One century ago, a unique apple variety emerged in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, USA.
A peculiar seedling was discovered growing beneath a Duchess apple tree. After attempts at propagation, by 1890, a green-yellow sour apple variety was born, becoming a local specialty and one of the thousands of beloved apple varieties in North America.
The Strange Journey of Ancient Apples
Wisconsin Apples. (Source: midwestfarmreport.com).
Apples are among the most widely grown and consumed fruits in the world. In North America alone, approximately 14,000 apple varieties have been named and cultivated over the past four centuries.
Apples are an ancient species. All apple varieties trace their origins to wild apples growing in the Tian Shan mountains of Kazakhstan.
As a member of the Rosaceae family, which includes flowering plants (ranging from roses to pears), apples are among the earliest flowering plants on Earth, evolving in Central Asia over 4.5 million years ago.
Golden Apples in Wisconsin. (Source: iStock).
Kazakhstan is so synonymous with apples that even the name of its largest city, Almaty, translates to “Father of Apples.“
Humans and animals traversing the mountains of Central Asia helped spread apples east and west. As people and animals moved, seeds were dropped, seedlings sprouted, and millions of unique apple varieties emerged throughout Asia and Europe. Apples have reached nearly every corner of the world.
Creating the same apple variety is not an easy task. You won’t find the “original” Red Delicious or Granny Smith growing in Kazakhstan.
The seeds of an apple do not produce seedlings identical to the parent tree, but rather a unique combination of genes from the mother and father trees carried by bees in the pollen. Each generation of seedlings will have a different appearance and flavor.
The only way to produce multiple apple trees of the same variety is through cloning by means of grafting, one of the ancient methods is to graft a bud from one tree onto the trunk of another. This is also how humans have created apple varieties.
Every Granny Smith apple is a grafted branch from a parent tree discovered by Maria Ann Smith near a creek outside Sydney, Australia, in the late 1860s. Without grafting, every apple in the world might be a unique variety.
Heterozygosity is the botanical term for this genetic variation, and it is the leading cause explaining the apple’s ability to thrive in completely different lands, from New Zealand to England or America.
Wherever the apple tree goes, its descendants create numerous variations, sometimes thousands of variants on a single tree, ensuring at least one will possess the necessary qualities to thrive in a new environment.
However, most of these new apple varieties tend to produce fruit that is bitter and unpalatable, as their purpose is not for human consumption. Typically, smaller apple trees yield more fruit than larger ones.
Many wild apple varieties have larger core sizes, as they are responsible for the reproductive part of the apple, resulting in less edible flesh. Conversely, to ensure that apple trees produce large, sweet-eating fruit suitable for baking, humans often resort to grafting methods.
People love apples so much that they took them everywhere. Apples arrived in North America with European explorers and settlers, who couldn’t bear to leave home without their favorite apples. People also established orchards where they grew apples for consumption and preservation. These settlers planted millions of seeds as they moved westward.
When Industry Overwhelmed the Apple Sector
Apples have been present in Wisconsin since the 1800s. Almost every farm had its own orchard, growing various apple types, including some that were unique to that orchard. The alkaline soil in Milwaukee and Waukesha counties makes apples taste tarter compared to those from Door and Bayfield counties, where cooler nights enhance the sweetness of the fruit.
Cider. (Source: sunset.com)
However, Wisconsin’s harsh climate means only the hardiest apples can survive, so commercial orchards often develop slowly.
Advancements in maritime transport during the 19th century also enabled the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa to ship fresh apple barrels abroad. Competition among these apple-growing regions led American growers to focus on a few commercial apple varieties that could be produced in bulk and withstand shipping overseas.
However, the industrialization of agriculture changed the world of apples. By the mid-19th century, Milwaukee apples along with many other Wisconsin varieties had vanished.
The apple industry decided to select only a few varieties for global promotion and distribution, transforming this fruit from a local specialty into a global commodity.
Agricultural industrialization altered that world. By the mid-20th century, Milwaukee apples along with many other Wisconsin varieties had largely disappeared.
