| | Origins of Heritage Varieties
There are many interesting stories about the origins of heritage varieties. Here are some of them.
COURT PENDU PLAT - the oldest known apple variety.
Court Pendu Plat was introduced into Europe in Roman times. The French name literally translates as 'Short Hanging Flat', but some say it is derived from 'Corps Pendu', or 'Hanging Body', referring to the shortness of the stem.
This cold-hardy apple tree avoids frost by flowering late, and its plentiful fruit tastes superb.
A variety does not persist for two thousand years unless it has extraordinary qualities! Court Pendu Plat apples are small in size, their yellow skin flushed with very attractive orange and red, with short broken stripes. They have a brisk flavour when first picked - rich and fruity with a strong pineapple-like acidity. As they mature this mellows to a sweet, aromatic fruit with a good balance of sugar and acid - delicately scented and full of flavour right into the New Year. Court Pendu Plat is also valued as a decorative tree.
BRAMLEY’S SEEDLING - From a young girl's garden to super stardom.
The 'Bramley’s Seedling' is the most popular culinary apple in the UK, occupying an acreage greater than all the other culinary apples combined. The first 'Bramley's Seedling' tree grew from one of a handful of pips planted by Mary Ann Brailsford when she was a young girl in her cottage garden in Church Street, Southwell, Nottinghamshire, UK in 1809. The tree in the garden was later included in the purchase of the cottage by a local butcher, Matthew Bramley in 1846.
In 1856, a local nurseryman, Henry Merryweather asked if he could take cuttings from the tree and start to sell the apples. Bramley agreed, but insisted that the apples should bear his name.
On 31st October 1862 the first recorded sale of a Bramley was noted in Merryweather's accounts. He sold "three Bramley apples for 2/- to Mr Geo Cooper of Upton Hall". On 6th December 1876 the Bramley was highly commended at the Royal Horticultural Society's Fruit Committee exhibition, where it was first shown. It received a First Class Certificate in 1883
In 1900 the original tree was knocked over during violent storms; it survived, however, and is still bearing fruit two centuries after it was planted. 'Bramley’s Seedling' is now the most important cooking apple in England and Wales, with 21.68 km², 95% of total culinary apple orchards in 2007. The Bramley is almost exclusively a British variety; however it is also grown by a few United States farms, and can be found in Canada.
Unfortunately there are none in Australia.
The town of Southwell hosts many celebrations of the Bramley Apple including the Bramley Apple Festival in October and is also home to 'The Bramley Apple Inn', located just a few doors away from the original Bramley apple tree, which is considered to be a town treasure.
GRANNY SMITH
- one of Australia's most famous exports.
Perhaps the most instantly recognisable of all apple varieties and one of the most widely known, 'Granny Smith' pre-dates the modern approach to apple development and marketing. Like all the best old varieties it has an unusual history, being discovered in Australia in the 1860s as a seedling growing in the remains of a compost heap. The true parentage is still unknown but is possibly French Crab.
The discoverer was Mrs Maria Ann Smith, nee Sherwood, ('Maria' pronounced the same way as diva Mariah Carey), 1800-1870, married to Thomas Smith, 1797-1876. Her orchard was located in Eastwood, now in the City of Ryde, Sydney. It is probable that 'French Crab' apples were from wooden crates she purchased at the Sydney Markets, after selling her produce, to facilitate transporting the next crop of fruit from her orchard. Mrs Smith found that the new apple was versatile for cooking and eating, and was involved in spreading its popularity. In an inspired piece of marketing she called it 'Granny Smith'. By the 1960s 'Granny Smith' was practically syonymous with 'apple' and the variety was used by the Beatles as the logo for their company 'Apple Records'.
Grannys are large and very green with prominent dots on the skin. The white flesh is very crisp, juicy and acid. Unfortunately the public seldom have a chance to eat fully mature Grannys straight off the tree as they are picked in March and cool stored. If left on the tree long enough they go dull yellow and really are good to eat. They are delicious eaten cooked and also in cider when mixed with sweeter varieties.
Granny Smith was one of the original staple supermarket varieties, and one of the first international varieties, a role for which it was well suited. The tough skin and amazing keeping qualities meant it could easily be shipped around the world. It requires a warm climate to ripen properly, and performs well in the main apple-growing regions of the southern hemisphere. In the northern hemisphere it is grown in France and the warmer zones of North America. The trademark apple-green skin requires warm days and nights - Granny Smiths are grown at a relatively high altitude in central France where they develop a blush because of the cold night temperatures towards the end of the growing season.
There is only one word to describe the flavour of 'Granny Smith': acidic. It is an uncompromisingly crisp, hard apple with a very sharp taste. However, served slightly chilled it can also be very refreshing, and works well in salads. The flavor sweetens in storage. A descendant of Maria Smith, Steve Goard, still lives in Sydney, Australia.
