a food processor, chop up your apples, celery, leek, shallot and sage.
Transfer to bowl and add pork, egg, breadcrumbs and seasoning, and pull together with hands until combined.
Press down into loaf tin until tightly packed.
Mix ketchup, mustard and sugar in a bowl before spreading over the top of the meatloaf evenly.
Cover meatloaf with cobnut crumbs (you might not need all of them so stash any leftovers for other meals).
Bake in oven for an hour until the top is nice & crispy.
Serve with your choice of sides and lashings of gravy, if you fancy
Pheasant Apple One Pot
Enjoy this easy pheasant recipe made in just one pot (plus frying pan), serving two or three hungry people on a cold, autumn afternoon.
Ingredients
Whole Pheasant
10 Rashers of Smoked Bacon
4 Spartan or Seasonal Apples, roughly chopped
2 Carrots, finely chopped
2 Sticks Celery, finely chopped
2 Shallots, sliced
2 Cloves Garlic
300ml Medium Dry Cider
200ml Chicken Stock
Knob of Butter
6 Sage Leaves
250g Sausage Meat
Handful of Roasted Chestnuts
2 Bay Leaves
Method
Pre-heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5
Saute carrot, celery, shallots and garlic with bay leaves in butter until lightly golden in casserole pot
Dust pheasant with flour and brown in hot pan
Stuff pheasant once cooled with sausage meat and chestnuts and wrap with bacon
Place on top of veg in casserole pot and scatter apples
Fill pot with cider and stock
Season and scatter roughly torn sage leaves
Bring to the boil
Cook for 25 minutes uncovered
Remove from oven and set pheasant aside
Reduce liquid in pot on bubbling heat by half
Return pheasant to pan and serve with side dishes of your choice, such as roast potatoes and steamed cabbage
Remove from saucepan, turn out and serve immediately
Tried & Tested Apple Recipes from Others
Nicola Lamb’s gorgeous Tarte Tatin >
The Marble Kitchen’s Apple Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting >
Apple Creme Brulee Tart from Simple French Cooking >
Apples In Capture
The Apple Supplemental - Things to Pore Over with an Apple
I massively enjoyed reading Chef Sam Black’s piece earlier this week about making Farmhouse Seidr, with reference to the history of orchards in the UK and Wales.
Over on Belinda Vigor’s substack, she explores the idea of apples and community, and thoughts on how capitalism has eroded a sense of female commonality that was once shared - over apples in the kitchen, for example
Must. Make. This. Cake. Soon. From Jess Elliott-Dennison. A brown butter, rosemary, apple number.
The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan - a brilliant book on the relationship between plants and people, questioning who is really cultivating who? He splits the book into four chapters - the sweetness of apples, the beauty of tulips, the intoxication of cannabis, and the control of potatoes.
If you enjoyed reading this, you might also like:
It’s a Chicken Broth Party (and You’re Invited) >
Have you got the Michael pollen book? I’d like to read!
What a wonderful ode to apples. I’ll make the apple sauce today for starters.