SUMMER

Throughout history, the apple has symbolised, for example, sexuality, enlightenment and wealth. The fruit figures in fairy tales and mythologies in almost all European and Asian cultures.

The Greek goddess Aphrodite won a golden apple in a beauty contest. The Norse goddess Idun’s apples gave immortality. In the Bible, a tempting fruit grew on the tree of knowledge. In art, this fruit is often represented by an apple.

LILLEMANSÄPPLE (LILLEMAN’S APPLE) FROM RYDAHOLM

History: The variety comes from a croft in northern Kronoberg County, Lillemanstorp, not far from Ryssby.

Growth habit: The tree is relatively strong growing, winter hardy and reportedly fairly disease-resistant.

Flowering period: Mid-season; pale pink buds and very pale pink blossom.

Fruit characteristics: Middle-sized, flat round shape. Base colour yellow, with an even cover of red on almost half the apple. The flesh is white.

Taste and ripening: A tart apple, mainly suitable for cooking, but quite passable as eating apple. Ripening during second half of September.

Experience and recommendations:  A variety that does not stand out, but reliable and healthy, often fruits every year. Recommended hardiness zone: 1–4.

from Äldre äpplesorter för dagens trädgårdar (Old Apple Varieties for Today’s Gardens), Björn Kalin, SLU 2019

IN BRIEF

• The Paradise apple is not an apple but a citrus fruit.
• The royal apple (orb) among Sweden’s regalia is a symbol for world domination.

MORE APPLE PHILOSOPHY

A people without noble fruits, without need thereof and without knowledge thereof is a barbaric people.
from Handbok i svensk pomologi (Handbook in Swedish Pomology), Olof Eneroth, 1866

DISPLAY ITEM

Adam och Eva vid Kunskapens träd (Adam and Eve by the Tree of Knowledge), textile artist Anna-Lena Emdén, 1975