Overview

'Crisp and refreshing' Pen Vogler, The Spectator Sin, cider and apple crumble… the 10,000-year story of the world’s most tempting fruit. The Apple: A Delicious History takes the reader on an extraordinary journey, from the apple’s prehistoric beginnings in the Tian Shan mountains of Kazakhstan to the explosion of commercial apple-growing in twenty-first-century China. Zigzagging across the centuries and straddling the globe, Sally Coulthard explores how the apple travelled along the Silk Road from Central Asia to Europe, appearing as an erotically charged symbol in Greek myth and poetry and even featuring in the shopping list of a senior Roman officer stationed on Hadrian’s Wall. She samples the cider that flowed from the emperor. Charlemagne’s orchards in the early Middle Ages, and relishes the crispness of the yellow sweeting, the first new apple variety to be cultivated in seventeenth-century America. And she discovers why, despite the existence of more than 7500 varieties of apple – from the ubiquitous Granny Smith to the purple-skinned Black Diamond of Tibet – only a handful of cultivars are available in modern supermarkets. Amplified by mouth-wateringly appley recipes and the stories behind them, The Apple: A Delicious History embraces not only culinary, horticultural, social and commercial history but also age-old traditions in mythology, folklore and religion. It is the perfect gift book for gardeners and nature lovers – and for anyone who enjoys a drop of cider or a slice of apple pie.

Full Product Details

9781803287966

Table of Contents

Reviews

Praise for Fowl Play: A marvellously complete and utter history of chickens. - Country Life A playful, entertaining and satisfyingly informative study of this humble bird and the integral and varied roles it played thoughout human history accross the world. - Archaeology Worldwide Magazine Charming and illuminating. - Mail on Sunday A genial and wonderfully diverting read... A timely book indeed. * Daily Mail * Praise for A Short History of the World According to Sheep: A snappy, stimulating book, and certainly not just for shepherds. - Mail on Sunday Sally Coulthard's story of how sheep shaped the human story is full of rich pickings... Full of fascinating social history. - Independent Global in scope, with fascinating vignettes from the ancient world to the present day, this is anything but woolly. * BBC History Magazine *

From the mouth-puckering Bramley to the scrumptiously tart Cox – Sally takes us through a crisp, delicious history. * Mich Turner, MBE * An enlightening and delicious journey from ancient myth to modern agribusiness through the rich history of the humble apple. * Eleanor Barnett, author of Leftovers * Praise for Fowl Play: A marvellously complete and utter history of chickens. - Country Life A playful, entertaining and satisfyingly informative study of this humble bird and the integral and varied roles it played thoughout human history accross the world. - Archaeology Worldwide Magazine Charming and illuminating. - Mail on Sunday A genial and wonderfully diverting read... A timely book indeed. * Daily Mail * Praise for A Short History of the World According to Sheep: A snappy, stimulating book, and certainly not just for shepherds. - Mail on Sunday Sally Coulthard's story of how sheep shaped the human story is full of rich pickings... Full of fascinating social history. - Independent Global in scope, with fascinating vignettes from the ancient world to the present day, this is anything but woolly. * BBC History Magazine * The real voice of the proper countryside. * John Lewis-Stempel *

Author Information

Sally Coulthard is a bestselling author of books about natural history and rural life including The Barn, A Short History of the World According to Sheep, The Book of the Earthworm, The Hedgehog Handbook and over twenty more titles. She lives on a Yorkshire smallholding which she shares with her husband, three girls and an assortment of unruly animals.

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