KESWICK CODLIN - discovered among the ruins of a 14th century English castle
The Keswick Codlin pre-dates the classic Victorian period of English apples. According to 'The New Book of Apples' Keswick Codlin was first found growing as a seedling tree in a rubbish heap or compost heap behind a tumbledown wall at Gleaston Castle in Lancashire, in 1793. Since then, the Keswick Codlin has retained its place as a popular mid-season cooking apple, which readily cooks down to a sweet puree. It is also an easy tree for the gardener.
COX’S ORANGE PIPPIN - regarded as the finest of all English apples.
Cox’s Orange Pippin is the most extensively planted dessert variety in the U.K. It was raised from pips of a Ribston Pippin in about 1825 at Colnbrook Lawn, near Slough, Buckinghamshire, UK, where the original tree grew until destroyed by a storm in 1911. The man who raised this historic fruit was Richard Cox (1777-1845) a retired brewer from Bermondsey. It was introduced by Charles Turner in about 1850 and received the Award of Merit and a First Class Certificate from the RHS in 1962.
GEEVESTON FANNY - named after two wives.
A small attractive bright reddish purple apple with white sweet flesh. Ideal for lunchboxes. Heavy and regular bearer. This variety was popular as a commercial apple during the 1970s in Tasmania. The story goes like this: about 1870 Mr Hawkins, the storekeeper at Shipwrights Point near Huonville imported 6 apple trees of unknown variety and sold them to a Mr Evans of Geeveston. One in particular appealed to Mr Evans and he named it 'Susan’s Pride' after his wife. In 1908 a Mr Ashlin obtained scions of this variety and reworked four acres of his orchard to it, renaming it after his wife Fanny. It became an important local variety because of its good quality, colour and resistance to black spot. In 1970 127,000 boxes of Geeveston Fannys were exported, but it’s hard to find one today.
PEASGOOD'S NONSUCH - from fruitless tree to prizewinner.
Emma Manby was the accidental creator of the 'Peasgood Nonsuch' apple. She was born in Grantham, Lincolnshire in 1844. When she was 16 she planted five pips of an unknown cooking apple variety in her garden. Only one pip germinated but it grew into a healthy tree. Five years later she married John Francis Peasgood and moved to Stamford, taking her still fruitless tree with her. The tree didn't produce any apples until 1870 but when it did eventually fruit each apple was of such a size; each one over a pound in weight that on 6th September 1872 Emma entered the apples in the Agricultural show at Burghley Park. She won first prize.
The fruit was presented to the Royal Horticultural Society and was awarded a first class certificate. The notoriety of the fruit increased and during a show at the Guildhall, London a specimen weighing 1lb 12 oz (794g)was presented to Queen Victoria. Laxton's marketed the fruit from 1872 and described it as "one of the most handsome apples in cultivation". Also known as 'The Stamford Apple', is is a large, highly coloured, juicy fruit, good for cooking and eating fresh. The 'Peasgood Nonsuch' has since spread throughout the world and been hybridised to create varieties such as the 'Crimson Peasgood'.
ANNIE ELIZABETH - named for two daughters.
This fairly old English culinary apple was raised by Samuel Greatorex at Knighton in Leicester about 1857. It received a First Class Certificate in 1866 and was introduced at around that time by Messrs. Harrison and Son of Leicester. It is named after the two daughters of Mr Thomas Harrison, proprietor of the nursery. It used to be grown commercially and it is still quite widely listed by nurserymen.
MATTAMUSKEET- taken from a wild goose by Native Americans?
Mattamuskeet probably originated near Lake Mattamuskeet in Hyde County, North Carolina, USA. Legend has it that the seed was taken from the gizzard of a wild goose by the Mattamuskeet Indians. The fruit hangs well on the tree and ripens in early winter. Fruit is medium-sized and slightly conical or irregular in shape. Skin is greenish-yellow and covered with dull purplish or rusty overtones. Flesh is dull yellow, firm, juicy, and acid when picked, but mellows in storage. Not available in Australia.
MONGOLIAN- Lost and found.
In the early 1900's, a small nursery known as Brushy Mountain Nursery, located in the North Carolina foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains in the USA, sold an apple tree with the unusual name of Mongolian. It was a large to very large flat apple with very waxy skin and was described as the "reddest red you have ever seen". In 2000, renowned apple hunter, Tom Brown, learned that there might be several old Mongolian trees at the old Fortner home place near the Wilkes/Alexander county line in North Carolina. After initial investigations, Tom discovered that these old trees had recently been bulldozed in a land-clearing operation. Two years later, Tom was introduced to a lady who had numerous old apple trees on her property including one she called the "Clothes Line" apple. The Clothes Line "tree" consisted of a single limb which had been grafted onto an older tree and which extended out over her clothes line. Upon seeing a handful of the apples, Tom suspected this could be the rare Mongolian. After showing the fruit to several Fortner family members, Tom was able to confirm the identity of this lost apple.
Not available in Australia.
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