(Apples) ignorance??

OtherBeaumont

ok so you guys only know about dope and dopers....too bad all those nice apples and no one with any useful knowledge...maybe all you "himachal experts" should worry about pesticides more than isreali's. Where i live Harvest is a important time of the year, I thought there where also BIG festivals celebrating Harvest in India as well as Nepal . Hindi farmers harvest with the moon cycles yes, no???
Back to the scab and pesticides...are the lovely apples poison????? When is actually apple harvest...and does anyone know the strain of apples grown??? to me they looked like Golden Delicious

cyberhippie

Not too many apple lovers I see Otherbeaumount, hang on in there though this site never ceases to amaze.
Sorry I can't help you either but they do make pretty tasty apple juice and cider in Himachal Pradesh!!

Here's a link I found that might shed more light on the subject

Apples lovely apples!!


P.S. Do a google search for Malay, Wood and Custard apples strange looking affairs indeed

Custard Apple

jyotirmoy

Apple harvesting is over this year. The quality & quantity depends a lot on the winter snow falls. There is no ground water on the hills so it is the snow that melts & sustain the trees when the flowers bloom.
The Golden delicious variety is very good when consumed fresh. The best red apples come from Kinnaur. Look out for the ones which are very dark these had been exposed to too much Sun & is best avoided.

kullukid

Yes some of them are Golden Delicious they are mainly english varieties because up until late 1800's there were no apples in himachal it was the british who introduced them. One of the first apple pioneers was John Bannon of Manali, & i'm not certain but i think Duff Dunbar may also have brought apples to kullu. I think these were the first ones but there was also an american guy who set up orchards near Sarahan in early 1900s heres some info on him:-

Himachal Pradesh’s orchard trail Next time you bite into a luscious Himachali apple, think of Samuel Evans Stokes. Now who is he, and what does the apple have to do with him? Partha S Banerjee, who recently travelled to Stokes’ home in the lap of the Himalayas, tells you the story





What have apples got to do with Stokes? Well, if it hadn’t been for this unusually remarkable American who married a local girl and eventually embraced Hinduism, there would have been little apple farming in India.

The apple saga began at Thanedar, a charming little village at over 8,000 ft and 82 km from Simla, and you can follow the orchard trail to remote Kinnaur, where forbidding snow-capped mountains tower over slopes that grow the best apples in India. Then move on to the enchanting Sangla valley with its quaint hamlets and the swiftly flowing Baspa river. But it’s at Thanedar where you must begin your journey for it was here that Stokes began experimenting with apple saplings he brought from America some 80 years ago.

Scion of a wealthy Philadelphia business family, Samuel Evans Stokes (1882-1946) came to India in 1904 to work at a missionary leprosy home near Solar (50 km from Simla). Soon, however, the young American became increasingly drawn towards Indian philosophy and culture; he turned away from the foreign missionary community and became a Christian fakir, living in a cave for a while, then married a Rajput Christian girl, bought land in the village of Thanedar and took upon himself to improve the lot of the local hill people who lived then in abject poverty.

After experimenting with wheat and barley, Stokes decided to try apple farming in his land. He acquired apple saplings of the Starking Delicious variety from America in 1919, and after successfully growing orchards in his land, distributed saplings to the local farmers. By the late 1920s, apple orchards were bearing fruit all over the neighbouring hills and the poor hill people of the area where suddenly growing unbelievably rich. Even farmers in Kulu and Kashmir, where a sour variety grew, borrowed Stokes’ saplings to improve their apple crop.

In Thanedar, you can visit Harmony House, the Stokes’ family home, an European style cottage with Himachali features, and be lucky enough to meet one of Samuel Evans’ descendants, some of whom shuttle between the US and Himachal (One grand daughter, Asha Sharma, recently wrote his biography, An American in Khadi). Close to the home is the Paramjyotir temple, a slate-roofed square structure with a spire and an encircling verandah, built in the Pahari style. Stokes built the temple after converting to Hinduism in 1932 and changing his first name to Satyanand. In later life, he joined the Indian freedom movement, was jailed by the British, and became a senior Congress leader.

The Barobag Hill where Harmony House stands commands a panoramic view of the surrounding mountains, some slopes draped in tall deodar trees, others studded with apple orchards. The snow peaks are to your right and in the distance, through a narrow valley 6000 ft below, flows the Sutlej. The road to the valley descends in sharp hairpin bends and before long you are in Rampur (3, 040 ft), an ugly bustling town on the banks of the Sutlej with concrete buildings and soaring temperatures. But it is the last big town on the way to Kinnaur.

