APPLE VARIETIES WE GROW
These are the apples we grow, described from our own experience and books.
They are listed in very approximate order of ripening, i.e. the first ripens very early and the last keeps long into the
winter. Not all apples we grow are offered at sales-some, like Sunset, Egremont Russet, Kidd's Orange Red we grow
lots of for markets, but with rare trees like Pitmaston Pineapple, May Queen, Baker's Delicious etc we only grow 1 or
2 trees for exhibitions and to keep the variety alive, so only a very few are offered for sale, perhaps at only 1 or 2
markets a year as well as our Apple Day event. Some of these apples are so rare now they could become extinct.
Click on the link from each name in the list for more information, click on the link from each description to an image
of the apple. To return from the images to the text, hit the back button.
Latest edit January 2010, there may be some 'continuity' issues since this has been edited several times since 2004.
All the material on this site is my copyright, but I give permission for any text and pictures to be freely downloaded,
stored or copied for any honest non profit use. Acknowledgement and a link would be nice.
The ones in blue have a link to a photograph and in some cases more text, I don't currently have a photo for each
apple and hope to add more later. Some are on YouTube, if you search there on apple + variety you should find
them. Most of the pictures come from our Apple Day event: since this is in late October it excludes the earlier
ripening fruit which is all gone by then.
Dessert and cooking apples
NB 'dessert' is the correct term for 'eating' apples, however, any apples can be eaten raw, cooked or made into
cider, its a matter of tradition and taste. Only British cooks use acidic apples like Bramley for cooking. The French,
who use apples in cooking more than we do, use quality dessert apples like Cox or Orleans Reinette in salads and
meat dishes as well as tarts and cakes. Increasingly, English cooks are beginning to realise that there is much more
to cooking with apples than stewed Bramley.
Irish Peach
Beauty of Bath
Miller's Seedling
Worcester Pearmain
Saint Edmund's Pippin
Laxton's Epicure
Devonshire Quarrenden
Ellison's Orange
Lord Lambourne
John Downie
Sunset
James Grieve
Arthur Turner
Kidd's Orange Red
Egremont Russet
Golden Delicious
Margil
Red Pippin
Spartan
Pitmaston Pineapple
Tom Putt
Ribston Pippin
Orleans Reinette
Claygate Pearmain
Heusgen's Golden Reinette
Blenheim Orange
Suntan
King of the Pippins
Peasgood's Nonesuch
Bramley's Seedling
Adam's Pearmain
Court Pendu Plat
Cornish Gillyflower
Malus Silvestris (wild or native crab apple)
Ashmead's Kernel
May Queen
Winter King (Winston)
Sturmer Pippin
And the Cider apples
Tremlett's Bitter
Le Bret (often confused with Sweet Alford)
Crimson King
Yarlington Mill
Harry Master's Jersey
Dabinett
Kingston Black
DESCRIPTIONS OF THE APPLES WE GROW
I have put as much as possible of my own experience of growing and eating these apples in these descriptions, but
have inevitably drawn on books, particularly Rosanne Sanders "The English Apple", Edward Bunyard's "The
Anatomy of Dessert", and for cider apples Liz Copas' excellent "Somerset Pomona", all reviewed in the books
section. Ms Sanders worked closely with the Royal Horticultural Society and tasted the apples herself as she
painted beautiful watercolours of the fruits, blossom and leaves so I have reason to trust her descriptions, but all
observations, my own included, are subjective. My descriptions cannot be taken as Gospel. Apples vary from year
to year, soil to soil, and in any event flavour is hard to describe, so no guide is ever perfect. I have tried to be as
Pomologicaly correct as possible but I can't disentangle my own preferences, and I can't accept responsibility for
any decisions you might make about planting trees. Before making the important decision to plant an apple tree,
compare as many sources on information as you can, taste all the apples you can (go to Apple Day events) and
make your own judgement. There are fewer books about the old apple varieties available now than when I started
(although there are a few very good ones, reviewed elsewhere in the site) but there's a growing amount on the web
and there is Apple Day.
Remember, the biggest mistake you can make about an apple tree is not planting one.
Irish Peach is our earliest apple, ripe in a good year in the third week of July. (please note, we are on light soil in
southern Hampshire, our apples will usually be ripe before those grown further north or in colder areas and this
applies to all the descriptions of apples) This is a spreading gangly tree which bears a light crop on the tips of the
branches, so hard pruning will reduce the crop greatly. It usually sets in bunches of three and needs thinning to get
a reasonable size. It is a deep burgundy red with green stripes slightly flattened apple which will only keep for a few
days when picked. Best eaten straight from the tree. It has exquisitely lovely flavour and is the tastiest seasonal
apple in late summer. Not a tree for the one-tree garden, as it will not keep, it should be considered if you have a
reasonable sized orchard and if you have grandchildren who visit in the school holidays, assuming their taste buds
have not been corrupted by sweeties and stuff. ORIGIN from Kilkenny in Ireland, introduced to England around
1820.
Beauty of Bath Unlike the very rare Irish Peach, this variety used to be very widely grown in commercial orchards
and we find that customers often ask for it. A very early apple, which like all very early apples will go soft within a
fortnight at most after picking. This is the reason why the industry doesn't offer such apples-too unpredictable, and
can't be transported from Australia or other places with sunnier climate and impecunious backpackers to pick and
pack for low pay. ORIGIN introduced by Mr George Cooling of Bath in 1864, said to have been raised from a pip of
Juneating ( a very old apple, now probably extinct)around 1800. Flowers early, so tends to catch the frost and crop
irregularly. Fair flavour, not so good as Irish Peach. Said to be resistant to scab.
Miller's Seedling We bought a specimen of this fruit, which like Beauty of Bath used to be widely grown but is now
rare, from Keeper's nursery in Kent (see links)about 20 years ago. I found them in "The Good Fruit Guide" and they
were listed as the only nursery in England stocking this apple. I have propagated from this and we grow around 20
trees. I found about this apple from a quirky old book, "New Forest Orchard" by Hugh Quigley, in which the story
was told of an retiring industrialist who wanted a change so bought some land in Hampshire and planted an orchard
from scratch, knowing nothing. Miller's Seedling was highly praised in the book, said to have "saved the orchard" by
its regular cropping and ready sales. We find it a useful second early apple which crops very well in 'on' years but
tends to go biennial if not pruned with great care. It has a good 'vinous' flavour (i.e. tending to the crunchy, brisk
and slightly bland North American style of Jonathan, Golden Delicious, Spartan etc.) rather than the spicy aromatic
style of Cox, Irish Peach, Pitmaston Pineapple etc. It is green flushed red, very crunchy at first, and will keep for
about 2 or 3 weeks after picking. It crops very heavy (needs thinning for good fruit size) and is a useful apple for our
first sale of the year in August when it is ripe. ORIGIN Newbury, Berkshire, 1848 where it was raised by a
nurseryman called James Miller.NB we have gone off this apple a bit, it is VERY biennial, poor shelf life and not
really very tasty, our customers aren't very keen, so we are reducing numbers by half-September 2007
Worcester Pearmain This was widely grown in my adult lifetime but I haven't seen any in the shops for years now.
