How do you like them apples?

By adamg on Fri, 10/05/2012 - 11:13am

Iseut reports on a couple of apples she picked from a tree at the corner of Comm. Ave. and Mass. Ave. Yes, our Comm. Ave. and Mass. Ave.

We ate these in a yummy compote with local garden plums and quince.

Neighborhoods:

Back Bay

Free tagging:

Commonwealth Avenue

Massachusetts Avenue

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Comments

I've seen that apple tree

By anon on Fri, 10/05/2012 - 12:32pm.

and always wondered what an apple tree was doing at a busy urban intersection. Aren't fruit-dropping trees generally discouraged in urban environments where they could attract unsanitary animals?

I'd be skeptical about eating them, given their proximity to the road and pollution, etc., as well as the mental image of rats and pigeons crawling all over the tree. Icky.

, as well as the mental image

By NotWhitey on Fri, 10/05/2012 - 3:15pm.

, as well as the mental image of rats and pigeons crawling all over the tree. Icky.

That's because the apples you usually eat are grown in greenhouses, with sterile air pumped in. Have you ever been further from the city than the streetcar will take you? They say there's icky critters out there!

Getcher paws off my fruit

By aek on Fri, 10/05/2012 - 3:18pm.

There are tens of thousands of edible fruit bearing trees in the metro area. Crabapples, pear, apricot, peach, pear, etc. all have attractive blossoms, controlled shapely growth habits and vigorous production in somewhat unforgiving habitat. And don't forget the nuts: black walnut, hazelnut, oak (acorns), etc.

Washing all fruit, regardless of where it was grown, is recommended. In orchards, your juicy apples may have been visited by foxes, raccoons, bats, skinks, skunks, opossums, and all manner of birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles.

There are several biologists and naturalists who give instructive talks in the field about urban foraging. I have enjoyed several types of berries, pears and apples myself in this neck of the woods.

Eat up and enjoy!

Nuts

By Alex_Toth on Wed, 10/10/2012 - 1:33pm.

Look for gingkos in the South End, there's some black walnuts in Cambridge (near Harvard, and around Fresh Pond)