Our viands

, so that we are obliged to resort to America and our colonies to supply the deficiency in years of scarcity, and this so lowers the market price as to render a good crop unprofitable to the English grower, although I believe most housekeepers are willing to pay more for English than for foreign apples, as being of better flavour and more juicy. The common tradition that the apple was the forbidden NUTS AND APPLES 179 fruit, with which Eve was tempted, shows at all events the pre-eminence of the fruit in the esteem of ancient gastronomers, although the much lamented General Gordon was not only heterodox enough to locate the Garden of Eden in the Seychelle Islands, but also to recognise as the for- bidden fruit the great double cocoa-nut, which certainly would have required some assistance, Satanic or other, to break it before eating. There are several other fruits which bear the name of apple, but which are in no way related to the well known orchard fruit. First of these comes the pine-apple, grown to perfection by careful cultivation in English hothouses. It is said to have been introduced into England in the reign of Charles II. It was certainly known earlier in Holland, and was probably first brought from America or the West Indies, of which it is supposed to be a native; but it is found also wild in Asia and both on the west and east coasts of Africa, where many varieties are found. Those sold commonly in the streets of London come mostly from the West Indies, but in tinned fruit that from Singapore is the best The custard apple which is now frequently met with in fruiterers' shops is a tropical fruit, found in Asia, Africa, and America. There are several species of custard apple ; that best known looks somewhat like an artichoke, but when the rind is removed a soft pulp is found which resembles sweet cream with the scent of a rose; this is known as the sweet-sop, whilst another and coarser variety is called the sour-sop, and is said to resemble the black currant in flavour and scent. Two other species of custard apple are sometimes seen, one is the alligator apple, which is a j8o OUR VIANDS strong narcotic, and the other the cherimoyer, much praised by Humboldt; it is an American fruit, and very little known in England.* Then there is the mammee apple of the West Indie?, which somewhat resembles a large russet apple, the pulp is very delicious and is compared to a fine ripe apricot, but the rind and seeds are bitter and resinous. The star apple, which is also a West Indian fruit, resembles a large apple externally, but the interior is divided into ten cells, each containing a black seed set in a gela- tinous pulp. The quince, which is regarded by some antiquaries as the golden apple of the Hesperides, resembles a pear in shape, but the common sort grown in our gardens is not eatable raw, although it makes a delicious marmalade, and, in fact, is the origin of the name, as the Portuguese name for quince is marmelo. The quince is eaten raw in South Africa and perhaps in China and other eastern countries, but the fruit must be a different variety from that grown in England. The tree is extensively used in France as a stock for grafting pears.