At the Family Fun Day visitors had the opportunity to taste a selection of our heritage apple varieties and voted for their favourite.
The winner was Chiver’s Delight, closely followed by Orleans Reinette. Chiver’s Delight was bred at Chivers Farm, Histon, near Cambridge in the 1920’s. It is crisp, juicy and sweet, with creamy white flesh. Orleans Reinette is an even older variety, originating in France in the 1700’s, and is still being grown 300 years later as it remains popular for its superb flavour.
Other tasty traditional varieties that garnered votes included Darcy Spice (from near Colchester in about 1785), Adam’s Pearmain (Norfolk, 1826) and Ashmead’s Kernel (Gloucestershire, 1700).
Also on taste were local varieties Lady Henniker (Eye, 1850’s) and Sturmer Pippin (Sturmer, 1800) – the latter was quite sharp but will probably taste better in a couple of months!
All these varieties are currently for sale in the Veg Shed along with Rosemary’s Russet, Maxton, Tydeman’s Late Orange, Blenheim Orange and Ellison’s Orange as well as a number of cooking apples: Striped Beefing, Morley’s Seedling and Catherine.
We have over 30 varieties of apple in our orchard – either local to Suffolk and elsewhere in East Anglia or heritage varieties. Come along and get your tasty bite of fruity history.
