Some of you may remember my previous two posts on the blossoms on the flowering crabs in my courtyard (see https://derwandersmann.wordpress.com/2014/05/21/and-2/
and https://derwandersmann.wordpress.com/2014/05/25/closeups/
entitled “And …” and “Closeups”, respectively.).
Well, here are the ultimate results of those blossoms, first a view of the tree; observe the red fruit:
And next, a couple of closeups of the fruits themselves:
These are “crabapples”, so-called because they “bite” I suspect, not our eating apples. and this is as big as these little guys get, around ¾” to 1″, and they are not exactly tasty … VERY acid, in fact, but they are widely used in the preparation of jams and jellies, because of their high quantity of pectin (the stuff that makes jellies gel). With sufficient sugar, they are quite palatable.
When Johnny Appleseed traveled the early USA, passing out appleseeds, this is what he was handing out, not the regular eating apple of today, because apples don’t breed true through the seeds, but only through the wood. (Don’t ask me why!) The settlers made jams with them, and naturally, whiskey, which was the same as cash on the frontier.
P.S. The birds love ’em, too, and get stoned on the fermenting fruit on the ground.
Cheers, all!
der Wandersmann 
blackcalla
September 24, 2014 at 11:11 pm
Nice shots of them. Looks like pretty good fruit. You should try making some jelly from them.
gdare
September 25, 2014 at 1:02 pm
I just wanted to ask you if they are edible, but you’ve explained it all. This is funny as you’ve mentioned birds getting drunk for overeating them, there was a documentary about animals somewhere in Africa who eat a lot of some ripe fruit, it ferments in their stomachs and then you can see monkeys and elephants walking the same way some people do when leaving a pub early in the morning (or late at night, depending of how you see that time of day 😛 )
derwandersmann
September 25, 2014 at 2:59 pm
LOL … I understand that some quadrupeds get drunk on these fermenting fruits, too, but not many … the fruit is really tart, and most mammals have a highly-developed sense of taste. Birds don’t, apparently … capsicums, for instance, don’t slow birds up at all, but will repel a raccoon.
raniahajqasem
September 27, 2014 at 6:29 am
The strange thing is that the bird has a great ability to distinguish ripe fruit , it is really strange . Why do not you try to make some jam , here we work all the summer on storing supplies , every canned food you can find in the supper market we prepare at home , for example we make cherry jam, fig jam, apricot jam, eggplant jam , in short a way to eat cheap food and clean .
derwandersmann
September 27, 2014 at 1:51 pm
Ah … well, I would, but I am a diabetic, and jams and jellies are not recommended for me. Besides, if I tried it, one of these nosy old ladies who live here would surely complain.
raniahajqasem
September 28, 2014 at 11:39 am
a diabetic ? sorry to her that ,my father is diabetic he deprived of many things that we enjoy every day it is really hard to imagine one’s life without sugar. ):
derwandersmann
September 28, 2014 at 2:32 pm
Thanks for your understanding … actually, the queer thing about it is that I’ve never really cared for sweets, except at rare intervals. I reckon the diabetes was in the genes. I still use a little sugar in some of my cooking, but only to alter the flavor of other ingredients.
gdare
September 27, 2014 at 2:26 pm
Eggplant jam? My grandma made a tomato jam once, not a top of my list but it was edible. I remember it was a good year for tomatoes so she made all kinds of canned stuff from it 😀
raniahajqasem
September 28, 2014 at 10:58 am
” I remember it was a good year for tomatoes so she made all kinds of canned stuff from it :D” this how farmer think , i guess that your grandma is a farmer .(: