Apples and Pears and Biodiversity

When in France at the end of last year we visited Liz and Peter Maidment (see her blog at http://lizzie-artembroidery.blogspot.com/ and they kindly took us to an apple fair where there was a display of heritage apples and pears. There were over 400 varieties of apples and 200 of pears (I think). The first picture above shows a few of the pears. The picture in the middle shows apples (this one with red flesh - I wonder whether the wicked stepmother in Sleeping Beauty would have liked one of those). The final picture shows one of the tables of apples. After the fair we came back to Liz and Peter's place and had an apple tasting (alright I admit we also tasted some wine) and it was really interesting to taste the difference in the apples. I think farmers who preserve the old varieties of fruit and vegetables are doing the world a real service.