I couldn’t write. One year ago, on the third Monday of September 2022, I went in person to the headquarters of the public institution who had planned to destroy my garden’s centuries-old fruit wall. I had been trying to make them change their minds for months.
I failed. The old stone wall is now buried behind twenty centimetres of reinforced concrete.
I couldn’t write, because I didn’t know what to say.

International conference on edible fruit landscapes in the city – Nantes, 7-8 September 2023 ¹

Fortunately, I did not give up on the Nantes conference. I met many people I knew and made equally exciting new acquaintances among the two hundred and thirty participants who talked about fruit trees for two days. It made me feel like publishing some news about my activities.

Meeting of the collective for the inclusion of the art of training fruit trees in UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage – Videoconference, 13 September

We were delighted with the inclusion of “l’art de l’espalier – taille de formation et de fructification” (the art of the espaliered tree – formative pruning and pruning for fruit production) in the French intangible cultural heritage this summer ³ . We then individually expressed our views on how to take our work further after the good news.

When my turn came, I said that unfortunately the good news had come too late for me, as the centuries-old espalier wall in my garden had been destroyed last year. I then expressed my wish to join the working group devoted to preparing for the UNESCO application, one of the four groups proposed at the start of the session, in the hope that this type of unfortunate event does not happen again.

Meeting of the Croqueurs de pommes (apple munchers) to prepare the Europom 2023 PR campaign – Videoconference, 13 September

Europom® is a European group of amateur volunteers committed to safeguarding fruit heritage. Every year we organize a fruit exhibition in one of the member countries. After Sweden in 2022, it is France’s turn to host the event in 2023, organized every five years on our territory by the association des Croqueurs de pommes ⁴, of which I am a trustee. More than 2,000 varieties of apples, pears and other fruits displayed on 70 stands will be available to discover on October 28 and 29 at the Espace Encan in La Rochelle ⁵ .

At the meeting on September 13, it was agreed that I would proofread the Google translation of the site into English.

EGEA 2023 – Barcelona 20-22 September

Ultimately, I will not be attending the 9^th edition of this international scientific conference on healthy and sustainable diets ⁶ organized by Aprifel ⁷ , the French Agency for research and information on fruits and vegetables. I found this year’s One Health ⁸ theme interesting but I decided against registering. Maybe next time.

I would have asked scientists about current research on the issue of whether it is advisable to eat the skin of raw apples. I hope that professionals are progressing towards production and distribution methods which will allow the fruit to be eaten with the skin on without risk to health. This seems to be an unresolved question. Interfel ⁹, the French inter-professional organisation for fresh fruit and vegetables, no longer recommends eating apples without peeling them. Their original advice to wash the raw apples under water and to munch on them unpeeled (cited in January 2021 in my article The colour of my apple sauces) has disappeared from its consumer information site ¹⁰. Are we waiting for the results of scientific studies to confirm whether it is healthy to eat the skin of a raw apple purchased in the trade?

For my part, as for most of the members of our association of apple munchers, I will be eating untreated garden apples this fall. With the skin, because it provides the most interesting nutrients. I will take advantage of Europom 2023 to discuss with my peers on the best way to obtain such fruits, and to observe and taste different varieties in order to appreciate their particularities. Come and meet us Croqueurs de pommes and our partners in La Rochelle on October 28 and 29 to discover the diversity of our European fruit heritage!

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References (pages accessed 18 September 2023)

1. https://www.plante-et-cite.fr/specif_actualites/view/1139/typeactu:actualites/slug:retien-la-date-premieres-assises-internationales%C2%A0des-paysages-comestibles-fruitiers-dans- la-cite-les-et-september-a-nantes/n:39/themes:8,13,14 (in French)
2. https://metropole.nantes.fr/actualites/2023/en v ironnement-nature/fruitiers-en-ville (in French)
3. https://artdelespalier.org (in French)
4. https://croqueurs-national.fr/en/
5. https://www.europom2023.fr/europom-2023-english-page/
6. https://www.egeaconference.com/en/
7. https://www.aprifel.com/en/about-us/
8. https://www.inrae.fr/en/europe-and-world/one-health-people-animals-and-environment
9. https://www.interfel.com (in French)
10. https://www.lesfruitsetlegumesfrais.com (in French)