Nay, it may be the most extraordinary apple our capitalist society has ever manufactured. However, the Cosmic Crisp is no ordinary apple. And for an ordinary apple, such a tepid review would be perfectly acceptable. "About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.The Cosmic Crisp Apple is not a bad apple. Illustrations not seen by PW.Ĭopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. Appendices include descriptions of 20 "prize" apples, new and old a brief discussion of rootstocks and tree sizes, for backyard orchardists and a sampling of apple and cider recipes from around the world. A chapter on the apple in mythology and religion is a bit superficial, but for the most part, Browning, who owns an apple orchard in Kentucky, is informative and entertaining, though his story lacks the overarching historical context or the narrative drive of a book like Mark Kurlansky's Cod. Accepting the apple as a "full partner in the age of science and modernism," he's optimistic that breeders, perhaps by crossing apples from the primeval forests of Kazakhstan with other varieties, will create new apples that are flavorful as well as long-keeping, hardy and disease-resistant. Although he is unenthusiastic about the perfectly shaped but bland Golden Delicious, Jonathans, Red Delicious, Granny Smiths and Fujis found in supermarkets today, he realizes that the tastier heirloom varieties such as Westfield Seek-No-Further, Newton Pippin, Winter Pearmain and Roxbury Russet are not commercially viable.
He travels to Kazakhstan to meet a scientist who devotes his life to the preservation of the world's original apple forests to Geneva, N.Y., to visit Cornell University's apple-breeding program and to France, England and the western hills of Virginia to taste traditional ciders. In his quest for knowledge about the apple, he talks to collectors of old varieties, commercial monoculturists, genetic engineers and master cider-makers. In what he describes as "a quirky piece of personal and agricultural storytelling," Browning (A Queer Geography) contemplates aspects of the "forbidden fruit," from its probable origins in the mountains of Kazakhstan to its modern transformation into a high-tech product of commercial orchards.
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