The Questions: Why are people foraging for apples today? How are they doing it? And what kinds of fruit are they finding? Could that fruit be useful – not just for the cider it produces today – but for the future of orchards in years to come? Our transdisciplinary project combines oral history and ethnographic research methods with horticultural, food science, and genetic methods. We want to understand the social and cultural motivations behind foraging practice, as well as learn more about the pedigree and resilience of the trees and quality attributes of the foraged fruit.
The Researchers: The Foraged Fruit Project is a collaboration between Dr. Gregory Peck of Cornell University Dr. Maria Kennedy of Rutgers University to investigate the practice and produce of foraging apples in New York State’s cider industry.
The research project is funded by a grant from the David M. Einhorn Center for Community Engagement, and partners with the New York Cider Association.
The Research Process: Throughout the project, we will be seeking to interview people who are engaged in foraging apples. Based on interviews, we will request fruit and leaf samples from a select number of people to assess fruit quality and genetics. Anyone may fill out our query form linked here: Foraging Practices Survey Link
The Science: Juice analyses will include extraction efficiency, as well as the concentration of soluble solids, reducing sugars (fructose, sucrose, and glucose), sorbitol, ammonia, primary amino nitrogen, titratable acidity, total polyphenols, and polyphenol composition. Genetic fingerprinting of cider apple trees will be conducted using leaf samples submitted the Washington State University Tree Fruit Genotyping Laboratory. Phenotypic and genotypic data will be uploaded to the Peck Lab’s CiderBase, a database that currently included 375 different types of apples.
Contribute Your Experiences and Ideas: Any information you can provide might be helpful! We will reach out to individuals whose information could be useful for further interviews. A limited number of people will be invited to submit fruit and leaf samples for analysis.
Personal information submitted through the survey will only be used for this research project and will not be shared with any other entity. You may remain anonymous if you wish. However, being able to identify contributors and share relevant data in publications and public outreach helps our larger project.
Individuals contacted for further interviews or fruit sample contributions always have the option to keep information collected as part of the project confidential. We welcome inquiries about the use of information and data if you have further questions.
Click Here for Fruit Foraging Survey Link
Click Here for 2023 Frost Survey Link
CONTACT: If you would like to contact us about the project, please email us at:
Maria Kennedy: maria.kennedy@rutgers.edu ~ Contact Maria for questions about setting up an interview or queries about the general purpose and impact of the project
Gregory Peck: gmp32@cornell.edu ~ Contact Greg for questions about the horticultural and agricultural science aspects of the project.