The Wise Apple

Which variety of apple has the distinction of being the oldest still cultivated in England today?

A stroll through the re-creation of Sir Thomas Tresham’s Elizabethan orchard at Lyveden New Bield (National Trust - near Oundle, Northamptonshire) throws up a few likely candidates. Here apple, pear, plum and cherry trees have been planted to the same layout and species mix originally set out by Tresham in the late 16th Century.

The apple varieties include Winter Queening (which originated in Norfolk), Golden Harvey, Dr Harvey, French Crab Apple, Green Custard, Old Permain and the angular coarse-textured Catshead (a large, renowned ‘costard’ cooking apple; the first known variety planted by early settlers of Virginia c.1620).

But further research is rather unhelpful. As you venture into the mists of time, resources rather vaguely describing Winter Queening simply as ‘exceptionally old’ do not help much!

However, away from the orchard, there is one prime stand-out candidate - considered by authorities to have been introduced to this country much earlier than its first literary description c.1613, probably by the Romans.

Court Pendu Plat (literal translation ‘short, hung flat’- referring to the fact that the fruit is retained tight to the branch, rather like a peach) is a dessert variety once grown widely in France and Germany. In England, this late-cropping variety was once extensively cultivated by the Elizabethans, who dubbed it "the wise apple" – the reason being that it flowers much later than most varieties and hence it usually misses the blight of the frost. Wise indeed….

The popularity of Court Pendu Plat endured through Victorian times and since it is featured amongst ‘vintage varieties of Virginia’ on a US-based website, it is apparently another variety which made the long trek across the Atlantic, as ‘comfort food’ for the early settlers.

This leads neatly on to the ultimate question. What does it taste like? The following quote is delightfully ambiguous:

“The flesh is very dense, not soft - but not crisp either. Cutting into it with a knife feels a bit like cutting into a hard cheddar cheese. There seems to be very little juice, and it is not really apple-flavoured at all. The flavour is fruity and strong when picked, and sweetens by Christmas. It is not actually very appealing when you first bite into it, yet is strangely "moreish", with a flavour which is hard to define”

A hint to the flavour might be gathered from a modern-day descendant. In 1955, East Malling successfully crossed this old apple with the more youthful Cox’s Orange Pippin (which dates from around 1825) and produced Suntan. This variety is said to have a distinctive ‘pineapple’ flavour a quality inherited from Court Pendu Plat.

Maybe I can find room on the plot for one more apple tree and maybe it should be a little bit of history.

Andie Smith