An Apple A Day?

 

David Benscoter is a pomologist on a mission. That means he studies fruits and in his case, his passion is apples. 

He's given several presentations in the area, and I enjoyed learning about his apple passion at a Westerners meeting in November, 2025. 

David explained that by the early 1900s, there were over 17,000 cultivars of apples in North America. A "named cultivar" is any apple someone thought was good enough to give a name to after immigrants first came to North America. But unfortunately, over 12,000 of those apples are lost and probably extinct today, he told us. 

In his 2024 book, Lost Apples: The Research for Rare & Heritage Apples in the Pacific Northwest, Benscoter states "When the earliest settlers reached Washington, Idaho and Oregon, one of the first things they did was plant apple trees. They knew each apple tree planted had a specific purpose. Some apples ripened early and could be enjoyed in the middle of summer. Fall apples were especially good for canning or drying while late fall apples kept well in the cellar until the next spring."

For over a decade, Benscoter has searched out old homesteads.... old apple trees.... wanting to resurrect some of the lost apples. And he has succeeded in identifying (by DNA) some 1623 previously-lost varieties. He said that evening that he's still on the hunt. 

"Did you know," he said, "that the Spokane Beauty apple was introduced about 1900 by a WSU nurseryman? This was a big commercial success. Cosmic Crisp is one of the newest varieties to come out of WSU."

David ended his excellent presentation with a quote from Henry David Thoreau: "Surely, the apple is the noblest of fruits."