The valley narrows as you drive up, with mountains on either side rising sheer from the grey-brown waters of the Sutlej. The winding road, now high above the roaring river, is busy with lorry traffic thanks to the massive Nathpa-Jhakri hydel power project currently under construction. At Jeori, 23 km from Rampur, a road branches out to your right, climbing the steep hill to Sarahan, 17 km away. What awaits you here in this historic town, once the capital of the princely Bushahr Rampur state, is breathtaking: a vast ancient temple complex, its architecture a splendid mix of Tibetan and the local Pahari styles, rearing against a backdrop of snowy peaks that crown mountains clad in pines and orchards.

It is a setting, they say, that only the gods could have created. Sarahan (alt. 7,100 ft) is a sacred Hindu spot steeped in legends, some of which associate the place with Lord Krishna. The Bhimakali temple complex, spread over almost an acre, is dominated by two towering structures with the traditional arched sloping roofs. The first tower, damaged in an earthquake in 1905, is no longer in use; the second tower, built in 1943, houses the main temple where, along with images of many deities including the Buddha, are two statues of the goddess Bhimakali, one portraying her as a young maiden and the other as a mature lady.

Returning to Jeori and proceeding another 57 km eastward along the Sutlej, you enter Kinnaur district and reach Karcham, a major hub of yet another hydel project. Turn right here to take the road to Sangla, the delightful valley of the Baspa, a tributary of the Sutlej. Alexander Gerard, one of the first European explorers to have written about the Baspa valley, described it in 1817 as one of the most beautiful of all Himalayan valleys and most tourists today won’t contest that rating. The road from Karcham initially negotiates a deep gorge but presently the valley opens up and you look down on sylvan pastures, quaint villages with slate-roofed houses, the meandering river and, of course, the high wooded mountains rearing on either side.

Sangla village (alt. 8,700 ft), the administrative headquarters of the vale, has numerous budget hotels and government rest houses but if you really want to savour all that the valley has on offer, drive up a few miles to Batseri village where, adjacent to the swiftly flowing Baspa, the Delhi based Banjara Camps and Retreats runs a superbly-managed camp with twin bedded Swiss-style tents with attached bath and bonfires in the evening. After breakfast next morning, go trout fishing or set out on a trek with packed lunch, exploring the pathways of shepherds herding their flock or trudging up mountain tracks to reach alpine meadows perched high on surrounding hills.

Not far from Sangla village is the fort-temple of Kamroo, its shrine devoted to Kamakhya Devi, the image having been brought here centuries ago from Assam. The entrance to the temple has an image of the Buddha; indeed, the kinners (as Kinnaur residents are called) practice religion that is a happy mix of Hinduism and Buddhism and every village has its own patron deity. Embellished with intricate woodcarving, the Kamru temple, where many of Kinnaur’s rajas were crowned, towers over a bare low hill commanding a great view of the valley. The valley stretches some 30 km eastward to the lovely little village of Chitkul (alt. 11, 300 ft), which often remains snowbound till mid-April. You can hitch a ride to the village or ask the Banjara Camp people to chart out walks or treks for you in this enchanting vale.

You can even spend a day ambling around in nearby Batseri village. Talk to the villagers, ask about their customs, try the Kinnauri tepang, the flat-topped cap with a coloured strip that all local women and most men still wear. Much of the traditional Kinnauri attire is today all but forgotten though women still sport the trimani necklace with gold beads, turquoise and coral stones. Women enjoy a high social status in Kinnaur, being even allowed to divorce and bear children out of wedlock, but they also shoulder a great deal of the work at home and in the fields. Today, of course, with increasing prosperity (thanks to the apple orchards, the Kinners are among the richest rural folk in the country), most people here employ several helping hands.

And that perhaps allow them to celebrate their innumerable festivals with greater abandon. Kinners are described as celestial musicians in Indian mythology and little wonder, for singing and dancing is second nature to the people here. In the festivals, the most famous of which is the Flower Festival (early autumn), men and women, clad in traditional clothes, dance to ancient tunes for hours together in the hamlets of Sangla valley. The real heart of Kinnaur, though, is not Sangla, but Kalpa, 50 km away. To reach there, return to Karcham, drive eastward again along the Sutlej and take a left 13 km away at Powari.

As the winding branch road to Kalpa ascends the high mountain, you soon find yourself in a kind of bowl encircled by soaring snow-capped peaks. It is a strange feeling you experience now, a mixture of awe and exhilaration. There is the Jorkandan (21, 231 ft) summit towering on one side but more majestic is the Kinner Kailash (19, 844 ft), one of the mythical homes of Lord Shiva. You soon reach Recong Peo, the district headquarters of Kinnaur, and half an hour later the quiet little village of Kalpa (9, 700 ft).

