Excerpt from The Housekeeper's Apple Book: Over Two Hundred Ways, of Preparing the Apple The apple is without question the King of Fruits. While it is more easily digested when cooked, it is not difficult of digestion and is most delicious raw. Whether fresh, dried, evaporated or canned, the apple is a wholesome food, easily prepared, attractive and palatable at all times. Becaues of its rare keeping qualities people in the most remote parts are able to take advantage of its great food value. Apples vary in flavor and texture. They are often marketed before they are mature and the cooking and keeping qualities are thus injured. None of the soft, insipid apples are suitable for preserving; the sound, tart apples are the best for this purpose. Fine grained apples are best for sauce and butter, while the coarse grained varieties are best for marmalade. In the fall and early winter, apples are at their best, and spices need not be added, because their flavor cannot be improved, but towards spring the flavor becomes somewhat flat and is improved by the addition of spices or other flavorings. Always cook apples in earthen or granite ware utensils, and use silver, granite or wooden spoons for stirring. The use of the apple as a basis for practically all manufactured jellies and jams is well known. This is due to the large amount of pectose which it contains. There is no waste to a good apple. Even the paring and core may be utilized for jelly. Fruits are classified as flavor fruits and nutritive fruits. The apple comes under both of these heads. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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In the nineteenth century, most American farms had a small orchard or at least a few fruit-bearing trees. People grew their own apple trees or purchased apples grown within a few hundred miles of their homes. Nowadays, in contrast, Americans buy mass-produced fruit in supermarkets, and roughly 70 percent of apples come from Washington State. So how did Washington become the leading producer of America’s most popular fruit? In this enlightening book, Amanda L. Van Lanen offers a comprehensive response to this question by tracing the origins, evolution, and environmental consequences of the state’s apple industry. Washington’s success in producing apples was not a happy accident of nature, according to Van Lanen. Apples are not native to Washington, any more than potatoes are to Idaho or peaches to Georgia. In fact, Washington apple farmers were late to the game, lagging their eastern competitors. The author outlines the numerous challenges early Washington entrepreneurs faced in such areas as irrigation, transportation, and labor. Eventually, with crucial help from railroads, Washington farmers transformed themselves into “growers” by embracing new technologies and marketing strategies. By the 1920s, the state’s growers managed not only to innovate the industry but to dominate it. Industrial agriculture has its fair share of problems involving the environment, consumers, and growers themselves. In the quest to create the perfect apple, early growers did not question the long-term environmental effects of chemical sprays. Since the late twentieth century, consumers have increasingly questioned the environmental safety of industrial apple production. Today, as this book reveals, the apple industry continues to evolve in response to shifting consumer demands and accelerating climate change. Yet, through it all, the Washington apple maintains its iconic status as Washington’s most valuable agricultural crop.