Scrumping

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Posted at 6:00PM, 25 November 2009 by Stuart Ovenden - Deputy art editor, Good Food magazine

I ran into Old Man Hallet in the apple orchard yesterday. This was a cause for concern as a) my pockets were literally bulging with apples, b) he was carrying a twelve bore shotgun and c) it's his orchard. As he glided down the footpath towards me I noticed a pair of squirrels hanging lifelessly from his left hand, an observation that did little to settle my unease.

Perhaps I shouldn't feel guilty. Thousands of apples line the orchard floor; a muggy sweat of rotting fruit thickens the air with dust and vinegar. It's an alarming amount of waste and a sad indicator of the decline affecting many English orchards, two thirds of which have disappeared in the last three decades.

Scrumping is by definition an act of criminal enterprise, the acquisition of another person's property without consent

Scrumping is by definition an act of criminal enterprise, the acquisition of another person's property without consent. Theft. Robbery. Pilferage. Orchards aside, I've had my eye on an old pear tree that sits in the front garden of a house at the end of the road, branches flecked with russety hued fruit. Surely too many for one household alone, this is becoming increasingly apparent as a mash of squidged fruit drifts up the driveway and across the lawn. Zero chance of confiscating a few pears off the tree though - not without stilts anyway.

This is the essence of conscientious scrumping - "a few". Two years ago my parents experienced a sorry episode in which the plum tree on the farm was completely stripped of fruit overnight. Less scrumped, more harvested. As part of the bigger picture it's not that important (at least it wasn't a van load of tools), but when you've spent the summer looking forward to untold crumbles it's far from ideal.

Is scrumping a simple gesture of enthusiasm towards oft-wasted food or a contemptible, premeditated act of plunder? I make it away from Hallet unscathed; he's far more concerned about being late for a game of tennis at the Manor. Fruit looting has won the day, but I'm stuck with an image of him propelling dead squirrels across court with a beaten-about Slazenger. What a way to spend an evening.

Comments

Nicola

26 November 2009, 8:04AM
Nicola

Ah yes, I love scrumping! I found a great plum tree in the summer at the edge of a field - it was clear noone else was picking them as half of them had already split and the birds were having a feast, so I took all I could reach and made jam. I also found a couple of eating apple trees at the edge of a very large garden overhanging a footpath - again, it didnt seem that anyone was picking them, so I filled a rucksack with the fallen fruit on the path and made more jam! it tastes so much better when its free/stolen!

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chrisrecipes

26 November 2009, 12:34PM
chrisrecipes

Nicola you summed up my feelings! Free/ stolen food makes you feel so bad but tastes so good. I have come across a few houses where excess apples are put in a box outside the gate with a note to passers- by to help themselves. A really generous way to avoid waste!

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kitchengenie

29 November 2009, 6:06PM
kitchengenie

I think its nice to ask if you are not sure, but it its fun to enjoy free stuff. My landlord doesnt like apples and so he let me take what I wanted off the tree in his garden and made chutney with it.

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corgiman

13 December 2009, 10:39PM
corgiman

The word scrumping brings back memories of when i was a small boy of about ten or twelve years old, My friend and i would walk past what we called grumpy crippins farm and about two hundred yards down the lane was this old greengage tree growing in the hedge, absolutely loaded, We picked as many as we could carry in our jumpers and rolled the bottom up, our Moms would be pleased we thought,Sadly we had to walk past grumpy crippins farm who ran out grabbed us both by the scuff of our necks and made us put them all into his bucket, he gave us one each said thank you boys you can pick the other side tomorrow, that was 1947. m

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Paul

3 February 2010, 10:27PM
Paul

Love it, I was Scrumping all Autumn. I found that the best trees where to be found by the side of roads where drivers over the years had been repeatedly throwing apple cores out of their windows for years. Look alongside the roads in spring and you'll see the familiar blossom everywhere! Once you notice a few trees you will have your eye on them all summer! ... Oh and I always through my apple cores a good way from the road now! http://wildfoodmushroomsfishing.blogspot.com

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