Another half an hour and you are on top of one of the summits! Not really, but that’s how it feels, sometimes, from Kalpa — the peaks seem so close by. This is real mountain country: remote, forbidding, celestial. Though visited by Lord Dalhousie in the 19th century (he loved the place, of course — and remember, there were no roads then), Kalpa is still an offbeat destination. Which is as well, for who would want hordes of tourists to unsettle the ethereal peace of this heavenly place.

jyotirmoy

The view of Kinnaur Kailash from some of these places are simply awsome.
There are 2 neighbouring villages in Kinnaur called Ribba & Tibba the only place grapes grow on this side of the Himalayas. Excellent brandy is distilled here from these grapes which is called Angoori.
We had the luck of visiting one vineyeard owner who most kindly let us pluck grapes & eat. While departing he gave us 2 bottles of this potent brandy & explained how to check for its purity. The methode is to dip a currency note & set it on fire. Pure Angoori will burn away with a blue flame with out damaging the note. Ofcourse we didnt try that.

ananda2193

I think the best place to go for apples is the Government Fruit Research Center in Chaubatia close to Raniket. They call the area Orchard Country and they claim to have 150 varieties of apples!

OtherBeaumont

wow thanks all for the help and its nice to see positive posts in the forum..very educational heheh John Bannon what a man...i saw him in the spring and he was not doing too well...i hope his health has improved... i have slept in his orchard many times... next time i will call him Johnny "appleseed"

AvidTrekker

kullukid, THANKS for your very informative thread about apples, particularly the Kinnaur description!!! Kinnaur is one of my fav trek destinations and i didn't know anything abt the apples of Kinnaur. Thanks again.

According to locals, the apples of Pooh and Chango are the juiciest & the sweetest! I plucked a few apples and ate them at Kafnu on 27th August 2005.

Currently the Kinnaur Golden delicious are available in Mumbai at 60 to 80 rupees a kilo!

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Banarasi at heart

I never suspected that the apple of India had a long story. Thanks for the graet post.

PeakXV

Peel the skin if your unsure, most of the insecticide will be accumlated there. In Canada most of the major apple producers use an insecticide manufactured by Wilson which I'm allergic to ... I grow my own now. In Himachal I've never had any adverse reaction to them so they are using a more dilute spray or it's less toxic to my system. CyberHippie is correct Custard Apple's (Sharifa) are very tasty.

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vasuki

Chipping in from 17 km from the "Barubag Hill" from Narkanda... The Apple season is over in almost the lower and middle belts of Himachal and this is the time for plucking in Kinnaur....

Kullukid's discription was great. Yup.. It has been Stokes who made HP the apple country... The Harmony Hill is still there...

The revolution apple brought into Himachal... The Post Office at Thanedhar is the richest in terms of savings in entire India...

More on Stokes.. His biography is titled.. " An American in Khadi" by Asha Sharma, his grand daughter, and published by Penguin Books

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Wanderer22

Who would have thought there would be so many people on IM interested in apples and India. I have a small orchard and am enjoying a good apple crop this year. Harvest is near the end with only two trees of Spartons left to pick. Wonder where the other canuck apple growers are located? I'm on Vancouver island. IM member "M2" is in the Gulf Islands and also grows apples.

It would be useful to have a list of when various seasonal fruit in India are available. Had cashew fruit for the first time this year in Goa. One of my pleasures is wandering through markets trying different foods and sampling local produce.

Wanderer22

OtherBeaumont

i am in south quebec....near vermont border we have mac's empire lobo courtland jersy macs spies russet ...we are in the apple belt...tonnes of maple sugar farms as well. mlself i love the little purple wonders "empire" the colder the nights the darker the fruit..perfect size not like those cortland monsters...
Speaking of Indian fruits...where are the pommegranits grown...i know in nepal they are in season...the red ones not those yellow yucky ones

OtherBeaumont

this part of quebec like the rest of canada is becoming more notorious for its hi grade ganja although we do not have dreadlock mafias on enfield we have mucho hells angels in controll paying farmers to look the other way...
if they don't someone will be toasting marshmellows at a barn fire....

PeakXV

I'm in southern NB & also prime apple and maple syrup territory, have some Macs, Gravensteins & Russet. In India more interested in Mangoes - there has got to be hundreds of them - I've heard there are 32 varieties in Goa alone. I like the Mahrastra Alphonso and the Neelam for flavour. The Neelam is the one where often a bee flies out of when you cut it open!