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Article: Crabapples: more than just jelly!(The orchard)
- Article from:
- Countryside & Small Stock Journal
- Article date:
- September 1, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 Countryside Publications Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Crabapples are often overlooked as a food source for rural and suburban homesteaders. Now treated primarily as ornamentals, these trees have a usefulness that goes far beyond being pretty or being used as a source of crabapple jelly Henry David Thoreau did them disservice when he described them in his "Wild Apples" essay as being "unexpectedly crude--sour enough to set a squirrel's teeth on edge and make a jay scream."
Why use crabapples?
Despite Mr. Thoreau, this ubiquitous tree of suburbia can be useful to homesteaders and locavores (those who try to eat a local diet). Crabapples originated in the mountains of ancient Kazakhstan and somehow made it to ...