Brighid's Ogham Grove

Adages exist as memory aids, to help us remember useful information, such as: “an apple a day keeps the doctor away!” Not only is the Apple Fruit a delicious food, storing well over the winter months at a time when we need extra vitamins and minerals, but it is also an important natural medicine as well.

[image ID: a wooden plate full of small eating apples, apple variety Golden Delicious.]

Classed as “cool and moist”, apples contain vitamins A, B1 & C plus many minerals that strengthen the heart and enrich the blood, combating anaemia and general debility. In addition, the apple is a natural sweetener that can be eaten by diabetics in the form of apple juice and apple pulp added to other foods. Rich in Pectin (see my article “Currant Affairs” for specifics about Pectin) apples help jams and jellies to set, as well as lowering cholesterol in the blood and generally aiding digestion.

Traditionally, apple fruit has been used as a tonic, a digestive and liver stimulant, a diuretic and a laxative. It is anti-rheumatic and antiseptic. Apples sooth the kidneys and urinary system, being mildly diuretic, which helps the body to get rid of excess fluid and toxins. So apples benefit obesity and sooth the joints of those suffering from rheumatism.

The Apple Tree itself (Malus species) seems to have originated in Europe. Charred remains of small apples were found in prehistoric Swiss lake dwellings. Malus communis has been cultivated since Roman times and it was a Roman translator, Aquila of Pontus in the second century CE, who identified the Biblical “Tree of Knowledge” in the Garden of Eden story, as an Apple Tree! However, it’s questionable if apple trees would have grown that far south. Certainly, the Wild Crab Apple, Malus sylvestris, prefers the temperate zones of Europe, neither liking the heat of the Mediterranean nor the extreme cold of the Arctic Circle. North America does have species related to the European Crab Apple but cultivated apple varieties were introduced by European settlers and have since been hybridised into an amazing range of shape, size, quality and texture!

[Image ID: colour picture of a book cover that reads “Iduna and the Magic Apples by Marianna Mayer, illustrated by Laszlo Gal.]

Because the Apple has always been such a valuable food and medicine, there are many legends associated with it in Celtic, Greek and Norse traditions. For all three cultures, the Apple symbolises the Sun. As it ripens to yellow, it represents the passage of the sun across the sky. As it turns red, it represents the dying or setting sun, which will rise anew (be “reborn”) each morning. In other words, the Apple represents IMMORTALITY! The Norse Gods ate the Apples of Iduna to preserve their youth and beauty. The Greek Earth Goddess Titaea presented Zeus and Hera with a Tree of Golden Apples, again to preserve their youth and beauty.

The guardians of these magical apple trees kept them in a garden in the far west, the place where the suns sets each evening. Legendary “Isles of Apples” always lie in the West, the place of the dying sun, where it enters the Underworld, or Land of Eternal Youth, travelling through the realms of death in preparation for its rebirth. In the Celtic King Arthur cycle, the dying hero is brought to the Isle of Avalon, which means the Isle of Apples in the Welsh language. Similarly, the ancient Greek Elysian Fields, the place of the Afterlife, translates as “Apple Orchards”. In consequence, the felling of an Apple Tree (as the sacred Tree of Immortality) was considered very unlucky. Both the Celts and the Romans imposed severe penalties on anyone who cut down or damaged apple trees and orchards.

Above all, the Apple is a symbol of the Goddess in her many aspects. An apple cut in half cross ways reveals the seeds set in the five-pointed star pattern, the Pentacle, emblem of immortality. Five is one of the numbers sacred to the Goddess. Five is the number of stations in her year: birth, initiation, consummation, repose and death. Likewise, the Apple Tree has five stations in its growing season:
1. Apple Blossom represents the return of the Summer Goddess at Bealtaine, the fertility festival, when the May Queen is crowned with apple blossom.

[Image ID: photograph of apple blossom in springtime, on the Jonagold eating apple tree in my garden.]

