Bakeapples: The Origin Story
The bakeapple is king of the berries in Newfoundland.
Peach-coloured and raspberry-shaped, the bakeapple grows close to the ground in pockets of marshy land. For many Newfoundlanders it’s a delicacy. For visitors to the island, it might just be the most bucket-listed regional eat (that didn’t once have a heartbeat).
I’m sure this is due, at least in part, to its unusual name.
Where did bakeapples get Their name?
For starters, bakeapples don’t grow on trees and nobody is going to confuse them with a Granny Smith — baked or otherwise. They bear virtually no resemblance to apples. They don’t look like apples, they don’t eat like apples and they don’t taste like apples. They are small pink-orange berries with numerous seeds - they do not inspire comparison to apples.
Unless, maybe, they do?
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An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Not so with bakeapples. In fact bakeapples were sometimes given as a payment/thank-you for medical service.
In the Diary of a Medical Student on the S.S. Kyle (1945) by Ian E.L. Rusted he outlines several instances in which he was gifted bakeapples. Read the article here.
Scent?
Bakeapple/Cloudberry at Cape Freels, NL
Some people claim that when bakeapples are being cooked they smell like apples. Similarly, it’s been said that, in the warmth of the summer sun, patches of berries smell sweet and apple-like. And that, they say, led to the name.
They say a lot of things though.
I am not an avid berry-picker but I have gone on the hunt for bakeapples. I don’t remember a sweet smell. I mostly remember bog. And bog bugs.
Ye Olde Bog Fruit?
And the bog angle shouldn’t be overlooked. In some early texts, bakeapples are referred to as bog apples. Once upon a time, in middle English, apple was used as a generic term for fruit. Perhaps bakeapple evolved from ‘bog apple’ meaning, literally, bog fruit.
Appelle not Apple?
Perhaps the most popular story for the origin of the name is also the one that seems the least plausible to me. They say bakeapple evolved from the French question "baie qu'appelle?" or "what's this berry (or maybe bay) called?"
According to the legend, some English speakers approached francophones who were eating the bakeapples.
The French speakers didn’t know what the berries were called, and asked “baie qu'appelle?”
The English, not understanding asked, “what’s the berry?”
“Baie qu'appelle?” said the French again.
“Oh, bakeapple!” thought the English.
Sounds like something from Abbott and Costello. I don’t buy this one. At all.
From Another Language?
It’s been suggested that the English term bakeapple might have evolved from another language’s word for the berry. Specifically from the First Nations of the Labrador region (appik/akbik) or, even the Moravian missionaries that came to Labrador in the 1700.
Taste
“When a little roasted it tastes exactly like baked apple.”
To be fair, Audubon was an authority on birds, not berries. So I don’t know that his opinion should carry any special weight. I’ve never thought bakeapples tasted like baked apples but, to be fair, I’m an authority on… well, not berries.
Audubon spent time in Newfoundland and Labrador in 1833 for the purpose of collecting birds and making the drawings of them for the continuation of his famed Birds of America. His time in the area, and thoughts on bakeapples, are documented in The Labrador Journal.
Audubon is not the first name of note to make the ‘baked apple’ assertion either. In his journal, Captain George Cartwright details his time in Labrador in the lates 1700s and discusses ‘baked apples’ and notes the berry is similar in of taste to the pulp of a roasted apple.
Perhaps it really is this similarity, as noted by Audubon and Cartwright, that is responsible for the name. The Encyclopedia of Newfoundland seems to favour this explanation.
So, Why Are bakeapples called Bakeapples?
Well, it’s not entirely clear. The 'tastes like a baked apple’ seems to be the most often cited reason. And that explaination goes back quite a way (to the 1700s, at least). The hard to believe ‘baie qu'appelle?’ reason is a popular colloquial explanation but I think that’s mostly because it makes a good story.
The reason that seems the most logical to me is that the name was an evolution of a First Nations term. The Dictionary of Newfoundland English favours this explanation as well.
Regardless, the berry is, and likely will always be known as a bakeapple by English speakers around these parts.
Besides, what’s in a name?
That which we call a bakeapple, by any other name would top a cheesecake as deliciously.
How Do You Eat Them?
Speaking of cheesecake, that was probably my favourite way to eat bakeapples until I had Bakeapple Spread from Dark Tickle on my mother’s fresh bread. It was not only a tasty photographic subject but also the inspiration for this article!
What’s your favourite way to eat bakeapples?
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Newfoundland Diaries, HuffPost
Traditional Newfoundland Bakeapple Picking and Preserving, Bonita’s Kitchen
Bakeapples, Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador
