Most of the schools engaged in We Eat Responsibly project wrote guidebooks for teachers and many other materials. In Slovakia, they also prepared one special book focused on old and regional sorts of apples and pears. This unique book is very helpful for Slovak teachers to explain the topic of agrobiodiversity to their students.

At the beginning of 20th century, around 300 varieties of apple trees were being planted in Slovakia. Today, the number is only around 10. The increase of fruit production in order to achieve certain fruit standard led to this massive decrease in agrobiodiversity. The result is that we can buy apples with similar shape, size and flavour but in she same time we lost and yet we are still losing a lot of different types of apples.

Ugly, but tasty

The old types of apples or pears are often little and ugly and some of them even have quite funny shape. However, our ancestors knew why they planted these trees and took care of them. For example, they have various advantages in the kitchen. Every variety has it’s own ideal method of preparing. Some are perfect for drying, some for baking the traditional type of cake called „Štrúdľa“, some fit best for jam or compote, some for cooking, and there are of course types which our grandparents were using to make alcoholic beverages. Most of the families used to have their own homemade apple or pear spirit or an apple wine.

Fresh fruit in every season

Apples and pears are very healthy. Every doctor would recommend you to eat one or two a day. Nowadays, we usually have few varieties of apples in the supermarkets which we eat during the whole year. However, few decades ago, you could also find many sorts of apples stored in cellars. The availability of apples during the whole year is not only the advantage of modern times. Our grandparents were eating certain sorts of apples in the spring time, other ones in summer, and the rest they collected during the fall or winter and stored in their cellars. These apples and pears then stayed fresh until the spring time thanks to the cellars, which had the same function as fridges.

Goat boobies, Bloody or Honey

The old varieties of apple trees are very original. Some of them used to grow only in one village or valley, and got never registered officially. Our grandparents were very creative giving names to the varieties, because some of them are really interesting and sometimes even funny. Some of the names are related to the taste („Honey“), some to  the colour („Bloody“), usage („Strudel one“ – for baking a cake „Strudel“) or shape (Kozie cecky – „Goat boobies“).

Part of our heritage

Every sort has its own special story. Trees in Slovakia often came originally from the whole world – America, Russia, New Zealand or Australia. When people traveled, they used to pack some seeds with them to plant them on the way. The trees used to help as orientation points and also as a food for the travellers. In the villages they were even used for rituals. Families used to celebrate weddings under the biggest trees. Like churches, castles or historical town centres, trees are also an important part of Slovak culture and national heritage.

Still healthy?

Today we could discuss whether apples and pears on our tables are still healthy. Producers are often using a huge amount of pesticides and other chemicals – it comes as no surprise that apples are the second most sprayed type of fruit (the first place belongs to grapes). Around 40 various pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and other chemicals are commonly used, being sprayed on the trees around 17 times a year. Considering these facts, are our apples still healthy?

Old apple varieties at schools

This topic was presented at many different schools in Slovakia – from agricultural or culinary, to general high schools. Teachers helped students with getting to know these old varieties and then took them outside to find and identify some of these trees in nature. Some students learnt how to use them for cooking and thanks to that appreciated their various flavours. They talked about the current state of production of fruit, mainly about the imports from other countries. Students learnt a lot about their ancestors but mainly they started to think more about their own consumption and shopping habits.