I’ve always loved a fresh apple – so this article in the National Post about the birthplace of the McIntosh apple immediately caught my eye.
It seems that the original farm in Dundela, Ontario, where the McIntosh was discovered in 1811, has fallen into disrepair (Dundela is north of the St. Lawrence River between Kingston and Cornwall).
It also seems that the popularity of the McIntosh apple is in decline. If you regularly visit the apple section of your local grocery store, this will come as no surprise. Tastes are changing, and people are looking for less “tang” and more “crunchy and sweet”. One grower predicts that McIntosh apples will, for the most part, disappear from the marketplace in his lifetime.
While there’s a great story behind the rise of the McIntosh apple, Heritage Canada doesn’t have the funds to buy the farm and preserve the story. There’s a good chance that younger generations will know nothing about this apple and never taste one, even though the McIntosh apple became a 20th century North American success (and even had a line of computers named after it).
Should we care?
I grew up eating McIntosh apples. I bought them from Boy Scouts on their apple day and received them as a Halloween treat (reluctantly). They’re truly part of my history. But so are Eaton’s, Sam the Record Man, and those Lola triangle ice treats (created in the late 1950s but gone by the 1980s). Time and tastes move on. Maybe we should worry less about shrines to the past and simply enjoy what we have while we have it and look forward to the next great thing when the time is up.
In the meantime, I’ll continue to enjoy some uniquely Canadian traditions, like Hockey Night in Canada, Caesar cocktails, butter tarts, Victoria Day fireworks, and Crispy Crunch chocolate bars (in no particular order).
Thanks for reading!
Ian Hull