Day of Original Apple Varieties

Our ancestors relied on apples as their main source of fruit and health throughout the winter. Local fruit growers developed varieties ideal for the local climate and had years of experience in their cultivation. However, these old and abandoned orchards or roadside trees are now at risk of extinction as entrepreneurs buy neglected land for cheap and use it as a source of subsidies. We now find imported apples from Spain or Italy on store shelves, and only a few grandmothers make preserves and syrups for their grandchildren. There are also fewer people who know how to care for fruit trees or even recognize their varieties. Most of us are only familiar with modern varieties of imported apples from supermarkets, so we mainly ask for them in nurseries when buying an apple tree for our garden. We rarely consider that seventy-year-old trees growing in abandoned and overgrown orchards outside the village are valuable local varieties. The return of high-stem fruit trees is a very important and indispensable historical element of the local landscape, especially in terms of landscape character. Such an alley lining a road completes and enriches the existing ecosystem. Today, we have few opportunities to walk through an apple alley that offers unexpected beauty of its flowers, leaves, or the scent and taste of sweet colorful fruits in every season. This is also related to the question of why cider presses, fruit dryers, and distilleries have disappeared. Many old varieties are adaptable to the location, reliably bear fruit even in worse conditions, and are hardy against frost and most diseases. Some of them are not inferior in taste to modern apple varieties, such as the old variety Matčino Grávštýnské, red Kalvil, white Kalvil, or the almost forgotten apples Sudetská Reneta, Panenské české, and Řehtáč soudkovitý. These varieties are truly for gourmets. These apple trees are a product of nature and humans who found it worth cultivating them for centuries. We should have respect for them as varieties and for old trees. In the cultural landscape, it has become a tradition to plant trees. If we want to preserve it, you can also celebrate the Day of Original Apple Varieties by planting an apple tree on your land this autumn, but consider carefully which one. Don't forget about suitable living conditions for the tree, a suitable location, enough space, and time. If you have plenty of apple trees in your garden and a rich harvest this year, celebrate this day with your own cider. Source: Ekocentrum Kavyl