Apple varieties

 

The seasons stated below are an indication only and will vary from year to year.Click on How to Buy to check availability.

 

Dessert Apples

 

St Edmund’s Pippin

Season: September and October

 

Early russet, raised about 1873 at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk and is named after the town’s Saint. It has a first class flavour , quite sweet with a nice balance of acidity.

 

Lord Lambourne

Season: late September to mid November

 

Mid season  dessert a cross between James Grieve and Worcester Permain raised in Bedford in 1907 .Slight taste of strawberry. Sweet sharp, juicy and aromatic.

 

Charles Ross

Season: October to December

 

It is a dual purpose apple, good for cooking early in season as well as being a dessert. Raised  Berkshire in late C19th .Fruit is juicy , sweet and has plenty of flavour.

 

Egremont Russet

Season: October to December

 

The best known of all the russets with a rich nutty flavour. It is believed to have been raised in C19th on Lord Egremont’s estate at Petworth, Sussex.

 

Herefordshire Russet

Season: October to November

 

A newly raised russet which is juicy and has beautiful flavour .It was raised by Hugh Hermen , a former pomologist from Brogdale ,Kent where National Apple Collection is located.

 

Princesse

Season: October to November

 

A recently introduced russet from France ,which has excellent nutty flavour but is less sweet than Egremont Russet.

 

Ribston Pippin

Season: October to December

 

Late dessert apple discovered in Knaresborough, Yorks in C19th century. Good flavour with nice balance of acid and sugar, with slight hint of pear drops. One of the best loved apples of Victorian era.

 

Cox Lavera

Season: October to January

 

This is a modern cross between the well known Cox Orange Pippin raised in about 1825 in Slough and Lavera. Sweet with intense aromatic flavour.

 

 

 

Ashmead’s Kernel

Season: December to February

 

A late season apple with a sweet sharp intense flavour and highly aromatic. Raised in West Gloucestershire by Dr Ashmead in about 1700 and is well liked by connoisseurs.

 

Sturmer Pippin:

Season: January to April

 

Late season  apple, raised in Sturmer, near Haverhill ,Suffolk in 1831 It formed basis of Australia/NZ export trade to UK. It has a strong aromatic flavour and is  juicy and crisp and stores well. It is a dual purpose apple: a cooker before Christmas and a dessert apple in the New Year.

 

Bert Eastman of Whatfield says:

”The Sturmer Pippins we buy from George Hodgkinson’s Suffolk Orchard are superb and give us the best flavoured dual purpose apple we have ever tasted .But the great bonus is that it sees us through from early November to early May with a crisp and juicy English apple”

 

 

 

Cooking Apples

 

Lord Derby

Season: October to December

 

Fruits have a mild sharp flavour and remain intact when cooked. Originates from Stockport,Cheshire in 1862

 

Lady Henniker

Season: November to January

 

Old English dual purpose apple, with angular shape, raised Thornham Hall, Eye ,Suffolk around 1850. Flavour as dessert is mildly acidic and aromatic.When cooked remains acidic with lovely flavour.

 

Lady Julia Henniker says of this apple:”It is a lovely and useful apple as it keeps well after Christmas and makes marvellous baked apple as it is so large”