Food History

I’m playing with your brain. [insert creepy music here] Well, maybe not everyone’s brain - just a few readers. I posted about my teaching on my normal blog and then realised it was also a culinary history post. I was going to send people in circles from one blog to another and think evil thoughts all the while, but instead I’ll just paste the body of my post and anyone who reads both blogs can have five minutes off.

“Because I’m in an exceptionally kind mood, I thought I would share with you what the apples looked like that endangered Isaac Newton’s brain. What I really want right now, though is to eat the Gloria Mundi variety, so I can exclaim “Sic transit Gloria Mundi” as I munch.

Why am I fixating on historical apples? Because I can’t make up my mind how long before my Food in History course begins is the right time to ring the local heritage apple orchard (which has Pearmains!) and to ask if we can please have a class excursion there.

The excursion isn’t on the course outline and would be entirely optional, but the apple guy knows his stuff (and has Pearmains!!) and it would be an exceptionally cool thing to do. It would be especially exceptional in May, if I have my when-apples-ripen correct and quite a few varieties are in season (my inner-apple-date is all based on Passover - we always had our first Grannies and Goldens for first night Passover when I was a child).

In an ideal world, we might be able to ask for a tour and then buy a heap and take them away for tasting or for historical cooking. Now wouldn’t *that* be an excursion and a half - an orchard and then cook historical varieties in recipes from their period of earliest note. I don’t know if we’d do that the same day or if we’d divvy the loot and bring recipes in the next Tuesday. I suspect I’m in dreaming mode until I ring the amazing apple guy and ask what he thinks.

Maybe it’s peak harvest for him and excursions aren’t possible. We shall see. It may not be possible at all. In which case I will browse on the Brogdale Horticultural site for many hours, exclaiming “Sic transit gloria mundi” for entirely different reasons.”