Apples Through the Year

This is a page where I am listing apples as they ripen through the season. To help those who visit the page regularly, new information is posted at the TOP, so earlier apples appear at the bottom of the page. Click on the thumbnails for better pictures.

WYGGESTON PIPPIN
One of our Leicestershire Unique Seedlings; discovered locally. The flavour varies from year to year; in sunny years it has a strong, sweet, rustic flavour and good colouration. It is also quite highly scented; a hint of roses. The fruit will keep for a few days. It is an unusually regular cropper. Usually scores 3 or 4 in our tastings.

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ROSETTE
This seems to be quite closely related to Discovery; it has the same shape and size, ripens at about the same time (a few days later) and has a similar superb flavour. It usually scores 5/5 in our tastings. The flavour is slightly milder and more berry-like than Discovery, and it has a beautiful internal red/white colouration; hence the name. They only keep a couple of days and are best eaten fresh off the tree. They are generally red-skinned, all over.

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DISCOVERY
This generally scores 5/5 in our tastings and is a superb apple. The tree is scab resistant. Fruit ripens early; roughly mid-August onwards, though obviously dependent on the season. Unfortunately after a couple of days off the tree it's lost most of its flavour, so you only need a small tree. They don't store. The picture shows an apple with a good red colouration; some of them have patches of green.

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DUBBELMAN
A pleasant, sweet, sightly-floral tasting early red apple with interesting flesh colouration: crimson some years, off-white in others, depending on the night-time temperatures during the ripening period. Ripens at about the same time as Discovery.

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DEVONSHIRE QUARRENDEN
Generally ready in August-September, slightly earlier than Discovery. Shiny dessert apple; slightly angular and flat. Colour: dark crimson with traces of green; crisp distinctive flavour; faint hints of strawberry. The tree is upright but spreads as it matures. A very old variety (recorded 1685) - the parent of Worcester Pearmain. Internal colouration can be pink in good-flavoured years. They will keep for a few days. There is a tendency to biennial bearing.

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HALL'S PINK
Ready just before Discovery. This is a softer, more mild-flavoured apple with an excellent flavour; usually scores 4 or 5 in our tastings. The skin is shiny and very thin and the apple comes across as warm and pleasant. It is best picked and eaten on a sunny day, not stored, though it will keep for 3-4 days in good condition. The flesh is tinted pink in some years.

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SCARLET SURPRISE
An apple almost indistinguishable from Almata, but slightly larger and ripens about a week later; in 2017 they were ready on 15 Aug. The flavour is mildly tart and sweet when fully ripe. It has bright crimson flesh and a similar red skin with faint lenticels. Like Almata, some fruit are slightly elongated; the shape varies between individual fruits. The blossom is pale pink, like mother-of-pearl.

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ALMATA
A small redfleshed apple with pleasant sweet taste and attractive appearance, ready this year around 5 Aug. It looks better than it tastes (flavour score usually 3) but its bright crimson flesh is spectacular and a real talking point. Very useful in fruit salads. It only keeps for a couple of days once picked, and it bruises easily. Slightly tart without complexity; some berry-like flavours and more tannin than most mainstream eating apples. The blossom is crimson.

LEICESTERSHIRE SWEETINGS
This is a very small apple; usually the first of the season, ripening about three weeks before Discovery; this year (2017) they were ready on 10 July. Their flavour is a little like that of the first new potatoes; warm and fresh; pleasantly mild and agreeable. They are quite sweet but not overly so, and a reminder that the best apples are yet to come. They should be eaten within a day of picking. They keep ripening over a three-week period.

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ND / habitat21.

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