Apple of the week: Ambrosia

The Ambrosia apple is stunning, with creamy yellow flesh, a honey-sweet flavour, and bi-colour exterior.  It's great for fresh eating and can be used for cooking, though it really shines as a snacking apple.  Try it on a charcuterie tray with cheese, it's wonderful!

The Ambrosia Apple has held a special place in my heart since reading the book Apples to Oysters by Margaret Webb (you should read it-- a great cross-Canada trek through food, exploring one food in each province that makes it special).

However, another reason the Ambrosia is special to me is because I have seen the original tree where the variety first began (see my original blog post here: http://bestofblush.blogspot.ca/2010/10/blush-lane-organic-orchard.html).  It's such an amazing story-- What began as a chance seedling in a Jonagold replant in Sally Mennell's organic orchard turned into one of the most popular varieties today (though more popular on the West Coast than Nova Scotia, or so I've found, anyhow).  It's even more astounding if you consider the basics of apple breeding-- If you plant the seeds of an apple, they will never breed true to the variety they came from (loaded with diverse genetics - read Michael Pollan's The Botany of Desire for an intriguing recounting of the history and mystique of the apple).  All modern apples are propagated through grafting, which makes the story even more unlikely and amazing.  Here's it is:

"In 1980, when Sally Mennell purchased her orchard it was planted to Red and Golden Delicious, MacIntosh and Spartan apples; Italian Prune Plums; Bartlett and Anjou pears; nectarines and peaches. Between 1980 and 2004 the entire orchard was replanted.
In 1987 a row of Jonagold apples was planted where there had previously been Italian Prune Plums. The nearest apple tree was a Golden Delicious planted among the prunes. A seedling grew up in the row of the new Jonagold apple trees that was different from all the others in the row. In 1989 it bore its first fruit. The fruit was so good and distinctive that the pickers ate the apples before the Mennells could properly taste them.
The following year the same thing happened and as pickers seldom eat apples the Mennells thought that perhaps they should take this seedling seriously. In 1990-91 about 180 trees were budded onto M26 rootstock to see if the variety would remain true to type. It did and by 1993 Wilfrid, Brian and Robert Mennell had propagated about 400 trees. Wilfrid named the new variety Ambrosia because it had the honeyed flavour of "a food of the Gods"."

Here's me and the Mother Tree, Cawston BC in the Similkameen Valley, October 2010:

Me and the Ambrosia Mom  :)

How cool is that?  The Ambrosia, uniquely Canadian and Food of the Gods, available at Noggins Corner Farm!