Apples: from Sprenger to compote

This recipe for apple biscuits is found in De Orange Confiturier: gebak-bereider en keukenmeester  / Abrah Reynders. Amsterdam: published by the firm Wed. J. van Egmont in 1752. Pages 15-16. The recipe looks fairly simple, but after combining the ingredients, they are supposed to be baked in half butter and half lard. Most people today will […]

A recipe for making apple compote, from the Handleiding voor het maken van jams, geleien, compotes en vla’s. Baarn, circa 1920. Figure 2, pp. 16-17. According to this recipe, you only need a few ingredients to make a tasty apple compote, as long as you have 20 bellflowers.

Source: ‘Het leerboek der fruitteelt’  / A.M. Sprenger. Zwolle: Tjeenk Willink, 1948. Figure 6, pp. 52-53. This section describes the shapes of various apples and pears. The textbook was used for many years for teaching in Wageningen.

Pomologia / Johann K.H. Knoop. Leeuwarden: Abraham Ferwerda, 1758. Plate 7 Coloured engraving. The image is from the book ‘Pomologia, dat is beschryvingen en afbeeldingen van de beste zoorten van appels en peeren’. The front page of the book bears the signature of A.M. Sprenger, so this copy probably belonged to Professor Sprenger. The plates

The photo displays two men pollinating an apple tree, probably in an orchard near Sprenger’s house on the Haarweg in Wageningen. The text with the photo states: Lab for horticultural plant cultivation, May 1935. The photo album belonged to the former Sprenger Institute, Haagsteeg 6, where later the Horticultural Plant Cultivation department was located. The

Painting of the apple variety Ruby by Albrecht Marinus Sprenger. Dated between 1920 and 1958. Oil on linen. The painting is also included in the book Appeltjes van Oranje uit 2002: LTO-Nederland, fruitteelt en de kunst, with photographs and still lifes of apples. This book also includes the work of famous painters like Jan Voerman