The supermarkets, who control 80% of food production, transportation and selling in Britain today, won't carry a
product with a limited season and short shelf life so it's goodbye early season apples. Worcester Pearmain is a
reliable cropper which if left on the tree until properly ripe develops some red coloration of the flesh and a pleasant
flavour of raspberries. Even when it was more widely grown it was usually picked before ripe, understandable as this
extends the shelf life although it tends to prevent the full flavour developing. Such is life. Worcester Pearmain is a
tip bearer making a medium sized tree which tends to bear good regular crops. ORIGIN raised in Worcester by
Smiths, thought to be a seedling from that other early apple Devonshire Quarrenden, introduced in 1874 and won
an RHS First Class certificate the following year.
Saint Edmund's Pippin Also St Edmund's Russet, this is one of the best flavoured early apples and could easily be
mistaken for an Egremont Russet but is more golden rather than olive brown and is ripe sooner. Raised in 1870 at
Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk by a Mr R Harvey. Small apple, variable cropper from light to good, rich and good
aromatic flavour when ripe, which is September give or take a week. Won't keep long or travel, therefore no use to
the supermarkets, therefore you will almost never see one for sale except at farm shops (I found it once in Sussex,
somewhere off the A272 between Billingshurst and Haywards Heath). We have 2 trees of this variety, come to one
of our sales at the right time and you might have one opportunity a year to taste some. Like all our early varieties,
we can't offer a taste at our Apple Day event as they don't keep until late October. I would recommend this as one
of the apples in a ten or 15 tree orchard, but like all early varieties, you don't want it to be the only apple you grow.
Laxton's Epicure Another fantastically juicy, richly aromatic, August and September apple which is perfect in it's
season but won't keep. A very heavy cropper, usually needs thinning. The trees tend to be very upright growing but
the weight of fruit from the second year after planting will pull them down to the horizontal. Big blowsy blossom, huge
leaves, gangly looking bunches of apples with very long stalks. It was raised by the famous Laxton brothers from a
cross between Cox and Wealthy, in 1909. Said to be frost resistant so recommended for growing further north, I
read that in a book so I can't vouch for it. Very juicy, rich spicy flavour-the best late August/early September apple I
know. The birds love it.
Devonshire Quarrenden is first mentioned in Worlidge's Vinetum Brittanicum in 1678, so its a really old apple. The
name is thought to be derived from the town Carentan in Normandy so maybe it came over to Devon from France.
The other possibility for the name is quarantine, meaning 40 days, perhaps referring to the fact the apple kept for
about that length of time. It is said to thrive in the west country as it doesn't mind lots of rain and wind, although is
susceptible to scab. Cropping moderate to heavy, as to flavour, we have only planted 2 trees in 2002/3 so haven't
had any to try yet, flavour is said to be very tasty, Sanders says "a lovely fruity flavour, sweet, juicy and crisp". We
planted some because so many of our customers asked us for it-apparently this apple is remembered with fondness
by people who were able to buy it a generation or so ago, before most of our small orchards were destroyed and
the rest planted over to Braeburn and Gala.
Ellison's Orange An apple people tend to love or hate, I love it. When this apple is just ripe it has a lovely crisp,
clean sweet flavour. As it matures, it develops a very spicy flavour with strong aniseed tones. It then becomes soft. If
you catch it just right it is in my view one of the best apple flavours. If you taste a properly ripe Cox (if you can FIND
one) one of the complex blend of flavours is aniseed. This is developed almost to excess in Ellison. This apple can
crop very heavily, requiring thinning, and also can become biennial, despite which faults I do love it and would
recommend it as part of a medium sized orchard. It doesn't keep long, say from late August to the first week of
October. ORIGIN the Reverend C C Ellison of Bracebridge in Lincolnshire towards the end of the 19th century
raised it from a cross between Cox and Calville Blanche, a French favourite. (you may have noticed I am quite
pro-French in matters of food and drink. Credit where its due-the French value flavour and haven't sold their small
farmers down the river like we have-check it out and see if there are any ENGLISH apples in French shops!!!!). This
apple, like most we grow, you will NEVER see in any supermarket. image not available
Lord Lambourne I have read dozens of apple books and can confidently say that this is the apple most often
recommended if you only have room for one tree. It has a good flavour, half way between the aromatic and
vinous-imagine Cox crossed with Spartan. It is a regular steady cropper and does not need thinning-apples are of
average size, average colour, average flavour-a good regular uncontroversial apple. Moderately disease resistant,
recommended for making apple juice. It can be eaten straight from the tree in September or stored to November.
Probably not the first choice for flavour of someone who really knows apples, but a good steady performer with very
decent flavour. Nobody ever got fired for planting Lord Lambourne. It makes a compact, round headed tree which
crops reliably well, every year and doesn't need thinning. Widespread. ORIGIN James Grieve/Worcester Pearmain
cross, Bedfordshire, 1907. NB as of September 2007, we have had VERY heavy crops 2 years running, our
customers like it and it stores reasonably well. A strong recommend. Click here for picture.
John Downie The best known ornamental crab apple, it is very reliable and a useful pollinator for most other apples.
It can reach the size of a plum and makes very good crab apple jelly. Nice ornamental tree to grow if you have the
space, the fruits are very pretty and if you don't want to cook them you can leave them for the birds. Golden Hornet
is the other well known crab, yellow fruits in bunches, useful for pollination and looking beautiful, very acid and tiny
fruit. We have a few of each dotted around here and there for fun. Can be eaten raw although obviously small.
