Fruit ID wanted - crab apples?

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How do folks?
Another "have I got this right?" post from me here.

Today I picked up 4.2 kg (about 9¼ lbs) of what I think are crab apples. The fruit are a bit pear shaped and have quite a bitter aftertaste.

Any verdicts? Crab apples or something else useful (or not)?

Fruit.jpg


Leaves.jpg
 

gregorach

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 15, 2005
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28
50
Edinburgh
They look too big to be "proper" crab apples - they're probably wildings (cultivars that have gone feral and interbred with wild trees) of some kind. Or they could be perry pears...
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,972
4,621
S. Lanarkshire
They look like slightly under ripe wild pears to me.
There's a tree near us that produces masses of these small fruits. Excellent to cook with.

cheers,
Toddy
 
They are in the 1¼" to 2" range.
I'd be surprised if they were wild trees. They are in that regular one-every-50-yards-or-so pattern of planting you find in housing estates. Planted in this manner. http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?i...s?q=housing+estate+trees&gbv=2&hl=en&safe=off along with several other species of tree, the one I recognised immediately was Silver Birch, but there were others too.
I suppose they could be a "wild" variety, but they almost certainly didn't grow wild. They follow the line of the kerb throughout the estate.

Here's a couple more pictres, the cross section (including the somewhat misshapen looking bite I took out of the first one I picked up to see if they were something apple-like) and pips.
FruitSection.jpg


Pips.jpg


4 ovum chambers with 2 pips in each. Others may differ, I've only cut this one, but there you have it.
 

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