The World of Apples

The apples that aren't

Golden apple

Spondias dulcis, Anacardiaceae, the cashew family

The golden apple is native “from Melanesia through Polynesia” and “common in Malayan gardens and fairly frequent in India and Ceylon”2. Morton’s English names for it are Otaheite apple, golden apple and Tahitian quince2. In Mauritius it is frisiter, from the French fruit de Cythère3; in Réunion zévi, and in France the pomme Cythère4.

The Cythera in question is Tahiti. Bougainville, arriving in 1768, called the island la Nouvelle-Cythère after the Greek island of Aphrodite, and his naturalist, Philibert Commerson, went on to Mauritius. Pierre Sonnerat, who knew Commerson there, wrote that this tree “was brought from Tahiti, or the island of Cythera, to the Île de France by M. de Commerson”, and named it Spondias cytherea5,2.

Morton defends it against “repetition in literature of its inferior quality”: taken while still firm it is “relished by many out-of-hand”, and it “yields a delicious juice for cold beverages”. In south-east Asia the acid young leaves are eaten raw, and in Indonesia steamed with salted fish and rice2.

Sources

  1. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy: Spondias dulcis, Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Supports: the accepted name and family.
  2. Ambarella, in Fruits of Warm Climates, Julia F. Morton, 1987, Purdue University NewCROP. Supports: the range, the English names, the synonym Spondias cytherea, and the fruit's uses.
  3. frisiter, Wiktionary, citing Baker and Hookoomsing (1987) and Carpooran (2011). Supports: the Mauritian Creole name and its origin.
  4. Prunier de Cythère, French Wikipedia. Supports: the Réunion name zévi and the French pomme Cythère.
  5. Philibert Commerson, French Wikipedia. Supports: Bougainville's name for Tahiti and Sonnerat's statement that Commerson brought the tree to the Île de France.