Apples & People explores the astonishing story of the apple, connecting its diverse history to humanity and culture. Based upon a newly commissioned global map of the apple which traces a network of stories from the ancient world to the present day, this online programme and associated social media will reveal just how significant and iconic this humble fruit has become.
Our newest Apple Story ‘The Golden Trail‘ tells of a remarkable journey for the world’s most important apple chance seedling made by Stark Bro’s Nurseries & Orchards Co. of Louisiana, Missouri USA.
The story of the Golden Delicious apple is incredible – almost the stuff of fantasy. A chance tree, a chance find, and the rest is history.
To celebrate this story we have an Apples & People Commission ‘The Most Valuable Golden Apple Tree In The World’ by Sara-Jane Arbury.
A poetic retelling of the tale from the point of view of the lone tree growing these “wonder apples” on a hillside in West Virginia, and its subsequent discovery by the Stark brothers.
Gillian Bulmer was a long-serving trustee of the Museum and generous benefactor. Compiled with the help of fruit growers and cider makers in Herefordshire, Shropshire, Somerset, Gloucestershire, and Wales, the exhibition features over 360 plates of fruit.
Perhaps for the first time ever, a 360° interactive virtual tour of this fruit exhibition has been created using 3D technology so that we can share this exhibition with people around the world.
So we invite you to step into the Museum of Cider to explore the exhibition for yourself.
Apples at the Museum of Cider, Hereford by Christopher Preece www.infinityunlimited.co.uk
Delving into her own cookery book collection, Tasha Marks, food historian and founder of AVM Curiosities, presents a taste of apples through time. With three historical recipes, tried, tested and adapted for the contemporary kitchen.
Whether you fancy a 1920s tipple or a taste of Ancient Rome, make sure to post a picture of your apple creation on your Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, with the hashtag #appleservedthreeways.
Our newest Apple Story ‘When Doctor Hogg went to Hereford’ celebrates the Victorians who had a key role in developing apple production in Herefordshire.
Apples grow in abundance around the world. On 14th October 1875, an exhibition of apples and pears was held in Hereford that was the beginning of a process to identify, classify, commercialise, and popularise apples.
This Apple Story tells of the relationship between Dr Robert Hogg and Rev Charles Bulmer, the work of Herefordshire’s Woolhope Club to produce the magnificent ‘Herefordshire Pomona’, and the Royal Horticultural Society’s expansive National Apple Congress in 1883.
It has been compiled with help from Woolhope Naturalists’ Field Club, the Royal Horticultural Society, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and the Royal Bath & West of England Society.
Published 7th October 2021
In conjunction with this year’s National Poetry Day theme of ‘Choice’, Apples & People is marking and celebrating the apple’s diversity by releasing two poetic interpretations of the fruit.
A collaboration between artist and poet Alec Finlay and author and forager Tamara Colchester and an archive recording of author Laurie Lee’s ‘Apples‘.
Together with art work by artist Paul Ryan and photographs of Alec Finlay’s orchard at Jupiter Artland in Edinburgh.
18th September is International Eat an Apple Day! We are delighted to share an article written for Apples & People by Australian academic Dr Nicola Bondonno, a Researcher at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Western Australia. Nicola explains why you should make sure you eat an apple on International Eat an Apple Day…and every day.
This Journal of Apples article is illustrated with paintings from the collections of the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Aberdeen, and a photograph from Apple & Pear Australia Ltd of an orchard in South Australia.
Underground Root Laboratory 2013 © NIAB EMR
Apple loading at Port Nelson 19 20s © Nelson Provincial Museum - Pupuri Taonga o Te Tai Ao, F N Jones Collection 311092
Frederic Leighton - Garden of Hesperides (1892) © Courtesy National Museums Liverpool, Lady Lever Art Gallery
Apple tree at Woolsthorpe Manor, 1840, George Rowe after Thomas Howison, Drawing © The Royal Society
Emily Gravett - Bear Apple © the artistFollow us on social media:
The Chosen Fruit
Home, JournalIn poetry and literature the apple is often a microcosm of our own existence – often mapping the seasons, the taste of youth, the ripening of age.
The Health Benefits of Apples
Home, JournalPeople who eat more fruit have a lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, dementia and depression – by Dr Nicola Bondonno from Edith Cowan University in Perth, Western Australia.
Xincai Tan
Home, JournalWritten by Xincai Tan, ‘Píng Guǒ Shì Jiè’ tells of the domestic apple originating in the Tian Shan, the Heavenly Mountains on China’s western border, and spreading around the world from east to west.
Tōson Shimazaki
Home, Journal‘Hatsukoi’ or ‘First Love’ is a poem written by Japanese author and romantic poet Tōson Shimazaki which tells the story of dreamy love and growing up, set amongst apple trees. This commission is read by Masayo Sasaki with a piano accompaniment.