In the 17th century, a Swedish immigrant took apple seeds to America, and hundreds of years later, their harvest ended up on a writer’s plate
The rare apple variety has not only a connection to popular culture, but also an interesting history that stretches all the way back to the 17th century.
The seeds of the homeland beyond the ocean
The apple seeds brought from home reached the new country’s multi. Various apple trees grew from them, one of which was named Rambo after the host.
A Finnish explorer on the trail of Rambo
On his way, Kalm also met Peter Rambo’s grandson and documented the Rambo apple variety that was still in power.
Pehr Kalm himself became one of the leading figures in Finnish horticulture. Kalm, who was way ahead of his time, brought from his travels to Finland, among other things, hawthorn, wild wine, and scented wood. He was also the first to scientifically document Niagara Falls.
Rambo is coming to Finland
The cold winters of the 18th century destroyed most of the apple trees not only in Finland, but also in Sweden. The group was continued by the mother tree, from whose seeds the Rambo apple was born in the United States.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Rambo was still a popular apple variety on the east coast of North America, where it was used for making cider and cooking. Today, the variety has become rare even in the United States, but it is considered culturally and historically valuable. Rambo apple trees grow, for example, in the Cornell University Botanical Garden in New York.
The circle closed in the early 2000s.
In 2008, a seedling was donated from the United States to the Åbo Akademi Foundation in Turku. At first, it was planted in the Kankainen manor in Masku, owned by the foundation at the time, where the hare unfortunately got to feast on the young seedling. Luckily for everyone, Luonnonvarakeskus had taken noble shoots from the Rambo tree and had planted them in Luke’s own collections. In 2018, the new Rambo seedlings were brought back to Kankainen manor, but they still did not succeed.
We have Rambo in storage
The Rambo apple trees in Finland can be counted with the fingers of one hand. The Natural Resources Center has deposited the variety in the national collection of apple trees. It is carefully cared for both in Jokioin and Piikkiö.
The collections are intended for historically and genetically significant apple varieties, the preservation of which is to be ensured for future needs, variety breeding and, for example, museum gardens.
Now Rambo, grown from seeds brought to the United States by a Swedish company, is also stored there.
And as is right, this old apple variety that gave its name to the superman of popular culture has also found its place in the memorial planting of Pehr Kalmi in Turku, in the garden of Mary’s vicarage.