Malus domestica (Bramley's Seedling) | |
---|---|
Cultivar | Bramley's Seedling |
Origin | Southwell, Nottinghamshire, England, UK, 1809 [1] |
Malus domestica (Bramley's Seedling, commonly known as the Bramley apple, or simply Bramley, Bramleys or Bramley's) is an English cultivar of apple that is usually eaten cooked due to its sourness. The variety comes from a pip planted by Mary Ann Brailsford. The Concise Household Encyclopedia states, "Some people eat this apple raw in order to cleanse the palate, but Bramley's seedling is essentially the fruit for tart, pie, or dumpling." [2] Once cooked, however, it has a lighter flavour. A peculiarity of the variety is that when cooked it becomes golden and fluffy.
Bramley's Seedling apple trees are large, vigorous, spreading and long-lived. They tolerate some shade. The apples are very large, two or three times the weight of a typical dessert apple. They are flat with a vivid green skin that becomes red on the side that receives direct sunlight. [2] The tree is resistant to apple scab and mildew and does best when grown as a standard in somewhat heavy clay soil. [2] It is a heavy and regular bearer; the apple, nicknamed the "King of Covent Garden", is the only British cooking apple produced all year round. [3]
As a triploid, the tree has sterile pollen. It needs a pollinator but cannot pollinate in return, so it is normally grown with two other varieties of apple for pollination. It has won many awards [4] and currently holds the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit (H4). [5]
Most of the stock of Bramley's Seedling commercially available is slightly different in its growth habit and other characteristics from the original tree, probably because of one or more chance mutations that occurred unnoticed over the years. Plants cloned from the still-surviving (then 180-year-old) tree by tissue culture in 1990 have proved to be much more compact and free-branching than the widely available commercial stock. The cloning work was done to preserve the original by scientists at the University of Nottingham, including Edward Cocking, because the original tree was suffering from old age and was under attack by honey fungus. Twelve of the cloned trees now grow in the University grounds; one was also planted beside the old tree at Southwell, but was cut down when it was 10 years old. [6] In 2024 the artist Dan Llywelyn Hall painted a portrait of the tree in support of a campaign to help support the tree in its declining years. [7]
The first Bramley's Seedling tree grew from pips planted by Mary Ann Brailsford in her garden when she was a young girl in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, UK in 1809. Mary left the house when she married and possibly never saw the apples that were produced. She died in 1852 never knowing that "her" seedling was to become famous. [8] The tree she had planted 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 31 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 6 December 1876, the Bramley was highly commended at the Royal Horticultural Society's Fruit Committee exhibition.
As a young man Henry Merryweather worked as a gardener on the nearby Norwood Park Estate in Nottingham, and when John Ralph Starkey bought the hall, gardens and pasture in 1880, he turned to Henry Merryweather for advice about which apples and fruit he should be planting on his acreage. The Bramley Apple was suggested and the first commercial orchard of Bramley was established in 1910 [9] at Maythorne Orchard, close to the Lower Kirklington Road on what is now a Golf course. [10]
In 1900, the original tree was knocked over during violent storms; it survived, and is still bearing fruit two centuries after it was planted. It was reported in 2016 that the tree was suffering from a fungal infection and could be dying, [11] but it was still producing fruit in 2024, though said to be neglected. [3] The variety is now the most important cooking apple in England and Wales, with 13.5 square miles, 95% of total culinary apple orchards in 2007. [12]
The Bramley is cultivated almost exclusively in the British Isles, though also produced by a few United States farms, [13] and can be found in Canada, Australia [14] and Japan. [15]
At the 2009 bi-centenary, a special display was presented at the Harrogate Autumn Flower Show by the great-grandaughter of Henry Merryweather. [16]
The town of Southwell hosts many celebrations of the Bramley Apple, including the Bramley Apple Festival launched in 2011. [17]
On the third Saturday in October, Southwell Minster hosts the Opening Ceremony and the Food & Drink Festival. The Bramley Apple Inn is located just a few doors away from the original apple tree, [18] which is considered to be a town treasure. In 2018, 27 Church Street was bought by Nottingham Trent University to preserve the building and the tree for posterity.
The tree is not open to the public, [3] but can be visited by appointment.
A blue plaque on the house in Southwell now commemorates the apple, [19] and in 2009 a stained glass window commemorating the 200th anniversary of the planting of the tree was installed in Southwell Minster. [20]
Bramley apples from County Armagh in Northern Ireland have Protected Geographical Indication status within the European Union. [21] The apples have a tarter taste than those grown in England. Over 40,000 tonnes are produced annually. [21]
Bramleys work well in pies, cooked fruit compotes and salads, crumbles, and other dessert dishes. They are also used for chutneys but only form a base for cider, due to their acidity. Whole Bramley apples, cored and filled with dried fruit, baked, and served with custard is an inexpensive and traditional British dessert. Bramleys are also used for apple sauce.
Regardless of the dish, Bramley apples are generally cooked in the same basic way. First the fruit is peeled and then sliced, and the pieces covered in lemon juice (or some other acidic juice) to stop them turning brown. Sugar is often added. In pies and crumbles, the fruit is simply covered with the topping and baked; the moisture in the apples is sufficient to soften them while cooking. The flavour may be spiced, according to taste, with cloves, mixed spice or cinnamon. To make apple sauce, the apples are sliced and then stewed with sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan.
Bramley's Seedling apples are favoured for producing a jelly which is very pale in colour. [22] Because the tree is a heavy cropper and liable to glut, it is a fine candidate for the domestic production of fruit wine, alone or with other fruits, and cider if mixed with a sweeter Cox or similar.
