Old Varieties

Celebrating and remembering old fruit and vegetable varieties

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Pippin

Apple – Red Ellison’s Orange

The Red Ellison’s Orange is a more highly coloured sport of Ellison”s Orange and was discovered in 1948 in H.C. Selby’s orchard in Walpole St. peter, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire.

Red Ellison's Orange
Red Ellison's Orange

The Fruits have a soft juicy flesh with a rich and strong aniseed flavour.

Red Ellison’s Orange is a good mid season eating apple.

Uses: Desert
Parents: Female – Cox’s Orange Pippin x Male – Calville Blanc
Flowers: Mid May
Picking: Mid September
Natural Storage: September – October.


The Red Ellison’s Orange apple can be found growing in the orchards of Acorn Bank House, Temple Sowerby, Cumbria.
Young trees available from Adams Apples


Apple – Charles Ross

The Apple Charles Ross was raised by it’s namesake, a gardener at Welford Park Gardens, Newbury, Berkshire.

Charles Ross
Charles Ross

First exhibited in 1890 as Thomas Andrew Knight ( Then President of the Royal Horticultural Society) but renamed Charles Ross at the request of his employer, Captain Carstairs in 1899.

The apple won the RHS Award of merit and a first class certificate in 1899.

Fruits are rather course in texture, juicy and sweet with a moderate flavour.  The skin bears an orange / red flush.

Easy to grow and scab resistant, this apple bakes well and is a valued garden apple.

Uses: Dual purpose (mainly desert)
Parents: Female – Peasgood Nonsuch x Male – Cox’s Orange Pippin
Flowers: Mid May
Picking: Mid September
Natural Storage: October to December.

The Apple Charles Ross can be found growing in the orchards of Acorn Bank House, Temple Sowerby, Cumbria.

Apple – Kidds Orange Red

Kidd’s Orange Red is a classic English apple. Named after an amateur New Zealand apple breeder, J.H. Kidd, in the 1920s.

Kidd's Orange Red
Kidd's Orange Red

The thin skin is yellow with a pink blush as it ripens, turning to an orange-red flush by the time it is ready for picking. Irregular light patches of russet can give it a marbled appearance.

Flesh is a cream colour, dense and firm with a sweet honey flavour.

A good garden apple but not a heavy cropper.



Uses: Desert
Parents: Cox’s Orange Pippin x Red Delicious
Flowers: Mid May
Picking: October
Natural Storage: Nov-Jan

Egremont Russet

A recent visit to one of the local stores and we came across this apple with a local name.

The Egremont Russet, according to the Orange Pippin online directory, is a classic English russet apple from the Victorian era.

The website goes on to say that the apple taste is traditionally described as “nutty”, with a  flavour  more delicate than most varieties, and quite sweet. Both the flavour and the soft flesh are reminiscent of a firm pear. 

The history

The Egremont Russet was first recorded in 1872, and is believed to have been raised by Lord Egremont at Petworth in Sussex, UK.

It received the Award of Merit from the RHS in 1980.

As far as we can acertain the name has no connection to the Northern English town of Egremont, famous for the Crab fair.

Russeting is the term used to describe apples whose skin is dry and coarse, similar to fine sandpaper. 

 

More information

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2003/nov/17/food.foodanddrink

The National Fruit Collection at Brogdale