2. Apple Harvest begins at Lughnasadh (aka “Lammas” from the Gaelic “Là Mas Nbhal” meaning “Feast of Apple Gathering”), a time of masculine strength and fruitfulness, when the God celebrates before preparing himself for his decline and death.

3. Apple Harvest continues at Herfest, which marks the setting of the sun at Autumn Equinox, when the Lord dies in the West and the dark days of winter begin. Apples are buried in the ground to represent the seed in the womb of the earth and the promise of the God’s return.

[Image ID: photograph of a woven basket containing eating apples, a cardboard box containing cooking apples and a plastic box containing pears.]

4. Apples and Cider are used to celebrate at Samhain. This festival acknowledges the end of the growing season (no more apples available to pick!) and the closure of the Old Agricultural Year, when the tribe journeys through the Underworld, resting and recuperating before the work begins again in the spring. It is a time of contact with the ancestors and other worlds, seeking help and advice on a Shamanic level.

5. At YULE TIDE (Winter Solstice), stored apples represent the turning of the wheel towards the lighter days of the waxing year. The bare Apples Trees are blessed with cider poured over their roots as a libation, acknowledging the many medicinal benefits brought to the tribe by the apples, while cakes or bread soaked in cider are placed in the branches, to encourage continued fertility. This custom is known as “Wassailing”.

There are many other customs associated with Apples and Apple Trees, too many to list here. Unfortunately, only those that can be wrapped, advertised and sold in supermarkets have survived into our modern commercialised society. Even the medicinal benefits have been replaced with laboratory-made drugs, whose manufacturers want us to forget the old adages so we will buy their expensive products.

For those of you who are interested, here comes the herbal information and recipes!

Unlike some other medicinal trees, where several different parts of the plant can be used, it is only the Apple FRUIT that provides food and medicine. That said, this fruit can be processed into many different products, each with its own medicinal application.

RAW APPLES (particularly sweet desert apple varieties):

Eating a fresh raw apple at breakfast not only cleanses the blood and tones up the digestive system but also benefits the gums and reduces cavities in the teeth by removing plaque deposits! Eating an apple at any time of day cleans the teeth and is healthier than cookies and candies.

Ripe raw sweet apples can relieve constipation caused by an “over-heated” stomach, the kind of indigestion with “burning” acidity.

Eat raw SOUR apples (unripe desert apples or ripe cooking apples or crab apples) as a diuretic in cystitis and other urinary infections.

Just remember that apples are a “cold” fruit and if you eat too many, or eat them when your stomach is already chilled, then you could get digestive upsets, such as wind!

Grated raw apples of either kind can be made into a cooling poultice for skin inflammations.

BAKED APPLE can also be used as a poultice for sore throats, fevers and inflammations. Most of all, they make a delicious and nutritious desert!

STEWED APPLES clean the bowels. They are traditionally used for diarrhoer, dysentery, gastro-enteritis and intestinal infections of all kinds, soothing gastric ulcerations and ulcerative colitis.

Stewed Apples are especially helpful for babies and young children because the pulp is soft and easy to swallow.

Yet again, a poultice can be made from stewed apples and applied to skin infections, such as scabies.

APPLE PEEL is rich in essential oils and can be dried for medicinal use. Small amounts of apple peel can be eaten to relieve heart burn. An infusion of dried apple peel makes a tea that eases rheumatism and gout and acts as a diuretic in urinary disorders.

APPLE TEA is good for fevers. I generally use sweet desert apples, skin and all. Wash the apple well, cut in half or into quarters (depending on the size of the apple) and place in a small pan with about a pint or two of cold water. Boil gently until the apple is soft, then strain. Drink warm for rheumatic pains and intestinal colic. Drink tepid / cold for feverish colds.

STORING APPLES:

If you have a cool, dark, rodent-proof shed, then main crop apples will store well on flat cardboard trays throughout the winter. In the old days, folks used specially-made wooden trays with slats that let air circulate beneath the apples, which were individually wrapped in newspaper, to stop them from rotting. Please note that early varieties of desert and cooking apples don’t tend to store so well.