image not available yet
Sunset Described by Lawrence Hills in 'The good fruit guide' as "the best of the Cox taste-alikes" ( I respectfully
disagree, I think Kidd's Orange is better, but that's the wonder of apples-so many flavours!!!). This makes a very
compact tree that does not reach a huge size, and if you are after an apple for a small garden or to grow in a large
patio pot, this may be the apple for you. Highly praised by Geoffrey Bell in "Establishing a Fruit Garden". A smallish,
flattened apple which is mainly flushed red on a yellow background, not many stripes. Notable for regular, heavy
blossom, it usually sets too many fruit and has to be thinned-I like to thin it to singles (1 fruit only per cluster) for
best size. You can eat them fairly sharp from the tree in September and they will keep to Christmas, we have kept
them longer. They turn yellow in store and do become soft by November-some people hate this but some of our
toothless older customers are very happy about it. The best apple pie we made had slices of Sunset between layers
of frothed Bramley. A good apple which is said to succeed where Cox fails, it is a Cox seedling and has much of it's
parent's flavour. Spicy and aromatic, it often seems to fizz in the mouth. Makes fantastic apple juice. It can be
susceptible to scab and wants good soil-we have about 70 trees of Sunset and there are parts of the orchard where
5 year old trees in good soil are doing far better than 8 year old trees in thinner soil (well drained sandy loam). We
could have improved this by compost but didn't have the time and energy. ORIGIN raised at Igtham in Kent by Mr
Addy in 1918 from a pip of Cox. If you are planting this as part of a collection of apples, plant it where it will be seen
as the show of blossom is reliably spectacular. NB in 2007 this apple has been a disaster, half of them cracked and
split when a dryest-ever April was followed by prolonged rain. OK, this was problem weather, but the other apples
weren't afected like this. Another apple I have gone off just a bit, although the advantages mentioned above still
apply. image not available
James Grieve Good cooker before Bramley is ripe, it has a distinctive and really good flavour eaten raw. Scab
susceptible on our soil, but Julia's mother grew one for years in her clay soil without sprays and regularly had good
crops of fruit which stored almost to Christmas. It is a good pollinator for other apples and sets quite reliably. Ripe
as a cooker August onwards, best to eat raw October-November. Did well in the cold, wet summer of 2007, tending
to confirm the books which say it does better in the north. John Seymour (author "A Practical Guide to Self
Sufficiency" ) said this was his favourite apple. This might be a good choice for the one-apple garden if you do a lot
of cooking. When people ask us for a Bramley in August we suggest they try this instead, its much better in that
season. no image available yet
Arthur Turner Exceedingly reliable cooker. Alternative to Bramley, crops every year without fail. A trouble free
cooking apple for a small garden. when I say trouble free, of course you don't want to spray a tall tree in your back
yard as you will get spray drift next door which is a problem, although you could do it after dark. Our back yard trees
are unsprayed and therefore get a lot of scab and maggots, which we tolerate as the blackbirds eat most of them
anyway. Click here for image.
Kidd's Orange Red New Zealand Cox/Delicious cross from 1932. If I was condemned to only have one apple
tree in my garden it would have to be this one. The apple is medium to large, deep red with yellow stripes and
irregular russeting which can form an extensive network. It was going to replace Cox as it tastes pretty uch the same
but is much easier to grow, but it never caught on. Its commercial failure was thought to be partly due to the
irregular russeting of the skin which some people don't like. Catch one of these apples properly ripened and you will
think you are eating a Cox when they used to grow them properly. In a ripe year there is also a hint of violets. Kidd's
is a sturdy tree which usually carries a good, sometimes very large, crop. In my view, this is the apple with the best
combination of garden or orchard performance and good flavour and I heartily recommend it as a mid to late
season dessert. I gave trees of this to my parents and my brother Nick, and they crop well in their gardens too. Did
well in the difficult summer of 2007-still my number one recommend for the one tree garden.
Egremont Russet Probably the best known and most widely available of the highly flavoured, distinctive old
apples we used to know. Its distinctive rough skin varies from olive green to golden brown, its flavour nutty and
slightly dry with a unique texture, it is one of the best tasting apples you can grow. Most of the books we read said it
was a very easy apple to grow, but we find it unreliable. In 2003 we had very good crops on the 15 trees we have in
Bunyard's, but the previous year almost no crop and this year quite light. We have found that the tree does better in
poorer soil-we have 2 rows in Bunyard's some 60 feet apart, and the row in the richer soil tends to make more
growth but less fruit. When the tree is carrying a light crop, it sends out masses of shoots which require aggressive
summer pruning to stop the tree closing up completely. Having said that, most writers find this tree easier to grow
than us so it is worth considering. It is said to do better in northern and western districts, so maybe not ideal for the
soft south. The flavour and to me beautiful appearance of the apple make it very desirable. October to December
season, but note this apple is prone to a problem called bitter pit where little brown dots with a bitter taste form in
the stored fruit. This is made worse by excessive nitrogen feeding and reduced by even water supply (irrigate or
mulch) and liquid seaweed foliar feed (we use a commercial trace element spray called Wuxal (TM). ORIGIN
uncertain, first recorded 1872. The flavour is excellent and sugar levels very high.
NB After a few disappointing crops, Egremont Russet did very well for us in 2006 and again in 2007, and writing a
limited update of this report in January 2010, I can say that we have had acceptable to excellent crops each of the
last 5 years-it seems as if these trees do much better when they become established. We find the larger apples
tend to fall off before they could be picked. This is not a disaster, as they can be picked up and washed and eaten
(although not sold, unless perhaps they have fallen lightly and very recently on to long grass and are perfectly
undamaged, in which case I think it would be no sin to wash and sell them, although personally I don't) and are a
good addition to a cider blend and make a great base for apple wine with added sugar. One of the top 5 or 6
dessert apples I would say.
Margil We grow one specimen of this very old, very rare tree with a fantastic flavour. Ms Sanders says it is
suspected that George London who worked in the garden at Versailles brought it over from France in the 1700s.
Bunyard wrote in 1929 "Margil is a fruit but little known, despite a long sojourn in this country...its flesh is delightfully
fondant and its flavour is certainly of great price. An older apple than either Cox or Ribston, it is very possible that it
is among their ancestors, and it certainly has much of their flavour, and must be placed among the old masters." Its
a small apple and a light cropper, makes a small compact tree which is ideal for a small garden. The flavour is rich,
sweet and perfumed, said to go well with a light sherry. Keeps until January stored carefully. Like many of these
very rare very old apples, you could count on the finger of one hand the number of nurseries who still stock it.
THESE OLD APPLES ARE A PRECIOUS PART OF OUR ENGLISH HERITAGE AND THEY ARE FACING
EXTINCTION please grow one, just one, if you can, go on rip out that dreary lilac or dwarf conifer and plant a decent
apple tree instead! no image available yet.
