There is a story both wonderful and depressing at: http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2004/10/30/fallen-fruit/ It's about the literally thousands of apple varieties in the UK around 120 years ago and the way these have been whittled down to just a handful by supermarket chains' buying power and, most lately, by European Community bureaucracy. You can read about apple varieties that were bred for cider, about others that were edible only after being kept, picked, over winter and about others with a variety of virtues (but many of them too small in size to appeal to the supermarket giants). You will read about the cosmetic criteria set by the food chains so that the appearance of the fruit at the point of sale is the overriding criteria for whether a variety, and the orchard on which it grows, survive. Keith