Lovers of cider and apples have lost a champion. Tom Burford, who devoted his life to teaching apple cultivation and celebrating heritage varieties, has died at the age of 84.
Tom Burford was an original. His ancestors settled in Amherst and Nelson Counties beginning in 1715. They planted fruit, and 300 hundred years later, he was doing likewise -- helping others start orchards – bringing back hundreds of varieties lost to industrial agriculture in the 20th century.
“Most of the mainstream apples were developed for people to buy with the eye,” he said.
The king was red delicious, but Burford knew Americans had been cheated – that there were so many better tasting varieties. Which one did he favor?
“My answer to that question is the last one I ate, because I really have hundreds and hundreds of favorites,” he explained.
Burford celebrated sweet and tart -- especially those he’d known as a kid, including one named for his family – the Burford Redflesh. He found a tree full at what was once the home of Patrick Henry’s mother. And when he discovered the Harrison apple in New Jersey, he was so moved by its complex and mysterious taste that he had to sit down.
But he did not want to mislead the public. Not all heirloom apples were a delight.
“A very high percentage of the heirloom apples are what we call quick spitters," he told RadioIQ. "One bite, and you quickly spit it out. It’s that bad. People are trying to eat apples that were destined for apple butter making and particularly for cider making that are not good out of hand – as a dessert fruit.”
For years Tom Burford ran a nursery with his brother near Lynchburg – then became a consultant, traveling the nation to conduct classes on grafting – the only method that ensures the survival of a certain fruit from one generation to the next. He told me how grateful his students were to learn this technique and remembered one man in his mid 80’s.
“He came up to me and he wagged his finger in my face, and he said, ‘How dare you not to have been in my life when I was ten years old to teach me this. I have wasted 75 years!”
He celebrated the portability of the apple.
“You can put an apple in your pocket for a couple of days, and go around and pull it out and eat it. Don’t try that with strawberries.”
And he lectured on the apple’s history – dating back thousands of years to China. It spread to Europe, then to England, and colonists brought it to the new world to provide a reliable beverage at a time when clean water was not a sure thing. Johnny Appleseed, he said, was no hero – just a savvy real estate guy.
“He was a very astute businessman. He was not a mystical character as is so often said. He was very deliberate in planting or having planted for him by the native Americans nurseries in route when the Homestead Act was going, because the Act indicated that if you could show the intent that you would stay on the land, then you would in time get title, and one of the best ways to do it was to plant an orchard.”
In his final years, Burford was a star at Monticello – leading apple tastings during the annual harvest festival and winning a much deserved title from Peter Hatch – the director of gardens and grounds for 35 years. He called Burford Professor Apple.