Red Pippin (formerly known as Fiesta). This apple is the newest one we grow, having been first raised in 1986
in East Malling Research Station Kent from a cross between Cox's Orange Pippin and Idared. This was an intelligent
cross to go for, since Cox is a very richly flavoured apple but is difficult to grow, whereas Idared (a RED apple raised
in IDAHO in the USA, hence the name IDA-RED) is a very heavy cropping fruit with a long shelf life, but has the
teensy weensy little drawback of being almost completely flavour-free. You would not always get exactly these
results from a cross, but it was at least reasonable to hope that crossing a very well flavoured but hard to grow
apple with a poorly flavoured but easy to grow apple would yield a decent (if not fantastic) flavoured fruit that
cropped and stored decently well. That is exactly what Red Pippin turned out to be, a heavy cropping apple which
shared good features from both parents. It's quite richly flavoured, a nice fragrance (not all apples have any smell,
but this does) very crunchy, a good regular cropper, very fertile (often needs thinning to get a decent fruit size) and
is a very good keeper. It is not one of my top 20 apples for flavour, but it's one of our top 5 for sales, being very
crunchy and a good looking apple which maintains its texture and colour in store, sometimes until February. An
important fault of Red Pippin is its tendency to apple scab, and its as bad as Spartan in this respect. I wouldn't
bother trying to grow this variety unless you are willing to spray some fungicide, but a couple of applications early in
the season (at bud burst and once again after blossom fall) plus removal of diseases fruit should get you
reasonable control of scab and leave you with absolutely no issue about residues when you harvest months later.
Another feature is that it is quite a horizontal growing form and makes spurs in profusion, so a good tree to grow in
extremely restricted forms such as cordon, dwarf pyramid, espalier or even in a patio pot.
Spartan By contrast with Margil, this is a common, bland red apple from America. We first grew it by mistake,
when growing an experimental row of cordon apples in our garden in Sholing, Southampton, to find out about the
flavours of these apples we read about but couldn't buy. We ordered a Saint Edmunds Pippin, the fruits were being
grown in alphabetically named rows, and we got Spartan instead by accident. When we tasted it, the flavour was
better than we had expected, and we ended up, for the sake of variety and customer choice, planting 20 Spartans
in our orchard. This tree is a representative of the 'vinous' style of apple which is so popular in north America. Other
examples include Jonathan, Winesap, Northern Spy, Cortland and Golden Delicious. These sorts tend to be crispy,
sweet, uniform in colour, and lacking in the aromatic flavour compounds which characterise the more highly
flavoured apples such as Kidds' Orange, Orleans Reinette, Egremont, Margil etc. Spartan is a very fair
representative of that class of apple, its other advantages are heavy regular cropping and a pretty mahogany red
skin with a light yeast bloom that polishes up to a pretty shine if you rub it on your sleeve. There is a faint savour of
honey when they are properly ripe. On the down side. this apple is susceptible to scab, always needs thinning, and
many customers will reject it because they associate the appearance of this apple with wooly texture and no taste
(although they are often pleasantly surprised when they try one). This apple develops better flavour grown in
England than America and is worth considering if you have a lot of children, it also has the advantage that it can be
eaten straight from the tree but will also keep until January or February. It is also a very good pollinator for other
varieties. ORIGIN McIntosh x Yellow Newtown Pippin cross at the Dominion Experiment Station, Summerland, British
Columbia, 1926. click for image
Pitmaston Pineapple Small, conical shaped, golden yellow apple with curious lateral ridges of broken russeting. The
flavour is eyebrow raising, it really does taste of pineapples, you won't believe it until you try. Rich, honeyed and
sweet. One of the rarest apples there is, and one of my favourites. Unreliable cropper, always needs thinning,
relatively prone to scab and canker, in fact the only thing this apple has going for it is that it has an absolutely
fantastic flavour. Season October-November, ORIGIN unknown. Said in one of my books to be a descendant of "the
old golden russet" whatever that was. If someone re-badged this fruit with a cool name and imported it from
Malaysia, it would become the talk of dinner parties and retail for £6 a kilo. We have 4 trees mainly for our own
consumption (that's right, we DO keep the best for ourselves!) and exhibitions and to supply genetic material to
graft from to try and help the variety remain alive. It makes quite a small tree. George Monbiot (link to his article on
English Apples from main menu) said he would plant one of these on his allotment.
Tom Putt Known as a triple purpose apple, can be eaten raw, cooked and said to make decent cider. Of course
you can eat, cook or ferment any apple with varying results, but this one is said to do all three tolerably well, and be
a good reliable cropper too. We have only just planted 2 trees last year so can't speak from personal experience,
by my chums on the cider workshop group consistently rate if one of their favourite cider apples. Small size, red
stripes on green background and a knobbly shape, it was apparently raised in Somerset in the late 1700s by the
Reverend Tom Putt, but he had a relative of he same name who lived in Honiton, Devon, and maybe he raised it, it
was all a long time ago..... Said to be a very regular cropper with a somewhat acid taste. Liz Copas writes that it was
called "the cottage apple" as it was widely planted in West Country cottage kitchen gardens presumably as it was
multi purpose. The tree is said to have remarkable powers of rejuvenation, sending out vigorous new branches
even from very old gnarled trees so perhaps that's another reason for its vernacular popularity.
Ribston Pippin One of the most important apples in our great English heritage, first grown in Knaresborough,
Yorkshire in 1688 reputedly from pips brought over from an unknown apple in Rouen, Normandy. It used to be
widely grown and before Cox appeared was thought to be the best flavoured apple. In fact, pips from this apple
were sown in his garden by Mr Richard Cox, a retired brewer, and gave rise to Cox's Orange Pippin and Cox's
Pomona ( a now rare cooker). The rich flavours of Ribston are a little drier than Cox but the parentage is
recognisable, Bunyard compared the difference to that between Burgundy and Claret. Many other good apples
have come from Ribston Pippin crosses and this apple appears to have remarkable genetics. The cropping is a little
unreliable and it does tend to drop its fruits just before the ideal picking time, so watch the tree. It is supposed to be
an October to December apple but Bunyard said it could be eaten straight from the tree and for those who prefer a
firmer apple this is worth a try (apples, like wines, vary in flavour and texture and mature with age, and thank God
we can all enjoy our own tastes). Our Ribstons are on M26 rootstock which is a bit more vigorous than the MM106
we wanted and they went into the best soil, we therefore find they grow a bit too strongly and always require
summer pruning to remove excessive new growth. they are also a fiddle to pollinate, they are triploid and definitely
need another apple such as Spartan close by. An occasionally frustrating apple but truly lovely when it comes right
(good in 2007). Last year they cropped very heavy, about 40kg per tree, but about half the fruits dropped off in
September. We made them into juice and it was the best juice we ever tasted. One last thing, if you are going to
indulge yourself by planting pips to see if you can get a new apple variety perhaps to name after your
granddaughter, (I do NOT recommend this-better instead to adopt an existing known quality variety which is
threatened) Ribston Pippin is arguably the most promising starting point, as Mr Cox discovered. Many good apples
have come from the rich genes of this parent variety.
