How many random but great varieties have been lost? The McIntosh:
> While clearing his property, McIntosh discovered a number of seedling apple trees growing wild. He transplanted them to his garden, and by the following year only one had survived. Several years later, the tree was producing the crisp, delicious fruit that is now well known. The discoverer eventually dubbed it the 'McIntosh Red', which is still the apple's official name.
I have no idea what it's like now, but I went to an open day there years ago and it was incredible. What I learned is there are some extremely ugly Apple varieties that would never get picked up by supermarkets, but tasted unlike anything else I've sampled - literally like candy. Looks like Heritage Fruits still do antique apple tastings periodically: https://www.heritagefruitssociety.org/Antique-Apple-Tastings...
The Ripponlea Estate in Melbourne has previously hosted heritage apple sales. We grow a Devonshire Quarrenden now and my parents (with more land) took away a bunch of different varieties.
On the topic of apples, where the heck can I find Autumn Glory apples? They are distinctly the most delicious apples I've ever had, and when I gave some to people that HATE apples, like my wife, she instantly loved them. They are lightly sweet, but crunchy with no acidity, I LOVE them.
I'm somewhat disappointed that I clicked on this link thinking Tom Brown was a vintage Apple computer collector. But it was an interesting read nonetheless.
Tom Brown Is on a Mission to Restore Appalachia's Rare and Lost Apples (2021) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31457804 - May 2022 (18 comments)