Apple variety Saint Edmund's Russet

St Edmund's Russet, or St Edmund's Pippin is a high quality second early apple. Rosanne Sanders wrote

'It was raised in Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, (south east England,) in 1870 from a chance seedling. The russeting is thin and patchy, the cropping is uncertain, first class flavour, very rich and quite sweet but with a nice balance of acidity' We find it makes a gangly, spreading tree (rather like Irish Peach in that respect) and tends to be a tip bearer which means you have to be careful not to cut all the tips off when pruning.

It has a short shelf life like all early maturing apples, but a richer flavour than most. It is the earliest russet to mature, if you grow both varieties, you will have finished eating these before you start on the Egremont Russet. That's the kind of thing you want to think about when you plan an orchard.

The books say it is ripe in late September to Mid October, we find it is ripe several weeks earlier, but this is dependent on location, soil and season, and also taste-some people like underripe apples as they are sharper and crunchier, others prefer overripe aples as they are softer and spicier. Its a matter of personal preference, all advice about taste and season is generalisations.

This is one for the short list for an early apple of quality, but bear in mind its a light and unreliable cropper.

Category:

Education

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• Pippin
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[Abnormalized]

Stephen, I really enjoy reading all about the flavor and history of each variety of apple on your website and I miss that level of detail in the videos. I understand that might make the vidoes a bit too long, but it'd be nice to hear you describe the taste for those of us who might never get a chance to sample them ;)

[stephenhayesuk]

Thanks, I'm trying to put some tasting notes on the text box in the top right hand corner. Right now we are busy with harvest and marketing, so its all a bit sketchy. Someone like the Royal Horticultural Society or Brogdale national fruit collection, should do this in more detail.

I sometimes joke that the reason why I began this orchard project in 1992 was that I was frustrated reading all the descriptions of rare old apples in the books but never able to taste them!

[Abnormalized]

I'm starting to feel the same way! I absolutely must try that Pitmaston Pineapple someday...

[stephenhayesuk]

Pitmaston Pineapple is astonishingly beautiful, but a very light cropper and a short season of perfection for us. But people go mad for it at the market. One of my top 20 apples, but a commercial non-starter unless people were willing to pay a serious premium price. A video will be forthcoming when its ripe.

[zeu97]

nice , i like these red golden apples :)

[MadBadVoodo]

Five Stars!!