But how can you tell when the
apples on the tree will ripen?
You do get Summer Apples, they will ripen in late August, they tend to be
softer, sweeter and can be eaten straight off the tree but they will not keep
or cook well. We have picked a few in readiness for pressing into juice.
More common Autumnal Apples will ripen in late
September or October. The simplest way to check them for ripeness is to cut an Apple in half and inspect the pips; if they are brown or black, the fruit is
ripe, if they are white, green or yellow it is unripe.
Some apples will naturally fall
from the tree prior to the bulk ripening, especially if it has been windy; this is quite
normal and you can assist nature by picking off any under-developed, diseased
or vaguely runty fruit. By doing this, you help the tree, by allowing it to put its valuable energy resources
into the better quality fruit, which will fatten up as a result. Each tree will
produce a certain weight of fruit – it can be fewer larger Apples or lots of smaller ones.
People do ask me how to identify Apple types and specific “heritage varieties” but to be frank; I leave this kind of thing to the “Experts” or pedants as I prefer to call
them. Every time an Apple pip grows into a tree, it develops a completely new
type of fruit, a totally new variety is born (How exciting!). The original Granny Smith tree still lives and
all other Granny Smith fruit is grown from cuttings grafted onto root-stock. Crab Apples are actually the only native UK Apples; the others were introduced by
the Romans, along with a few other things!
If not…
Simple!
To me the most important Apple questions are these…
- What do they taste like? Are they eaters or cookers?
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