Posted on by Matt Gilligan

Check Out the World’s Surprising Variety of Weird and Wonderful Apples

Most of us have eaten the typical apples, such as Granny Smith. If we’re lucky, we may have also had a few other types of apples as well –Honeycrisp has had a major moment the past few years – but most of us have probably not tried as many kinds as writer William Mullan.

That’s because Mullen is researching as many types of apples as he can get his hands on, and getting photographs of them.

He spoke with Atlas Obscura about his fascination with apples, which began when he was a teenager growing up in the UK and grew into a full-blow obsession when he was forced into a dietary change for health reasons. Now he satisfies his sweet-tooth on apples.

So what’s the big deal? We checked out Mullan’s Instagram, and he’s really onto something.

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Thornberry! Tiny cotton candy bubble gum sweetheart created by Northern California heartbreaker hottie fruit breeder Albert Etter. Etter was particularly taken with the rose-pink European apple called “Surprise”, creating more 30 seedlings on his orchard back in the 1920s, in what is now called Ettersberg in Humboldt County, California. “Surprise” was mostly dismissed by fruit growers; it tended to be sour and was considered a novelty. But Etter saw potential, eventually selling his Pink Pearl to the California Nursery Company in the 1940s. Etter passed away 10 years later, in 1950, leaving his experimental orchard largely abandoned. In the 1970s, the Fishman family began evaluating the surviving apple trees, both on the site itself and on nearby orchards, eventually locating fifteen of Etter’s “Surprise” seedlings, including Thornberry, which they discovered in another abandoned orchard about a mile outside of the town called Whitethorn (which is about 10 miles south of Ettersburg). – Thornberry exhibits traits typical of the Etter “Surprise” seedlings. Most pronounced among those is a distinct “berry” aromatic flavor, which can likely be linked to the anthocyanin compound that makes the flesh pink. It’s almost like a dwarf-sized Pink Pearl, sharing the same translucent skin, bubble-gum pink flesh, and a spry, lively tartness of that aforementioned favorite. That said, I found this Thornberry, kindly sent to me by Chad Frick of @vulture_hill, to be much sweeter than Pearl. It reminds me of all my childhood candy shop fantasies condensed into one little apple. Like those memories, my first and only sample of it has been canonized in my brain.

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In addition to taking beautiful photographs of apples from all over the world, Mullan delves deeply into the apples’ histories, discussing how they’re grown, bred, and what they taste like. His descriptions of apples are gorgeously detailed, and he’s sold books and prints of his images.

Mullan also went into detail about how and why only certain apples make it to consumers’ hands at grocery stores. Big agriculture and market demands are the main reasons.

Some apples truly have their own personalities.

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Rubaiyat! Pinot noir speckled juice rock with splashy strawberry watermelon flesh. Rubaiyat (also known as CV. Etter 8-11) is another ultra-rare Albert Etter (maker of Pink Pearl) red flesh breed that has been trademarked by Greenmantle Nursery, who took over his property. It’s one of many red flesh cultivars Etter made while he was alive, including the previously featured Grenadine and Pink Pearl. It’s aroma and flavor reminds of Ribena, for all you UK folk out there; for all those who haven’t experienced Ribena, think juice box berry (although Ribena comes in plastic). You’re not likely to come across Rubaiyat at a market (Greenmantle forbids growers from selling it), but if you’re lucky, you might meet a friendly orchardist who has it. It’s a shame, because Rubaiyat is delicious and has seemingly good keeping qualities. Side note: Young Albert Etter was hot. Google him. A beautiful man who made beautiful fruit. I got this Rubaiyat courtesy of the nice folks at @redbrydcider 🙏

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Other apples are works of art that stand on their own.

Farmers have avoided certain types of apples because they are more likely to pick up diseases, they come from trees that naturally produce fewer apples, or they have fragile skin.

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Hi! Can you see this trio of fantastic galactic Black Oxford apples? Are you excited for Pomme SZN? Word is that some posts aren’t showing up on the feed. If you would like to see more #PommeCon, plz comment below and the algorithm will love me. A lot of nice folks have DM’ed me for prints and I will be releasing those on IG in the late summer, so if you want to be notified, like, tap, comment, etc etc etc 🙃🙏❤🍎. – On these Maleficent orbs… Black Oxford apples are little soft tannin bombs wrapped in a haunting chic purple-black plum coat. They yield sweet corn and vanilla with time. The Michelle Pfeiffer as Selina Kyle of Apples (post tragic-transformation scene). They’re also known as July Apples because word is they can be kept till July! A Maine native and a favorite of mine. I got very lucky with these very black ones from @scottfarmvt last szn; usually they’re more purple.

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Mullan’s interest has garnered him a steady following. Thanks to his research and photographic work, we get to be exposed to beautiful varieties of apples from all over the world. Click here to check out more of his photographs.

What do you think of Mullan’s work and efforts to introduce the world to more apples? Feel free to comment below so we can read your opinion!

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