PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – A pair of so-called apple detectives has rediscovered 10 apple varieties in the Pacific Northwest that were planted by long-ago pioneers and had been thought extinct.

It’s the largest number ever unearthed in a single season by the nonprofit Lost Apple Project.

The Vietnam veteran and former FBI agent who make up the nonprofit scour the remote ravines and windswept plains of rural Washington, Oregon and Idaho for long-forgotten pioneer orchards.

They have rediscovered 23 varieties.

There were over 17,000 named apple varieties in North America but only 4,000 are known to exist today.

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