Orleans Reinette The venerable Mr Bunyard and I are agreed that this is the best flavoured apple in the
world, ever. From his description in 1929, "...it seems to come from the Low Countries, where we first meet with it in
1776. Its brown/red flush and glowing gold do very easily suggest that if Rembrandt had painted a fruit piece he
would have chosen this apple. In the rich golden flesh there is a hint of the Ribston flavour, much of the Blenheim
nuttiness, and an admirable balance of acidity and sweetness which combine, in my opinion, to make the best apple
grown in Western Europe....Orleans Reinette is an apple..rich and mellow, and as a background for an old port it
stands solitary and unapproachable" When its really ripe there is an incredible melange of savours to this apple
including nuts and orange peel. The texture inclines to the chewy rather than "crunch" (one of the things that makes
me smile through gritted teeth at our apple displays is the customer, and there are lots of them, who say "I want a
crunchy apple". Why don't they ask "I want a TASTY apple"? I suspect it is because so many of the apples they buy
have had such a long journey down the cold chain from the other side of the world the texture becomes wooly when
they finally come up to room temperature after purchase. However, asking for a "crunchy" apple is like asking for a
"cold" white wine. Yes, fair enough, but what would you like it to TASTE of? We have, as Mr Hills observed, come a
long way since "The Anatomy of Dessert" and sadly most of you reading this will probably never have tasted a ripe
Orleans Reinette, let alone with a 1976 Quinta do Vargellas or other vintage port after dinner on Christmas day. Of
course, they do grow this and other Reinettes in France, Reinettes are THE classic French apple for cooking, which
accounts for a lot.
A vigorous tree which crops most years although not always heavily. The apples have a short stalk and should be
thinned to no more than 2 apples to a bunch, preferably just one. If you are an artist, it is worth growing this apple
just to paint pictures of its beautiful autumn colours. At its best in October/November for us but will keep until
Christmas with care. If I had only one tree it would have to be something that cropped more heavily and reliably, like
Kidd's Orange Red (see above) but if I had only 2 trees one would have to be Orleans Reinette, and I think it is a
crime that this apple is not more widely grown and known in this country-why do we import so many kumquats, kiwi
fruit, mangoes and melons when we can grow fruit of this quality?
Claygate Pearmain Another rare old heritage apple we planted so recently we haven't tasted it yet (we don't
let apples carry fruits in the first year) This apple was a wilding or gribble, i.e. was found growing wild,, in a hedge in
the hamlet of Claygate, Surrey, in 1822 by a man called John Braddick. Mr Braddick sent specimens up to the
Horticultural Society of London who declared that "it is unquestionably a first rate dessert apple." Rosanne Sanders
writes "The fruit has a rich almost nutty flavour, with a good balance of sugar and acid and a very refreshing zest."
Said to be a good, reliable cropper. Like so many others on our list, this is a hard to find apple on the edge of
extinction. The finding of it in a hedge encourages us to continue throwing apple cores out of our car windows on to
roadside verges in the hope that some might grow! (PS don't wobble and crash if you do this)
Heusgen's Golden Reinette Dutch variety introduced in 1877, a flattened apple which is more red early
on, fades to golden yellow. Curious taste and texture, not one of my favourites but so different to most other apples
I am sure it must have interesting genetics. Julia likes it. Little information available about this apple, Taylor writes in
"The Apples of England" (1936) "A dessert apple suggestive of Blenheim flavour, February."
Blenheim Orange Very famous apple raised at Blenheim palace, Woodstock, near Oxford. Big tree, big
apple with a distinctive Reinette style flavour, nutty aromatic non-Cox flavour which as well as being tasty raw is
good cooked. It is a triploid so needs a pollinator, and like opther triploids (Bramley, Suntan) tends to make an
outsize tree. Season November to January, first known around 1740. Bears heavier crops on bigger, older trees,
takes a long time to come into cropping. Not a tree for the small garden, there is a very old apple tree at the bottom
of our back garden which we believe to be a Blenheim. We rarely get any edible fruit from is as it is far too tall to
prune or spray, needs picking with a ladder due to height and is a light cropper so the birds and pests get most of
the fruits. We maintain this tree for beauty and shade rather than fruit. Orleans Reinette is said to have much of the
flavour of Blenheim or maybe taste even better and is a sensible alternative. A good tree to include in a collection
for a grand garden or community orchard, but not a good choice for the ordinary garden as it grows massive.
King of the Pippins Introduced by Mr Kirke, a nurseryman in Brompton, in the early 1800s, an alternative older
name for this apple was Golden Winter Pearmain. This is another of our minority apples, one of a batch we planted
one or two of in 2002, so we are still waiting for our first taste. Rosanne Sanders says " sweet crisp and juicy with a
very rich and vinous rather nutty flavour, a distinctive and lovely apple". Said to be suitable for the West Country.
Several of my old books suggest that this is an apple that used to be widely grown in the past and had a high
reputation, and like so many others fell victim to the 'rationalisation' of the fruit industry which led to fewer larger
orchards with fewer varieties. We are looking forward to tasting the first of these from our young trees.
Peasgood's Nonesuch Massive cooking apple, which can be eaten raw with some pleasure if you like a
sharpish eater-but you may need a friend to share it with, as these apples can go a pound a piece! Yellow-green
background with broken red stripes, the largest apple I have come across, individual fruits weighing up to a pound
(that's about half a kilo). There is a lovely photo in Graham Bush's book "Tree fruit growing" of his son eating "a
pound of Peasgood's Nonesuch", the apple is nearly as big as the boy's head. We planted 2 last year but haven't
had the chance to taste any yet. Raised in Lincolnshire by Mrs Peasgood from a seed of the Catshead Codlin in
1858 (another ancient apple which is probably now extinct) said to be a heavy cropper and excellent flavour, very
good for baking.
Bramley's Seedling you all know this as the most popular (some think the only) cooking apple. Raised by Betty
Brailsford in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, in 1809 from unknown origin. Big tree, big apple, big crops most years
although several other popular cookers are more reliable. If, like us, you thin them and cut back excess leafy growth
in summer, they will develop a red cheek which looks nice regardless of any improvement in flavour. There is a red
'sport' of Bramley although I've never seen it. A great apple but I have a few quibbles about it. For a start, people
think its the only apple to cook which is totally wrong and this monopoly squeezes out other worthy apples. Next, it
grows to a very large size which is OK if you can give it 20 feet diameter but a lot of people can't, so they end up
cutting it back hard, which is a REALLY bad idea as it is a tip bearer! We have around 50 trees of this excellent
apple as our customers are so keen on it, but it is not the best cooker for a small garden. In fact, definitely DON'T
plant a Bramley unless you can give it plenty of space. If you want an acid cooker but have little space, consider
Annie Elizabeth, Peasgood's Nonesuch, Reverend Wilkes, Lane's Prince Albert or Grenadier-if you must have
Bramley, try it on the ultra dwarf rootstock MM 27. And remember that the French, who cook with apples more and
better than we do, never use acid cookers like Bramley but prefer tasty aromatic dessert apples like Reinettes or
Cox, which cook very well and are also good in salads, which Bramley is not. Having said that, Bramley is an
outstanding apple if you have enough room for it. Very good for sauce and chutney as the flesh melts to a froth
when cooked.
