Apples with a story: Central Ohio orchard grows fruit from around the world
Tony Mirones
LOGAN, Ohio (WCMH) – The beginning of fall brings out a lot of people to the traditional U-Pick apple orchard. There is one orchard in central Ohio that is anything but traditional.
Here, you won’t find a store where you can buy decorations, there’s no hot cider, and there’s not even a maze for you to stroll through. Instead, you’ll find apple varieties that date back to the Roman Empire.
Abbondanza – Italy, 1896. Scarlet flushed with a distinct raspberry tang. Sweet, firm white flesh. (NBC4 Photo/Tony Mirones)
Golden Russet – New Jersey, mid 1700s. Seedling of English Russet. Medium sized fruit is golden bronze heavily splotched with light brown russet. Crips, highly flavored, fine textured, very sugary yellow flesh. Use for cider, dried apples, fresh eating and cooking. Called the champagne of old-time cider apples. Revolutionary War soldiers were sometimes paid in cider made from Golden Russet apples. (NBC4 Photo/Tony Mirones)
Allen’s Everlasting – Ireland, mid 1800s. Medium sized dessert apples with yellow Skin with a good deal of rough brown russet especially along the crown. Flesh is crisp, juicy and intensely flavored. (NBC4 Photo/Tony Mirones)
Newtown Pippin – New York, early 1700’s. Large fruit is at first dull green, but changing as it ripens to a fine olive green, or greenish yellow, with reddish blush. Flesh is yellowish white tinged with green, firm, crisp, very juicy, with a rich and highly aromatic flavor. A favorite of George Washington. (NBC4 Photo/Tony Mirones)
Esopus Spitzenberg – New York, mid 1700’s. Medium sized fruit has mottled oranges red skin, excellent flavor. Always a top-rated variety in our apple tastings. A favorite of Thomas Jefferson. (NBC4 Photo/Tony Mirones)
Blue Pearmain – Massachusetts, pre 1800. A unique bluish bloom over dark purplish skin. Crisp tender, fine-grained yellowish flesh with rich and mildly tart flavor. Orchardists describe the Blue Permian as “heavy in hand” (dense) referring to the noticeably higher specific gravity. (NBC4 Photo/Tony Mirones)
Kandil Sinap – Crimea, late 1700s. Medium size fruit has a long basrrel shape with yellow skin heavliy flushed with deep red. White crispy, juicy and pleasnatly flavored. (NBC4 Photo/Tony Mirones)
Decio – – Italy, 400 AD. Known in Italy as Melo D’Ezio or Melo Decio, the small, heirloom apples date back the 5th cenruy and the days of ancient rome. Said to have been named after a General Ezio who fought against Atila the Hun. Not the best tasting apple, but as I tell people who come to thte orchard or the student when I take these apples to schools for programs, think how cool it is to eat somethign a Roman ate? You can almost imagin one legionaire saying to another, “So how about those Huns?” as they munch on one of their apples. (NBC4 Photo/Tony Mirones)
Golden PIppin – England, late 1500s. Medium to large fruit has a rich, cidery tang flavor. Body can be covered in russet. Very firm flesh. (NBC4 Photo/Tony Mirones)
Connecticut, 1834. Large to very large fruit. Skin light gree, sometimes with orangish hue. Sweet flesh is firm, cream-colored, sometimes with water core. (NBC4 Photo/Tony Mirones)
Fenouillet de Ribours – France, 1608. Small to medium fruit. Fenouillet means fennel as the apple’s flavor is said to be reminiscent of anise. Golden yellow covered with reddish brown russet. yelloweish flesh, rich , tender, crisp and surgary with fine aromatic flavor. (NBC4 Photo/Tony Mirones)
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Derek Mills started his orchard with more than 1,700 trees at the turn of the century. He was tired of buying only what was offered in the local grocery stores, and so Hocking Hills Orchard was grown.
“America is becoming, no matter what city you go to… everything is the same,” said Mills. “I like the taste of them. I love the history to them.”
The history of the apples goes back in time as far as the Roman Empire. You can find the orchard off of Nickel Plate Road, about a mile and a half off of U.S. 33 just outside of Logan, Ohio.
“We have funny names and whimsical names for apples for sider that are called Hens Turds, Goose Ass, Duck Bill, Cat Head,” Mills said with a grin. “I mean, how cool are those names to make cider with? Those are real Heirloom apple varieties from England.”
Should you ask him about the names of the apples, he’s got the story behind the name. For instance, the bloody plowman apple:
“Back in the day, everything was owned by the king and queen of England,” Mills said. “One day there was a plowman [or farmer], he sees the king’s orchard and grabs a few apples, throws them in his bag, and as he was leaving one of the king’s men sees him and shoots him with a bow and arrow.
“He races back to his house, his wife’s all panicked, the bag of apples is covered with his blood, she slings it into woods. One of those apple’s seeds came out and grew into a tree, which now they call the bloody plowman.”
Regardless of the stories, these apples are different. They are not polished, not typical of what you are used to eating, and they are fun to taste. The experience is sort of like tasting wine, and if you ask Mills what to expect, he’ll tell you. Then you can savor your fruit. Be careful, there are some trees that he grows only because they are interesting, and the fruit’s taste is kind of gross for the American pallet.
Here’s the deal, if you want to plan a trip to get some of these apples, you’ll have to make sure the orchard is open. He only opens it to the public on Saturdays. You can email ahead to check by clicking here.
