(Malus fusca. Native to the North Coast, in my home county it's a common understory tree, flourishing on the margins and in clearings of mature forests.
Though M. fusca's apples are only bean-sized, given the number available, they're a staple of local indigenous cuisines. Like all crabapples they're barely palatable raw, but a brilliant upgrade to other fruits, contributing depth, tartness, pectin, and rosy perfume to evergreen huckleberries, apple pie and cider, rose hips, blackberries and a great many others.
The wood is dense and hard, verging on flinty, and so good for such things as tool handles, stakes, digging sticks, and hard-duty walking sticks.)
Appearing also on My Corner of the World.
Beautiful picture of the crabapples. As a child, when in season, they were included in my mud pie meals. When I married, my mother-in-law taught me how to make crabapple jelly. It's delicious.
ReplyDeleteThey are indeed delicious. Crabapple jelly is a blessing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment!
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