Adam's Pearmain Raised by Mr Robert Adams in 1826, not sure where, either Hertfordshire or Norfolk (if
anyone knows for sure, contact me). A very conical shaped fruit with a high degree of pest and disease resistance,
worth keeping alive if only for its genetic resistance to apple scab. Good vinous/aromatic flavour and a long keeper.
Tends to make very long gangly extension shoots, requiring fairly hard pruning to an upright facing bud in the winter
to avoid an excessively dropping habit which will otherwise develop. This apple is highly recommended if you intend
to grow without any pesticides as it has better natural disease resistance than most apples.
Court Pendu Plat This has the distinction of being thought the oldest apple grown in England. The further
back in time you go, the less sure we can be, but several authorities say it was introduced by the Romans and it was
extensively cultivated by the Elizabethans who called it "the wise apple" as it flowers so late it misses the frost. A
small apple, a regular if not a heavy cropper, late keeper with a good aromatic flavour. Slightly flattened shape,
orange red colour with yellow stripes. This apple was crossed with Cox to give Suntan n 1955 which is an incredibly
good apple. The fact of such a successful cross between a very old apple and a newer one proves that we
CANNOT AFFORD TO LOSE THE OLD GENETIC MATERIAL. This is a particularly good apple to grow in frosty
areas since it blossoms to late. It also tastes very good, eating some of these last autumn I could taste a hint of the
pineapple flavour which comes across so strongly in Court Pendu's offspring Suntan (see below).
Suntan Irritating name but heavy cropping, long keeping apple with a WOW! flavour of tropical fruits and
concentrated sunshine. The first time we tasted this apple I ate 5 or 6 non stop until my guts were bursting, it tasted
that good. Pineapples, mangos and melons were noticeable among the rich mix of exotic fruit flavours in this
delightful fruit. The flavour more like an over-the-top Aussie Shiraz-Cabernet red wine than the dull stuff sold as
apples these days-seriously, you have to try it. It was grown at the famous East Malling research station, Kent, in
1955 (same year I was born) by Dr Alston from a cross between Cox's Orange Pippin and the ancient variety Court
Pendu Plat (see above). It is a triploid so needs a pollinator, but is a regular and heavy cropper which flowers late
so misses the frost (taking after Court Pendu in this respect) and has a fantastic flavour. Possibly the most
underrated apple in England, on 9th July 2004 Julia and I shared the last apple from the 2003 season-it was a
Suntan and it was STILL CRUNCHY and full of flavour. We are increasing the number of trees of this sort that we
grow. I think this apple should be renamed Bunyard's Pippin and grown EVERYWHERE.
Cornish Gillyflower An apple we just had to grow because of the beautiful and unusual name. A late apple,
November to March, it was found growing in a cottage garden in Truro, Cornwall, around 1800. It was brought to
London by Sir Christopher Hawkins in 1813 and was awarded a silver medal by the Horticultural Society. Light to
moderate cropper, it is a tip bearer so cannot be cut back too hard or grown in a restricted form. Said to have a
very good sweet rich flavour. It is somewhat elongated, and tapers at both ends with a definite ridging, quite an
unusually shaped apple. Apples that are 'outliers' in this way will have interesting genetic features and as such
worth preserving and probably worth breeding from. As always, I advise people to avoid trying to breed new apple
varieties since the need of the present time is more to PRESERVE the varieties of worth we already have from our
ancestors, effort put into saving these varieties will pass on more good to those who may come after us than a
(probably futile) attempt to add to them. Sixpence saved is sixpence gained, but we have more good old apples
definitely here to save than good new ones to potentially gain, so its more like a pound saved is better than
sixpence hopelessly failed to be saved. But if new varieties are to be bred, old genetics will be necessary and
varieties like this will be important starting points.
Ashmead's Kernel have a mate by the name of Martyn Ashmead and I was privileged to supply him with a
specimen of this tree for his back garden. He was glad to know that a quality apple bore his name, but even happier
with the flavour. Ashmead's Kernel, I have heard, is the apple which most often wins blind tasting awards for the
best flavoured English apple of all, beating Cox. It is a russet which was raised in Gloucestershire by Dr Ashmead
around 1700 (amazing how many of our very best apples are from around 1680-1800. Did we stop trying after then,
or have we lost some of the more genetically promising stock?). This is Julia's favourite apple, we originally planted
just 5, mainly for her, not thinking it would be commercially viable, but we found it grew better for us than we had
been led to expect from the books and our customers went mad for it, so we have grafted over a row of Spartan in
Cobbet's to this variety (see page on grafting). I remember one day at Winchester farmers market when an elderly
gentleman came up to our stall and his eyes lit up. "Got any Ashmead's Kernel?" he enquired, and I'm glad to say I
was able to say " Yes!". After tasting some he bought all we had and was obviously very happy. One of our mission
goals is to "reconnect people with the apples of the garden of their youth." and I think in this case we may have
succeeded. A first class long keeping highly flavoured English apple. click for image
Winter King (Winston)We are really pleased with this apple. Originally w planted just 5 experimentally but found
our customers were practically desperate for it so grew another 33, a whole row in the latest planting. There was no
way to buy 33 trees of this rare type and no time to bud them on, so I planted out a long row of larger MM106
rootstocks from our nursery, sawed them off at 6 inches above the ground, and cleft grafted Winter King on to them
all. I am proud to say all took, that was the winter of 1999/2000 and today they are carrying a crop of around 30
apples per tree. It is an extremely fertile apple to the extent that you must thin it every year or you will get about a
thousand marble to golf ball sized fruits per tree. It is a very late keeping variety which is well flavoured, extremely
crunchy and will keep in natural cool storage until May. One of my "If I could only grow 5" apples because of the
combination of good flavour and very long keeping. It was originally called Winter King, then the name was changed
to Winston to honour Winston Churchill, but we prefer the original name, no disrespect intended to the great WW2
leader but its just a better name for a long keeping apple that brightens up the winter with its excellent keeping
qualities and great texture and flavour. A really "crunchy" apple, if you like Granny Smith you will like this only it has
more flavour. click for image
Sturmer Pippin Probably our longest keeping apple, said to be a January to April apple, we have eaten it in
June and although the skin looked a bit funny and the texture was chewy rather than crunchy, it was well worth
eating. An apple like this is probably not suitable for a one apple tree garden as it is so hard and acidic until it has
matured in storage for a couple of months. It should be left in the tree until November before picking, but obviously
pick it if it starts to drop. This one comes from Suffolk, raised in the village of Sturmer by a nurseyman Mr Dillistone
in the early 1800s, it was presented to the Horticultural Society in 1827 and judged a first class late winter apple. It
prefers a drier climate and we find it somewhat prone to scab her, it is very fertile and we always have to thin it to
get a decent size. It keeps longer and develops best flavour after a long hot summer. An observation on very hard
apples like this and Winter King, I have my feelings about when an apple is ripe but we find that giving customers a
free tasting as we always do at our sales, many people prefer apples long before I think they are at their best-its a
texture thing. We sometimes sell out of these apples well before they are in my view properly ripe since some
people like them that way. click for image
May Queen Very late keeping extremely crunchy apple. Little information available from my books, first
recorded in 1888, origin Worcestershire. We have one specimen only so just for exhibition and genetic stock. A
good flavoured very crunchy late keeping apple. Mentioned by Edward Bunyard as a well flavoured yellow fleshed
crunchy apple with a savour of nuts. Julia thinks this is a really good apple and wants me to graft some more, so I
will-she is usually right on such matters, just like the good wife who is so highly praised in that wonderful Bible
passage in the Book of Proverbs chapter 31 verse 12 'She does him good and not harm all the days of her life'.
