An Apple A Day - How the Apple came to Canada

by Mary Harris

Canadian poet Christopher Dewdney wrote: "Green apples adorn leafless branches like forgotten ornaments while a single November rose blooms ...",

(c) Alexander Kuguchin

... which perfectly describes this month sandwiched between the riotous colours ofOctober's about-to-fall leaves and the snows and Christmas decorations of December. It is a rather dull month, gray and rainy skies, naked trees and no special holidays in Canada. But what a wonderful month to cozy up in a warm kitchen and bakeapple pies!

Apples are likely the best known, commonly eaten and cheapest of all the fresh fruits found in Canadian grocery stores. Certain regions of Canada, like the Okanagan Valleyof British Columbia and the Georgian Bay area in Ontario, are superb apple growing areas, so it is surprising that Canada is not one of the biggest exporters of apples in the world.

an apple orchard in the beautiful Okanagan Valley (c) Ivan_Sabo

The only apples native to Canada are what are known as crab apples. The fruit is small and very sour, but the tree is short and hardy with long lasting blooms full of pollen. These wild apples are often planted among commercial orchard trees (descendants of European imports) to improve pollination by the bees, or the commercial cultivar can be grafted onto the stronger wild tree trunk. Sometimes, the crab apple fruit is made intojelly or added to apple cider to give in an extra zap of flavour, but they are never eaten raw.

Crab apples are native to Canada (c) Vibe Images

The apple is a member of the rose family and  first grew in central Asia, around modern day Afghanistan and Kazakhstan.

The apples grown and eaten in Canada today came from apple seeds brought here by early European settlers, and we are certainly glad that they did. It is hard to imagine any lunch box or fruit basket without one! Canada was a major apple producer until a few years ago when farmers began switching to growing different tree fruits, and other rising markets such as China began to supply our increasing demand for fresh apples.

Neatly packaged in its own lovely red (or green or yellow) skin, the fresh apple is a wonderfully portable snack loaded with fibre, vitamin C, natural sugars, antioxidants and benefits connected with positive effects on cardiovascular health, cancer risk, obesity and asthma.

an apple variety (c) Arina P. Habich

Fresh is certainly not the only way to enjoy apples - not by a mile! Canadians love their apple pie - all alone, topped with ice cream or sharp cheddar cheese, hot or cold, pastry crust or streusel topping. But it doesn't stop there. Enjoy apples with oatmeal for breakfast, pair them with roast pork, try apple sauce as a snack or on potato pancakes (latkes), sample one of the many delicious varieties of apple cider or top your morning toast with apple butter.