Kiwifruit, or Chinese gooseberry, is the edible berry of several species of woody vines in the genus Actinidia. The most common cultivar group of kiwifruit is oval, about the size of a large hen's egg: 5–8 centimetres in length and 4.5–5.5 cm in diameter. Kiwifruit has a thin, fuzzy, fibrous, tart but edible, light brown skin and light green or golden flesh with rows of tiny, black, edible seeds. The fruit has a soft texture with a sweet and unique flavour.
The McIntosh, McIntosh Red, or colloquially the Mac, is an apple cultivar, the national apple of Canada. The fruit has red and green skin, a tart flavour, and tender white flesh, which ripens in late September. It is considered an all-purpose apple, suitable both for cooking and eating raw.
Fruit tree propagation is usually carried out vegetatively (non-sexually) by grafting or budding a desired variety onto a suitable rootstock.
The persimmon is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus Diospyros. The most widely cultivated of these is the kaki persimmon, Diospyros kaki – Diospyros is in the family Ebenaceae, and a number of non-persimmon species of the genus are grown for ebony timber. In 2022, China produced 77% of the world total of persimmons.
An apple pie is a pie in which the principal filling is apples. Apple pie is often served with whipped cream, ice cream, custard or cheddar cheese. It is generally double-crusted, with pastry both above and below the filling; the upper crust may be solid or latticed. The bottom crust may be baked separately ("blind") to prevent it from getting soggy. Tarte Tatin is baked with the crust on top, but served with it on the bottom.
The quince is the sole member of the genus Cydonia in the Malinae subtribe of the Rosaceae family. It is a deciduous tree that bears hard, aromatic bright golden-yellow pome fruit, similar in appearance to a pear. Ripe quince fruits are hard, tart, and astringent. They are eaten raw or processed into jam, quince cheese, or alcoholic drinks.
Pollination of fruit trees is required to produce seeds with surrounding fruit. It is the process of moving pollen from the anther to the stigma, either in the same flower or in another flower. Some tree species, including many fruit trees, do not produce fruit from self-pollination, so pollinizer trees are planted in orchards.
Passiflora edulis, commonly known as passion fruit, is a vine species of passion flower native to the region of southern Brazil through Paraguay to northern Argentina. It is cultivated commercially in tropical and subtropical areas for its sweet, seedy fruit.
Cider apples are a group of apple cultivars grown for their use in the production of cider. Cider apples are distinguished from "cookers" and "eaters", or dessert apples, by their bitterness or dryness of flavour, qualities which make the fruit unpalatable but can be useful in cidermaking. Some apples are considered to occupy more than one category.
James Grieve is an old variety of apple. It gets its name from its breeder, James Grieve, who raised the apple from pollination of a Pott's Seedling or a Cox's Orange Pippin apple in Edinburgh, Scotland some time before 1893.
The damson or damson plum, also archaically called the "damascene", is an edible drupaceous fruit, a subspecies of the plum tree. Varieties of insititia are found across Europe, but the name damson is derived from and most commonly applied to forms that are native to Great Britain. Damsons are relatively small ovoid plum-like fruit with a distinctive, somewhat astringent taste, and are widely used for culinary purposes, particularly in fruit preserves and jams.
A cooking apple or culinary apple is an apple that is used primarily for cooking, as opposed to a dessert apple, which is eaten raw. Cooking apples are generally larger, and can be tarter than dessert varieties. Some varieties have a firm flesh that does not break down much when cooked. Culinary varieties with a high acid content produce froth when cooked, which is desirable for some recipes. Britain grows a large range of apples specifically for cooking. Worldwide, dual-purpose varieties are more widely grown.
Southwell is a minster and market town, and a civil parish, in the district of Newark and Sherwood in Nottinghamshire, England. It is home to the grade-I listed Southwell Minster, the cathedral of the Anglican Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham. The population of the town was recorded at 7,491 in the 2021 census.
Gala is an apple cultivar with a sweet, mild flavor, a crisp but not hard texture, and a striped or mottled orange or reddish appearance. Originating from New Zealand in the 1930s, similar to most named apples, it is clonally propagated. In 2018, it surpassed Red Delicious as the apple cultivar with the highest production in the United States, according to the US Apple Association. It was the first time in over 50 years that any cultivar was produced more than Red Delicious.
Ashmead's Kernel is a triploid cultivar of apple. Traditionally, Ashmead's Kernel was thought to be diploid but a poor pollinator.
An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree. Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus Malus. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, Malus sieversii, is still found. Apples have been grown for thousands of years in Eurasia and were introduced to North America by European colonists. Apples have religious and mythological significance in many cultures, including Norse, Greek, and European Christian tradition.
'Discovery' is an early season dessert apple cultivar. One of its parents was the 'Worcester Pearmain', with the pollinator 'Beauty of Bath'.
The 'Laxton's Superb' is an apple cultivar that was developed in England in 1897. It is a cross breed between 'Cellini' and 'Cox's Orange Pippin'. It is a British apple with a green color and a dull red flush. It is a firm-textured dessert apple. The fruit is well known for its sweet and aromatic taste, which is likened to the parent cultivar it is derived from, the 'Cox's Orange Pippin'.
Malus domestica Newton Wonder is a cultivar of apple which is usually eaten cooked due to its sourness. The variety has a similar but slightly sweeter taste than the Bramley apple and is usually used in pies or as a preserve.
Dumelow's Seedling is a cultivar of domesticated apple that originated at Shackerstone in Leicestershire where it was grown by Richard Dumeller in 1800. It is known by many other names including 'Dumelow's Crab', 'Wellington', 'Doncklaer', 'Beauty', and 'Belle de Vennes'. The fruit is not ready for harvest until October, being one of the last of the season, and keeps well into the next year. Though inferior for use as a dessert apple it cooks well and in early-20th century England was one of the most valuable varieties of cooking apple.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) DEFRA Orchard fruit survey 2007