etc, etc Thank God for the love of a good woman.
CIDER APPLES of the proper West Country sort are quite different from dessert or cooking apples due
to their bitterness. The 'West Country' here refers to a rough crescent of countryside stretching from Hereford
and Gloucester down along the Welsh borders through Somerset into Devon. There is no doubt that the best cider
apples come from here, although there is equally no doubt that the genetic material came over from France with the
Normans and subsequently, check it out (see Normandy). Bitter is perhaps a nasty sounding word but in the context
of cider apples means containing tannins, complex flavour compounds which interact with the other elements of the
cider (fruitiness, acid, alcohol, yeast etc.) to give a certain mouth feel and aroma which distinguishes true cider from
the wishy washy stuff which is heavily advertised and is made from imported Chinese apple juice concentrate,
glucose, water, a dash of apple juice (to satisfy the trade descriptions act) and flavouring and carbonation. Even
this is far better than the foul filth sold as "white cider", the skid row alcoholic's favourite, which as far as I am
concerned is dilute industrial alcohol with synthetic apple flavouring. Real cider can be wonderful, and in these
carbon conscious days should arguable be preferred to beer as so much less energy is consumed in it's production.
Real cider apples are generally inedible as raw fruit due to their mouth peeling astringency, but fermented, give a
drink which like a good grape wine, contains the right balance of alcohol, fruit, acid, tannin and flavour compounds
which may be an acquired taste but once you are used to it is far more satisfying than the beverages made from
Chinese apple juice concentrate, glucose, water and a bit of apple juice which are usually sold under the name of
cider. Real cider is made from 100% apple juice, fermented. The very best vintage cider is made from a blend of
different cider apples, but it is possible to make good cider including juice from dessert and cooking apples as well
as true west country cider varieties as long as the overall balance is right. As with wine making, some grapes, like
Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon, can make very fine wines, whereas grapes like Ugni Blanc or Gamay usually
make so-so wines, although in a good year or with special treatment (e.g. oak barrels) may turn out better. And you
can make a good enough drink by blending the merely OK with the excellent, See the Cider section and links
(especially Andrew Lea's Wittenham Hill cider portal) for more on this.
Anyhow, these are the cider apples we grow.
Tremlett's Bitter This is the bitterest cider apple n common cultivation, believe me if you bite into one you will
spit it out and ask for a drink of water to clean your mouth. It is useful for blending with milder varieties to balance
them but is extremely bitter and I would not plant it on its own, except for blending. Strong biennial tendency, heavy
crop in 'on' years, small red conical fruits. We had a debate about single variety cider made from this fruit on the
yahoo group, one of the best cider makers does a single variety Tremlett's Bitter but Andrew Lea agrees with me
that such a cider would be overwhelmingly bitter and that Tremlett's should be viewed as a strong condiment, like
Tabasco, to "spice up" less tannic juice. I chose to plant this specifically to add to the juice from dessert apples that
we didn't sell because of shape, size, blemish or going a bit over before we could sell them, to turn a dull cider into
an OK cider. seems to work too. click for image
Le Bret Strongly annual (crops reliably for us every year) bearing variety from Devon, very susceptible to apple
scab but if scab (and it responds very well to 1 0r 2 early season applications of fungicide) is controlled bears very
good crops of sweet, lightly tannic, fruit every year, which can be made into cider on its own or blended. In 2003 we
used about 50% of this in a blend and got a wonderful sweet cider which dropped bright with a good residuall
sweetness in the Normandy style. It was consumed with cries of delight by our friends at a birthday party. These
guys normally drink real ale not cider but my goodness did they tuck into it until 5 gallons were gone. In 2004 I made
some pure Sweet Alford cider to try, it was nice but not as good as the 2003 blend-again, 2003 was a drought year
and this may have affected the flavour. I advise against planting this apple if you are totally against spraying since
in a wet year if apple scab is about it can be devastated as this is a weak point of this variety. You could spray
copper based fungicide which is allowed under organic rules, it's such a regular heavy cropper with real quality juice
it must be worth a few puffs of pesticide. PS this winter (I write in January 2010) I made a final 10 gallon batch of
cider which was 50% Le Bret, just as the weather turned cold in very late winter. It has fermented very slowly, even
now only dropped from 1060 to 1030. Very sweet and characterful cider. I must recommend this if you want to make
a naturally sweet cider, it seems to work for us, but always blend with other varieties for balance.
Due to an error in a cider apple nursery some years back, a lot of apple trees sold as Sweet Alford turned out to be
Le Bret, another Somerset variety which is very similar in appearance, habit and flavour to Sweet Alford. The error
wasn't noticed for decades as the 2 apples are very similar (see my note on Spartan/St Edmunds above, that error
we noticed quickly as the 2 apples couldn't be more different). We think almost certainly our Sweet Alfords are in
fact Le Brets. It doesn't matter in practical terms, I include this story as it exemplifies the kind of mix ups which
inevitably occur where you have thousands of varieties and a cottage industry.
