Swede tooth

SIR – Philip Avery’s local market trader says no one buys swedes any more, and that cooking apples are used only by “little old ladies” (Letters, February 12).

My wife often uses swede, mainly to make a Welsh dish called “stwnsh” – a mixture of mashed potato and swede. This is delicious served with pork, accompanied by apple sauce made with Bramley cooking apples.

However, she is 73 years old and not very tall. David Hughes

Llandudno, Caernarvonshire

SIR – As a little old lady, I can assure Mr Avery that the swede and the Bramley are still around.

During both economic and wartime scarcities, our generation used every scrap of food available (and we still do). Cooking apples were stored for the winter, while cheap root vegetables bulked out meagre meat rations.

Perhaps the younger generations have too much choice. Unless you have tasted a homemade apple pie spiced with cloves, you haven’t lived. Sheila Williams

Sunningdale, Berkshire

SIR – One reason for the demise of swedes might be the near impossibility of cutting them.

In the Sixties we could not buy pumpkins to carve into lanterns for Hallowe’en, so we used swedes. This would be impossible now.

I leave mine in the bottom of the fridge for a fortnight, after which they become possible to chop without the risk of breaking my knife or my wrist.

It would be interesting to see the sales figures for ready-cut swede available in supermarkets. Rosemary Wells

Weymouth, Dorset