Abolished in 1859, Oak Apple Day was established in 1660 by a parliamentary act declaring
[29 May ] to be for ever kept as a day of thanksgiving for our redemption from tyranny and the King’s return to his Government, he entering London that day.
It’s now the day where I usually post this video of a CT scan of an Oak Apple complete with a few developing wasps.
My interest in Oak Apples is less to do with the restoration of the monarchy, and more to do with the use of them in the production of iron gall Ink, which was commonly used as a writing ink from around the 5th century until the invention of more modern inks in the 1900s
In the video we can see the bodies of several developing gall wasps. The Oak Apple was taken from a batch bought for making ink, so the wasps were long since dead.