Nevertheless, there are many ways of processing apples into preserves that will keep not just through the winter but for many months and even years! One old method was to air-dry not only the apple peel but also rings of the uncooked white apple flesh, a time-consuming business that needed the right sort of drying facilities. The most popular way to process apples is to cook them (which neutralises any moulds). There are plenty of recipes for Apple Jelly which, in my opinion, keeps better than syrup and does exactly the same job. Apples are often mixed with pectin-lacking fruit to make jams, such as Apple and Blackberry Jam. Apple pulp thickens chutneys and ketchups. Then there are the fermented products, such as Apple Wine, Apple Cider, Apple Brandy and Cider Vinegar, all well-known long-keeping products.

Something that is no longer so well-known is VERJUICE. Medieval cooks used Verjuice in the same way that we use lemons today, at a time when imported lemons were very expensive. It is a fermented brew made from Crab Apples, which keeps in the bottle, like wine. According to Sir John Hill, an 18th century physician, Verjuice was one of the best remedies for the “falling down of the uvula”, as well as healing sore throats and all disorders of the mouth. These days, Verjuice can be used like a good wine vinegar, or even drunk like a dry cider or dry white wine.

RECIPE FOR VERJUICE

Sterilise all your containers and implements well because any bacteria or wild yeasts will spoil the brew. Two or three days before picking the crab apples, start activating the yeast. You will need:-

125 ml / ¼ pint water;

1 teaspoon malt;

1 teaspoon sugar;

½ teaspoon citric acid;

1 teaspoon of yeast nutrients (sold for wine-making);

white wine yeast (quantity given on packet for 1 gallon / 5 litres)

METHOD: bring the water to the boil in a small pan. Then remove from the heat and add the malt, sugar and citric acid and stir to dissolve. Cover and allow to cool to less than 80°F (25°C). When the outside of the pan feels cool, not warm, stir in the yeast nutrient and wine yeast. Finally, pour into a sterilised bottle and plug with cotton wool. After 2 or 3 days, when the top becomes creamy, the yeast is ready to use.

Meanwhile, pick 2lbs / 1 kilo of crab apples, wash them well, cut them up roughly and place in a large saucepan with 1 pint / ½ litre of water and 1 teaspoon of citric acid. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 – 15 minutes. Add 1 lb / ½ kilo of sugar and stir to dissolve, while it is still on the heat. Then turn off the heat and strain the liquid through a nylon strainer (or jelly bag) into a jug. Next, use the jug to pour the liquid into a sterilised glass demi-john. Top up with 5 pints / 2½ litres of COLD water. When the liquid has cooled to less than 80°F / 25°C (cool to the touch but not warm), add the activated yeast brew and plug the demi-john with cotton wool. After 24 hours, fit a sterilised fermentation lock to the demi-john and leave for about one week. Be aware that the initial fermentation may be vigorous and could overflow! After the week is up, siphon off the liquid into a second sterilised demi-john, fit the fermentation lock again and allow the fermentation process to continue for a further two weeks.

Finally, siphon off through a length of plastic tubing into sterilised bottles that have screw caps. Screw the caps down tightly. The Verjuice is ready to use straight away for cooking but if you want to drink it as a dry white wine, you’ll need to let it mature for a few months more. Enjoy!

Author: Veronica Smith, first published on 12th October 2016

REFERENCES

“The Kitchen Pharmacy” by Rose Elliot and Carlo de Paoli; published in 1994 by Tiger Books International plc, London. ISBN: 1 85501 584 6.

ALL GOOD THINGS AROUND US by Pamela Michael and Christabel King; published by Ernst Benn Ltd in 1980; ISBN: 0 510 00055 X

HERB CRAFT: A GUIDE TO THE SHAMANIC AND RITUAL USE OF HERBS by Susan Lavender and Anna Franklin; printed by Capall Bann Publishing, UK in 1996; ISBN: 1 898307 57 9

The Herb Society’s Complete Medicinal Herbal, by Penelope Ody MNIMH,
published by Dorling Kindersley Ltd, London 1993, ISBN: 0 7513 0025 X