The Mother of All Bramleys is Not Long for This World

[Recusant]

People say the Bramley is a cooking apple; really too tart for eating fresh. Having grown up eating apples "too early" because we couldn't wait for them to ripen, my taste buds are corrupted and I love a good tart apple, which is why I enjoy Bramleys as they come. The rest of you can cook them if you like. 

I'm afraid I have some sad news for the lovers of the venerable Bramley apple. The original tree, which is over 200 years old, has contracted a fatal disease and is almost certain to die in a year or three. The linked BBC story does an excellent job of telling the lamentable tale but for some video, you'll have to check out the Notts TV site.

Never fear--there are plenty of Bramley scions around (even, apparently, in Japan), so this splendidly tart and eminently cookable apple will continue to grace the palates of malophiles for many years to come.

[Magdalena]

People say the Bramley is a cooking apple; really too tart for eating fresh. Having grown up eating apples "too early" because we couldn't wait for them to ripen, my taste buds are corrupted and I love a good tart apple, which is why I enjoy Bramleys as they come. The rest of you can cook them if you like. 

I'm afraid I have some sad news for the lovers of the venerable Bramley apple. The original tree, which is over 200 years old, has contracted a fatal disease and is almost certain to die in a year or three. The linked BBC story does an excellent job of telling the lamentable tale but for some video, you'll have to check out the Notts TV site.

Never fear--there are plenty of Bramley scions around (even, apparently, in Japan), so this splendidly tart and eminently cookable apple will continue to grace the palates of malophiles for many years to come.

[Ecurb Noselrub]

Today I learned the meaning of "malophile". 

[xSilverPhinx]

Today I learned the meaning of "malophile".

Malophile, I don't like it. 

Reminds me of "mala fides".

[Dave]

Yum, slices of Bramley dipped in sugar!  Sweet and tart together!

Lousy for young teeth but ... (still got most of mine!)

"An apple a day keeps the dentist in pay." (Me)

[OldGit]

They say this 'first' Bramley tree was grown from a pip planted by a girl in 1809.  But where did he pips come from?

[Dave]

They say this 'first' Bramley tree was grown from a pip planted by a girl in 1809.  But where did he pips come from?

It was a mutant pip

Mwahahaha!

[Asmodean]

Antifungals for the tree though, no..?  Some Amphotericin B in the water, perhaps..? 

[Recusant]

They say this 'first' Bramley tree was grown from a pip planted by a girl in 1809.  But where did he pips come from?

That would be interesting to know, but not as significant as might be thought. Apples are "extreme heterozygotes." This means that seeds from a nice eating apple might produce tiny crab apples, or bitterish cider apples, or (in very rare cases) something new and delightful.

Sow seeds from a Honeycrisp apple and, with a little sun and rain, you'll grow apple trees, but not Honeycrisps.

Unlike rice, apples do not breed true; apple varieties must be propagated by grafting scionwood onto rootstock.

Apples are heterozygous, indeed are "extreme" heterozygotes. Their genetic makeup includes variations, or alleles, that combine randomly and cause significant differences from each apple's parents.

People in the US (and I assume in the UK and elsewhere) often used to plant large areas with apple seeds. The apples that came would be of a wide variety, and would almost exclusively be used for cider. However, every once in a while a new variety of cooking apple or eating apple would be produced, and this was a bit like hitting the lottery, because if it was a really nice apple the farmer could make a respectable profit by selling scion stock.

[Dave]

Thanks for that, Recusant.

So my ""mutant"  joke was not a million miles off!