Old and rare delights of the old west
The now extinct fruits that grew in the American Wild West.
Did you know that the crops of yesteryear are in danger of extinction or already extinct? It is something relatively unknown to most, but it is a reality, the varieties of fruits and vegetables that we consume today, They only represent 10% to 15% of all types of edible plants consumed at the beginning of the 20th century.
Nowadays the most commercial varieties have displaced the rest, leaving most of the varieties of edible plants of yesteryear already extinct or at risk of disappearing, Some, such as Andean potatoes or purple carrots, are still cultivated in a minority for consumption, while many others are extinct. Let's look at 3 extremely tragic cases from the Western era:
The ansault pear
It is a supposed variety of domestic pear, which is mentioned in some American writings of the 19th century,
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Described as a different variety of pear, It is reportedly juicier and sweeter than the other pears known at that time and until now and was famous for its buttery flavor and delicate aroma, It was grown in Angers, France in 1863, then grown in the US and was so delicious that the book The Pears of New York He described it as 'fruit of the highest quality.
The Ansault pear was famous for its buttery flavor and delicate aroma. It was grown in Angers, France in 1863 and was so delicious that the book The Pears of New York described it as 'fruit of the highest quality'.
But its flavor was a double-edged sword.
The trees were patchy and did not always produce edible pears when commercial agriculture became industrialized, Ansault pear trees were simply not reliable enough to provide farmers with a stable income, orchards were also a problem. Compared to the vast wheat fields, the fruit orchards were not profitable enough.
Ansault pears were replaced by more reliable pear species and became extinct in the early 20th century.
Taliaferro apple.
Jefferson said that the Taliaferro apple was very juicy and good to eat. He praised it as the best cider apple he had ever tasted, producing a hard cider similar to wine or champagne, In 1835, a gentleman named William Kenrick described the fruits as small, only 1-2 inches in diameter, with white skin streaked with red. Kenrick claimed that the apples were unfit to eat, but it reaffirmed its value in cider making.
It is not known for sure how or where these apples arose, and it is believed that they are extinct and that they were lost with the original Jefferson orchard, since they were never intensively cultivated, although like the Ansault pear, It may not be completely extinct, but the chances of it ever ending up on a table or in a glass of cider are slim.
The Murray Plum.
This is a rare type of wild plum, which was only found in the Edwards Plateau and trans-Pecos areas of Texas and was discovered in 1928.
This was a thorny shrubby tree up to 5 meters high, which forms clumps by means of shoots formed at the base of the plant, las hojas eran peludas on both surfaces, they are usually bent along the midrib, their flowers are white and usually appear almost at the same time as the leaves and the fruits are red with white dots, hairless but with a waxy coating on the outside, it was supposedly so rare that no one has seen its fruit or the tree since it was first scientifically described, why perhaps it is extinct
There is not much information.
It's curious, these are not the only extinct fruits for which there is a remember, in the end trying them is a pleasure that our great-grandparents and ancestors kept, How ironic that food was much more varied relatively recently and contrary to popular belief, more colorful and with more flavors than today, I hope some are still alive out there and can be saved.
[Reading links]
https://www.monticello.org/research-education/thomas-jefferson-encyclopedia/malus-pumila-taliaferro/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prunus_murrayana
https://www.tastingtable.com/998525/the-celebrated-pear-thats-been-lost-to-history/
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