I had the idea that we could use a thread to introduce old, local or virtually unknown varieties of fruit. There must be hundreds of local varieties that are known and loved in one region and completely unknown in the next. Since I’m from Switzerland most of you won’t know the heritage varieties of my country, so I’ll introduce a few of them. Most pictures were not made by me and sadly don’t show trees in my orchard.
Meaning of Name: Lion Apple
Synonym: Murech
Age and Origin: at least 18 century in the canton of Schwyz
Use: sweet cider
Pros: big harvests, low susceptibility to scab
Cons: Biennial, very susceptible to fireblight, comes late into bearing
Tree: very vigorous, too much pruning is contraproductive, gets very big
Was a very popular cider apple but is now no longer recomended because of fire blight.
Personal experiences: very strong, upright growth. No instances of fireblight. No blossoms in ~15 years Update spring 2020: one flowercluster
Meaning of name: wine-apple from Thurgau
Synonym: Petite Vineuse, Kleiner Weinapfel
Age and origin: before the 19th century in the canton of Thurgau, the apple center of Switzerland, seedling of Fraurotacher
Use: sweet and sour cider, eating, culinary
Pros: ripens in september, keeps until march, no scab and mildew
Cons: biennial
Tree: healthy, robust, doesn’t like standing wetness, late bloom, makes a flatround crown
Update Spring 2020: not sure if this tree really qualifies as robust since it got quite a bit of mildew. Plus it gets aphids every year
Iduna:
Age and Origin: Bred in the 70ies by the Federal Agricultural Research Station, named and released in the 90ies, Parents are Golden Delicious and Glockenapfel
Use: dessert apple
Fruit: ripens very late, Beginning of november (similar to Pink Lady), keeps at least until january, in CA until June. Dense flesh, tastes like a prefect mix between the parents
Pros: very tasty, little mildew
Cons: susceptible to scab, has to be thinned well
Personal experience: very susceptible to erisoma lanigerum, normally less attractive than the picture
Bohnapfel:
Full name: Grosser Rheinischer Bohnapfel
Meaning: Big Bean-apple of the Rhine
Age and Origin: between 1750 and 1800 in the german Rhine valley. Chance seedling
Use: sweet cider, hard cider, culinary
Fruit: ripens mid October, edible at the earliest in february, keeps until June. Hard, dry flesh that gets juicy and sweet with storage
Pros: almost no scab
Cons: cancer in wet locations, comes late into bearing
Tree: gets very big, robust and frost-hardy
One of the best known old varieties. Still reccomended for cider.
Personal experience: Upright growing, probably tip-bearer, doesn’t form fruit spurs
Bohnapfel, planted 2005 in winter 2017
You’re right. My intention was to make a thread where other people can show their local varieties, too. If that happens I can always change the title back.
Great pics of some very nice looking varieties @Oepfeli. Will love to aee what all types you post
We have a smaller sour green apple that my wife’s family calls a Key Apple. I have no pics of the apple right now but will later on in the summer. It is an apple that was a seedling that they have spread sprouts of all around and several people have grown it in my lifetime and I am trying to get it to grow in my orchard as well.
My mother in laws maiden name is Key and either her dad or grandfather raised the first one of these from a seedling (or at least that is what I am thinking) They may have found it and brought it to their farm though but it was so many years ago now that that bit of history of the apple is lost to time…
Meaning of Name: Probably named after the breeder
Age and Origin: a cross between Jonathan and Glockenapfel, 1943 in the canton of Zürich
Fruit: juicy, october to march
Use: dessert apple
Pros: low scab susceptibility, robust, good pollen
Cons:?
Tree: moderately vigorous, for high altitudes
For some reason Stäubli 2 never had commercial success. If it’s the asymetrical look or maybe a more serious problem I don’t know. We have a Stäubli, maybe if we are lucky I can this year report on the fruit.
The Sauergrauech is one of the most famous cider apples of Switzerland.
Meaning of Name: Sour-Greyling, because it has a white bloom.
Use: a very juicy cider apple that makes very balanced cider, also good for drying and dessert apple
Age and origin: probably 19th. Century in the canton of Berne, chance seedling
Fruit: small to middle, white bloom makes fruit look lilac. Ripens end of september, but keeps long on the tree.
At the place I worked they pressed cider every thursday in the fall. And every batch of cider had to have Sauergrauch in it. So every wednesday we shook the tree and picked up the apples. The ones that remained on the tree stayed somehow the same. If you let them, the fruit keep hanging long after the leaves had fallen and shrivel in the tree.
Pros: big harvests, generally robust tree
Cons: suspesctible to scab in unfavourable places, biennial, needs long to get into bearing
Tree: needs good soil, then suitable for higher altitudes, frost-hardy, not for regions with high fireblight pressure
42 year old Sauergrauech in the orchard of my friend
Use: a fall dessert apple, similar to Gravenstein
Age and Origin: bred by the Federal Agricultural Research Station, a cross between Golden Delicious and Swiss Orange.
Fruit: very juicy with a refreshing acidity
Pros: more robust than Gravenstein
Cons: susceptible to scab, similar to Gala
Goro has almost vanished from comercial orchards since it is of similar quality to Gravenstein but not suitable for organic farming. Plus Gravenstein looks better. Originally it was marketed as the Gravenstein for the organic farmer, but I have found a study that found that it wasn’t suitable for it.
Thank you, so am I. I have selected Roussillion Red Abricot, A local very deep red, but very sweet local Peche de Vigne, A Mirabelle de Nancy, which I adore, and quelques Agrumes. Citrus, Lemon, A new variety simply called ‘Lime Cumquat’ and perhaps a Blood Orange if I have room. Will take a special pastry course for tart making with lemons. Should be great.
Sounds great! We have a Mirabelle de Nancy too! The tree does great but I guess we pushed the zone to far for fruit
Lemon tarts sounds very interesting
Do you know why it’s called that?