The apple industry opted for a few varieties for global promotion and distribution, turning this fruit from a local delicacy into a global commodity. Today’s industrial food system has diminished the richness and diversity of the apple world of the past.
Jennifer Casey, the biodiversity coordinator for Slow Food Wisconsin Southeast, stated, “We have lost an incredible level of biodiversity over the past century. The apple itself is such a powerful symbol of America that losing so many native varieties makes it seem like we have lost a part of our essence.”
Older local apple varieties with thin or rough skins, uneven fruiting, and susceptibility to bruising or other defects have been discarded for not meeting the strict global market requirements for shiny, appealing apples, often diminishing their flavor.
In the past, distinct apple varieties could be found in communities across the country, but today, the modern apple industry has grown so dominant that only about 20 apple varieties have secured a place on global dining tables. Estimates suggest that fewer than one-tenth of the apple varieties grown throughout history are still available on the market. Thousands of unique apple varieties have been lost.
Efforts to Preserve Wisconsin’s Ancient Apples
Fortunately, consumer resistance to industrial food in recent years has led to efforts to protect the apple heritage of the world. Ancient or unique heirloom apples are making a comeback in Wisconsin.
Growers like Ken Weston of Weston’s Antique Apple Orchard in New Berlin are doing everything possible to preserve the remaining apple varieties.
This orchard is the oldest operating one in Waukesha, planted by Weston’s grandparents during the Great Depression. Weston noted that his grandparents initially did not intend to grow heirloom apple varieties. The family’s apple trees only became heirloom varieties when previously popular varieties disappeared.
“This orchard aims to restore the apple varieties commonly seen in the 1930s,” Weston said. “Some varieties were here before my family bought the orchard, and we’ve collected others from various places and friends.”
Currently, this orchard has over 700 trees and 100 different apple varieties, many of which are quite rare, covering 16 acres. More than 95% of the apples are heirloom varieties that are not commercially grown. The historical significance of the farm has been recognized with its inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places in the United States.
“These apples have a wide range of flavors. Some even taste less like apples and more like cashews or are as sweet as strawberries,” Weston remarked.
His own apple variety, Weston’s Winter Delight, is a yellow apple with a strong vanilla flavor. Weston also grows several varieties native to Wisconsin, including Wolf River, Northwestern Greening, and Old Church.
In Milwaukee, Slow Food Wisconsin Southeast has chosen Milwaukee apples as the centerpiece for its campaign to bring back heirloom apples. Jennifer Casey first learned about this apple variety at a workshop on heirloom apples organized by RAFT (Renewing America’s Food Traditions), which identified Milwaukee apples as an endangered fruit worthy of rescue.
“Biodiversity and regional food are at the heart of Slow Food, so when I heard about the plight of this apple, I became very passionate about this project,” Casey shared about her interest in starting the Milwaukee Heritage Apple Project.
Casey located trees at Maple Valley Orchards and Nursery near Green Bay, and in 2010, Slow Food planted four Milwaukee apple trees alongside the heirloom varieties Pewaukee and Oneida at the Stahl-Conrad Homestead in Hale’s Corners.
This historic house originally featured a lush fruit orchard, and the management of this historical site has expressed a desire to reintroduce some original Wisconsin apple varieties.
In 2011, volunteers planted another Milwaukee apple tree in the orchard of the Urban Ecology Center at Washington Park.
Slow Food also provides carefully grafted and planted Milwaukee apple saplings along with four other Wisconsin varieties: Pewaukee, Oneida, Wolf River, and Northwest Greening.
Over 70 trees have been planted in and around the yards, gardens, and farms of Milwaukee. However, these young trees are quite fragile, so Casey emphasizes the need to protect them until they are stronger.
As both an educational and gardening project, Casey hopes the Milwaukee Heritage Apple Project will encourage people to think and talk about biodiversity and the importance of local food.
Casey stated: “These trees tell a story. Milwaukee apples are our hometown fruit. When we lose these fruits and the traditions that accompany them, we lose a part of our identity.”
