The Apple
How Many Varieties of Apples Did There Used To Be???
Interesting quote from an article published in The Independent (Tuesday 21 October 2014)...
'Two-thirds of our orchards have been lost since 1960, and some British apple varieties have gone completely extinct - time to look more locally.' The reason they say is, 'having been grubbed up to plant cereal crops or build housing.' (1)
Typical.
A few weeks ago, we were invited to scrump by our friends who have acquired an orchard. I term it 'scrumping' because we were not foraging on common land. Yes, I know that we were invited to pick apples but where's the excitement when you compare it to partaking in a jolly good old-fashioned scrump? We were like two excited children from the past, you know the time, when children were far more adventurous in real life and not through the portal of a computer game. Socks with sandals, we scrumped away. Mr WH sustained a few nettle stings but we were not deterred and were soon loading up the car with cardboard boxes and bags of different apples. We handed over a jar of homemade jam and bid our farewells, extremely grateful, moreso when presented with a box full of clean, empty glass jars.
This brings me onto a conversation that we had with a friend all but two days ago. He posed the question as to why there weren't as many varieties of apple around anymore. We didn't have the answer so I decided to take a look at the good old, reliable apple. Years ago, it seemed to be that there were many more types of apples on offer than the few simple choices we have in the shops today.
Here is a little information I have gathered to get you thinking. Meanwhile, let's just take a quick look at what four of our main supermarkets offer us in autumn 2023.
Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Tesco stock all or some of the following:
Braeburn, Bramley, Cox, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Honey Crunch, Jazz, Kanzi, Pink Lady and Royal Gala.
I will also note the apples on sale as I pass any independent, organic produce retailers.
Countryfile published an article this summer (2023) which included the following information:
'While apple varieties were first introduced to Britain by the Romans, historical studies have suggested that apples could be found growing wild during the Neolithic period. However, it was the Victorians who changed apple production in Britain.
Thanks to the dedication of Victorian gardeners, Britain once cultivated more varieties of apple than anywhere else in the world: more than 2,000 types of apples with all sorts of tastes, textures, shapes and sizes. For eating, there were Pitmaston Pineapples, Ribston Pippins or the Laxton’s Superb, a red-flushed, sweet, crisp dessert apple. For cooking and juicing, the Alfriston was a large, sharp apple that made wonderful juices and smooth purées, or the Howgate Wonder, a super-sized cooker that was great for pies and tarts. Every variety was bred to enhance different properties for a range of uses.
What varieties of apple are grown in the UK?
Despite most UK supermarkets stocking a limited range of apples, there are hundreds of apple varieties grown in the UK, with more than 2,500 varieties to be found.'
The author of the article, Genevieve Taylor, provides us with a selection of traditional varieties to enjoy this autumn.
Nonpareil
An ancient apple variety brought over from France in the 1500s, the Nonpareil is a late-season, russet eating apple with a distinctive pear-drop taste. It’s a great variety for juice and cider making.
Winter Pomeroy
A rare, late-season variety of cooking apple that’s rather large but stores well over winter. It has a tough, pectin-rich skin, so it’s ideal for the apple butter recipe as the skin gets sieved-out after cooking.
The Harvey
An old English apple dating back to 1629, also known as the Dr Harvey (after Dr Gabriel Harvey of the University of Cambridge) and was once popular in East Anglia. This is a cooking apple and the texture softens beautifully with heat, but it’s quite sweet, so you don’t need to add much sugar.
Golden Pippin
A versatile, intensely flavoured small apple used in cooking, cider making and also as a dessert apple.
Winter Pearmain
Thought to hail from Sussex, this is a good general cooking apple but it does sweeten with age, so could be considered dual-purpose (eater or cooker) later in the season.
Crab apple
Native to the UK, wild crab apples are small, round and yellow when ripe, but another common variety is slightly more apple-shaped.
Cooking apple - Bramley
The bramley is a common British variety of apple that is generally cooked due to its sour taste, although it can be eaten raw. Often found in crumbles, pies or apple sauce this is a useful variety for cooking. (2)
2.https://www.countryfile.com/how-to/food-recipes/british-apple-guide
Interested in finding out more? On your tea break you might like to take a peek at these…
https://newint.org/features/1990/10/05/simply
https://ptes.org/campaigns/traditional-orchard-project/orchard-network/info-by-region/shropshire/
The above link contains a link to Tom The Apple Man in Shropshire, based at Tom Adams Fruit Nursery. Tom specialises in hard-to-find heritage apple varieties from the English/Welsh borderlands and stocks many varieties. These include, Cummy Norman, a Welsh apple for cider and dessert apples such as, Puckrupp Pippin from the Welsh Marches, William Crump from Worcester and Millicent Barnes, originating from Cheshire in 1903.
Ta-ta for now, Mrs WH
