The small, sweet Doddin (Daddin) apple is a native of  Worcestershire and thanks to a few dedicated people, is set to make a comeback.

What is the Doddin?

Small, sweet fruits made this a popular "scrumper's" apple

The Doddin (sometimes pronounced Daddin) is an apple tree that is rather diminutive in size but produces heavy yields of equally diminutive but juicy and very sweet apples.

Doddin apples are ready for harvest in July.  Pale green in colour, they are slightly larger than a golf ball and a little elongated.

They are best eaten within a few days of picking and are eaten whole, including the core.  A real hit with children due to it's small size.

A Doddin tree grows freely on its own rootstock and tolerates wet and heavy clay soils.

Doddin Preservation Society

It is thought that the Doddin apple tree is found only in the town of Redditch, Worcestershire, England and the immediate surrounding area. The actual numbers of native Doddin are not known but there are probably less than twenty.

The Doddin Preservation Society, is a not for profit organisation whose aims are to;

• Discover and, where possible, preserve existing specimens and  encourage others to do so.
• Keep The Doddin name in the public domain.
• Reproduce, by vegetative means, The Doddin and endeavour to raise specimen numbers.
• Get The Doddin recognised as a variety and to be accepted by the national collection at Brogdale.

World War II

An unpruned, unfed Doddin shows it's natural shrubby nature

Pip Taylor of The Doddin Preservation Society said;

"I remember my father telling me of The Doddin and of how it was an important crop for the people of Redditch during the War.

The apple's virtues are; cropping early in July, thus extending the apple harvest, very sweet and bite size.

During wartime England, when sweets had disappeared from shop shelves, The Doddin could send a child in raptures of ecstasy with just one bite.

The sweetness is exceptional, combined with the low level of malic acid so, with its deminutive size it lent itself nicely to a sweet substitute. Bought for a penny a bag it was not unusual for locals to take them into cinemas.

Eaten whole, there would be nothing left but the stalk. The only drawback is the high tannin levels which can turn the teeth brown".

Doddin's Fall and Rise

With the expansion of Redditch, which was designated a New Town in the early 1970s, most of The Doddin trees in gardens and allotments disappeared under the new ring roads and housing developments.

Recently, Pip Taylor became concerned that the younger generation and those recent to the town, would not know of The Doddin and may cut down existing trees.

Kevin taking cuttings from a well fed Doddin

Pip's hope was for nothing more than to get the apple's name in the local press but with the help of Kevin O'Neil of Walcot Nursery, Drakes Broughton, Worcestershire, they managed to get a good number of maiden Doddins ready for sale.

Kevin took material from a local Doddin to graft onto various rootstocks for bare root maidens which where ready in November 2010.

Judging from the response, these are popular little trees and would be well suited to the smaller gardens of today or even container planting.

Doddins throw suckers and unlike many commercial apples, they survive quite well on their own rootstock.

It is not known yet, just how long a tree will take to bear fruit but they are slow growing and the picture below, is of a tree which is thought to be the oldest at about 80 years old, showing just how diminutive they are.

We have been told that there are only a few plants remaining from the 2008/2009 cuttings but new stock is quite likely to be grafted this year.

If you are keen to own a Doddin, it is suggested that you contact Walcot Nurseries to reserve your plant.  The Doddin is probably the earliest fruiting apple known and as such is not likely to tolerate climates which suffer late frosts.

Doddins on the map

Apple scrumping memories from an 80 year old tree

The Doddin Preservation Society are trying to place all known Doddin trees on the map and would love to hear from anybody who thinks they may have one.

We at Oldvaieties.com would be interested to know how many Doddins still survive and if you know of any stories or folklore surrounding this fruit.

Is this the oldest Doddin tree?

How was the fruit used?

Do you have an old Doddin recipe?

Contact us using the comments section at the end of this article.

More information

Doddin Preservation Society

Walcot Organic Nursery - A selection of traditional and modern fruit tree varieties.

BBC - Rare apple planted in local orchard.

Our three year old heritage apple trees have yielded their first fruits this year and the taste is out of this world!.

September has arrived and with it, the first crop of apples from our recently planted heritage apple orchard and although the yield is

Scotch Bridget

not vast, the taste and quality of the fruit cannot compare to the bland supermarket varieties.

We planted five eating apples and five cooking apples, all of varieties suited to a northern climate and all grafted onto dwarf rootstock, which should give us more manageable plants.

Our apples were supplied by Adam's Apples in Devon and we sought their advice on the best varieties suited to our region which would tolerate being grown as cordons or small trees.  On tasting, I have to say, the selection is outstanding; the eating apples have such diverse flavours and colours and the cooking apples have wonderful textures and flavours.

The crop this year has not been big enough to store but some of the cooking apples have been prepared for the freezer and should last well into the winter.

We always garden organically, using no pesticides or fungicides and as a result, one or two of the fruits may have the occasional blemish but these are nothing more than slight skin imperfections and in no way detract from the flavour of the fruits.

The trees will be given a good mulch and feed this winter and we look forward to next year's crop.

More information

Adam's Apples - Talaton plants in Devon supply a huge range of heritage apple varieties along with very helpful advice and expertise.

200 years ago the first Bramley grew from a pip planted in the garden of Mary Ann Brailsford in Southwell and took its now famous name when local butcher Matthew Bramley purchased the garden.

A British grown Bramley apple

The original tree bears fruit to this day but in 1997 the University of Nottingham cloned the tree.

It is now possible to enjoy the authentic taste and texture of this famous fruit, even in small gardens.  Some of the clones of this ancient apple have now been grafted onto very dwarf M27 rootstock and are available by mail order from Marshalls.

The 200th anniversary celebrations will commence with Bramley Apple week on the 1st - 8th February with events continuing right through to October. Find out further details in the BBC Local History article Birth of the Bramley.

Bramleyapples.co.uk For more info on the Bramley Apple and 200th Anniversary events.  Here you will also find a wide selection of recipes and sign up to their newsletter and podcasts.

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