Die alten Obstsorten

Silk shirts and Swiss trousers, trout pear and wine apple – the names of old fruit varieties are as diverse and unusual as their appearance and taste, as poetic as the many stories that surround them: about the pear that traveled to America twice by ship, about the cherry for which Frederick the Great paid half a month's salary, about the apple that inspired Newton's theory of gravitation. This volume presents over fifty native old fruit varieties in detail through historical illustrations and entertaining texts, with more than a hundred others briefly introduced: apples and pears, cherries and plums, apricots and peaches, berries and nuts – including classics like Gravensteiner or Schattenmorelle, rarities like the White Winter Calville, and extraordinary types like mulberry, quince, or medlar. Tips on cultivation and variety selection, as well as recipes for regional specialties, complement the variety portraits. A brief introduction describes the tumultuous history of these old varieties, the rediscovery of their unique flavors, and the immense ecological significance they hold today.