Crimson King Scott's supplied it as a substitute for another variety we had ordered which was out of stock. Its
a bit like a Bramley, a big spreading tree, quite large and acid fruit, slightly softer flesh and less acid than Bramley
and some tannin and more aromatic flavour compounds In our orchard it tends to drop early, it is said to crop better
on older trees. Andrew Lea recommends this apple as a sharp. Cider apples are categorised as bittersweet,
bittersharp, sweet, or sharp, the sharpness referring to fruit acid. The word "acid" is off putting but fruit acid (malic,
citric and ascorbic) are natural and healthy and if a cider does not have enough acid it will not only taste
unbalanced but is more prone to several types of microbiological spoilage. Makes a large spreading tree, as with
Bramley, give it enough space. NB as of September 2007, I have grafted over all 8 of my Crimson Kings to Dabinett
and Harry Master's Jersey, leaving just one branch of Crimson King on one of these trees for the sake of diversity
and genetics. The apple is good in a cider blend, but for me it has not been a goodorchard performer. In the last
year before grafting over, 2006, it was covered in brown rot fungus-again-and although there was a half decent
crop, almost none of it was useable, as the fruits all rotted and fell off. I can only think that our microclimate does not
suit it, the trees either side of the Crimson King did fine. Anyhow, I will leave the above earlier description up, but I
cannot honestly recommend anyone to plant this apple unless they want to plant one to give it a try, it must perform
better than this for some people or else the variety would never have survived as a well known sort. I have now
eliminated from my own collection due to repeated crop failures.
Yarlington Mill Very famous old cider fruit from the village of Yarlington n Somerset where Mr Harry Masters
found it as a "gribble" or self-sown wild apple tree, growing (you guessed) out of the water mill. It was fairly biennial
for the first couple of years after planting, but we have now had decent crops 3 years in a row as of September
2007. Biennielism is a disadvantage of many of the best cider varieties, the tendency is very strong in some, less so
in others. Yarlington makes a big spreading tree with long whippy growths. The juice quality is excellent bittersweet
and most years it is a good cropper. In 2002 years I blended juice from Yarlington Mill with Kingston Black to yield
the best balanced and finest flavoured cider I have yet tasted. Of course we drank it all. Yarlington is said to be one
of the varieties which will make good cider from its unblended juice. The most productive trees on my holding is a
Yarlington Mill, it tends to crop so heavily every other year (probably 3 years out of 5 rather than strictly biennial)
that it breaks branches. The photograph shows my friend Jez's car boot stuffed with the apples from this one tree
after he ran out of boxes. A truly great tree, don't try to confine it as a dwarf form, let it grow. One of the best 4 or 5
cider apple trees there is, it should be in every cider orchard.
Harry Master's Jersey Raised in Somerset by the above Mr Masters, the Jersey epithet probably refers to
"les iles Anglo-Normand" ie Channel islands. They don't grow much cider there now, but they do make cider brandy,
I tasted it there on a trip a few years ago. Quite a few cider apples are called Jerseys, or Normans, and this
probably refers to a shape rather than geographical origin, then again the nomenclature of apples is quite chaotic.
Anyhow, this is a good reliable bittersweet variety which makes a small compact tree that crops ANNUALLY, unlike
many of the best ciders which tend to miss a crop every other year unless meticulously managed. This or Dabinett
are the cider trees to grow if you grow only one, although the best ciders are nearly always blended-there is room
for dispute on this as some single variety sorts are very good.
Dabinett Very similar to Harry Masters Jersey, I doubt if you could tell them apart. This is the most widely planted
cider apple in England on account of it being a good regular annual cropper and yielding very high quality juice
which can be blended or make a very nice cider on its own, as I can vouch as I have done so. Not a strong grower
so use a big rootstock, but then I am growing it on light dry soil. All authorities agree it makes a small tree. Probably
the best cider apple to grow when you consider orchard performance as well as juice quality. All those growers can't
be wrong. If you only plant one cider apple tree, Dabinett is really the only choice, and I am sure that any
experienced and realistic cider grower would give the same answer. Harry Master's Jersey comes a close second
(the two are closely related and very similar). Sheppey's single variety Dabinett cider, rarely seen outside Somerset,
has recently been available in Sainsbury's, my advice is to GET SOME.
Kingston Black Everyone agrees this bittersharp west country cider apple makes the very best single variety
cider, the Cox of the cider world, and like Cox is a light cropper and challenging to grow. It will certainly enrich any
blend, and perhaps the best cider I ever remember making was a blend of about half and half Yarlington Mill and
Kingston Black. A very dark red fruit, sometimes almost black in colour. A weak cropper which tends to crop only
every other year (biennial), prone to canker and scab, it produces bunches of small fruit with short stalks which are
fiddly to thin out. I don't advise planting this as your only cider tree, but if you are planting an cider orchard of 6 or
more trees it is worth planting one. It does seem to grow very well for some people. There is no way I can describe
how good the cider from this tastes in a good year, you will just have to obtain some and drink it. Perfect balance of
body, fruit, acid, tannin and alcohol. The best cider apple for flavour, just as Cox is by common consent the most
perfectly flavoured desert apple-and similarly one to think carefully before planting because it is a very weak
grower, poor cropper and quite susceptible to fungal and other diseases. Originated like most of the best cider
apples, in Somerset.
These are the apples we grow. Some of them may suit you, or there may be others
which would you OR I far better, of which I know nothing. I hope my descriptions of them are useful
and entertaining. I may add some more later, as you can see from the updated comments I am reducing or
eliminating a few that just don't work for us. There are of course many others I will probably never taste and about
which I cannot comment. For all I know, there are hundreds of apples which crop, store, resist
pests and diseases and taste better than these ones, and even more which are already
extinct or will be lost soon because not enough gardeners realised these precious fruits
needed saving and did something about it The global apple trade and the supermarkets certainly don't
care about heritage apples as long as they can sell us hard crunchy apples with a long shelf life and uniform size
and colour.
When I think about why I started this crazy and expensive adventure, I sometimes think it was largely so that I could
find out what these wonderfully named heritage apples were like, and the only way to find out was to plant my own
rare varieties orchard! As with wine tasting and arts criticism, different observers will have varying opinions and the
flavours vary from place to place and year to year. For this reason, I will continue to add links to as many similar and
related apple oriented web sites as I can. Thanks to those of you who have posted me appreciative comments, I am
merely an idiosyncratic conniesseur and a scribe, it is the apples themselves that are such admirable creatures.
Praise be to the Creator who made all things to be appreciated with gratitude and shared generously. Taste and
see for yourself.
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