Atomic Shrimp - Feral Apples

Feral Apples

Wild apples

Although there are such things as true crab apples, many of the 'wild' apple trees we see are the naturalised offspring of cultivated varieties - either chance seedlings from a discarded core, or perhaps remnants of derelict and forgotten orchards.

They're quite a common sight alongside railway tracks (including disused ones) - along with other fruit trees including plums and the occasional pear - I read somewhere that this was attributable to discarded cores and pips from fruit consumed by passengers as far back as Victorian times - where, in the absence of chocolate bars and plastic triangular packages of dodgy sandwiches, fruit was a convenience food.

(Although today's trees are probably a few generations on from the original seedlings)

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September 04 2007 - not very exotic, but I found a feral apple tree growing on the waste ground behind my workplace.

It's only about ten feet tall and looks like it's maybe a dozen years old, so I expect it took root when one of the lads from the warehouse threw an apple core out on the grass.

The apples are pretty small - the biggest being a little smaller than a tennis ball - but they're perfectly formed - nice glossy red fruit with green and yellow flecks - their heritage as the feral offspring of a cultivated variety is quite obvious to see.

I just picked three - one for me and one for each of my kids, who came to visit me at work today. We took them back to the office and cut them up - to make sure there was nothing living inside them - they were OK - a little bit hard (maybe not actually fully ripe yet), but quite juicy and pleasantly tart, but also sweet.