From: "Clive Simms"
<clive_simms@lineone.net>
To: "Lon J Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>
Subject: Assorted trivia
Date: Thu, Dec 7, 2000, 12:07 AM
To: "Lon J Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>
Subject: Assorted trivia
Date: Thu, Dec 7, 2000, 12:07 AM
Just heard on the radio...... why don't Cox's Orange Pippin apples rattle anymore when shaken. This once used to be a clear sign of a ripe apple but alas no more. Any ideas?
The use of large amounts of nitrogen causes produce
to hold more water. My husband grew up in what was then a 3rd world
country, Ireland, and remembers the change in potatoes when Irish farmers began
using artificial fertilizers. He said potatoes became more watery.
Studies comparing organic vs chemical produce found no real difference when
samples are ashed and the ashes compared. But when equal weights of the
produce itself were compared in a Canadian study, organic produce averaged 90%
more of all nutrients tested for. This appears to suggest that the amount
of non water constituents are higher in organic produce. People who switch
to organic produce have been known to comment that they didn't seem to need to
eat as much.
It seems to me that if the
Cox's in the old days had a higher carbohydrate vs water content, then as
the apple matured and starch changed to sugar, and the fruit dried out a bit in
storage, that the changes occurring would be more dramatic than in a waterlogged
high nitrogen fruit.
This reminds me, I read in an
old USDA publication that low nitrogen causes fruit to color very
brightly. Red is used as a marker by plants to birds that's dinner is
served. Presumably this started with little red crab apples, bird bite
sized. If the redness of any particular variety has something to do
with ripeness, then low nitrogen would signal ripeness more frantically than
usual. Would we be able to taste the difference? Would a brix meter
show the difference? (Can't we all, every one of us taste the difference
in backyard vs commerical tomatoes? And one study of tomato flavor vs
nutrition level showed that the best tasting tomatoes were the most
nutritious.) Red is not much of an issue on Cox, but this might lead to a few experiments.
If someone with 2 or more trees
of any given variety would like to vary the N levels next summer, they are
likely to note differences in color, crispness, keeping ability between low and
high N trees. Clive, can you find someone with Cox's trees to try
it? Or can you find a neglected tree to compare to the commercial
product? I'd like to see it tried with something like a Macintosh,
that here in the south seldom develops good color. Maybe throw a
little sawdust around late in the summer..... Donna
P.S. I can think of a totally different
reason for the change....when the apples are picked. They may have been a
little riper when picked a few decades ago. (This definitely holds true in
the case of homegrown vs commercial tomatoes.)
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