|
Issue 1
Volume 1 Autumn/Winter 2000
Welcome to the first issue of our apple club newsletter. The aim of this publication
is to let you know of current happenings on our farm in a light-hearted, yet informative way. We welcome feedback from you, our readers, and we hope to hear from you or see you in the near future.
The fruit we grow
In each issue we will profile one of the apple varieties which we grow, or some of our other fruits. We'll tell you where (and when) they came from, why they were chosen, and what they're used for. In this issue we discuss Ireland's No.1 apple, the Bramley's Seedling cooker.
The Bramley's Seedling
comes from a seed which was taken from an apple by Miss Mary Anne Brailsford in 1809. She planted this seed in her garden in Church Street, Southwell, England. Some time later new owners moved into the house, but the tree was left in the garden. By 1857 the tree was doing very well, and was noticed by a passing nurseryman, a certain Henry Merryweather. He propagated from the original tree and began exhibiting it in 1876, naming it Bramley's Seedling, in honour of the gardens then owners, Mr and Mrs. Bramley. After the Royal Horticultural Society's congress in 1883 it became more widely known and accepted.
The original Bramley tree was blown over in a storm in the early 1900's, but a branch grew up from the main stem, and it in turn became the main trunk, and the tree which it formed still survives today.
The first commercial planting of Bramley's was in 1890 by a Mr. Smith in Loddington, Kent, England. By 1900, many more orchards had been planted, and shortly thereafter the earliest Irish plantings also took place, at least one of which still exists in Co. Dublin.
Nowadays Bramley is the only commercially available apple used solely for cooking. This is a testament to its extra acid characteristics, which come through the sugar in pies and sauces. Unfortunately, many bakeries and pie manufacturers use cheaper out-graded
"pulp" eating apples for their tarts. These products are easily identified because of their over-sweet taste, and also because the Bramley name cannot be used on their labels. However, because of the use of these inferior
"pulp" products in confectionery, many people are no longer buying apple tarts and cakes, and this is leading to a decline in the market for Bramley's, and so growers are reducing their acreage of this apple.
All is not lost though; the Bramley's Seedling apple is still the single most popular variety in Ireland and the UK, its annual crop exceeding that of any eating variety, and estimated to be about 100,000 tons this year. Of this, about 1/3 is grown in Ireland (mostly in Armagh), and we at The Apple Farm have harvested about 100 tons this year.
The Bramley has come a long way from that single tree which can still, be seen in the garden in
Southwell.
|
