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English Apples - Wyggeston Pippin

This is, in a warm year, a good, rich flavoured dual purpose apple with a smooth, matt skin which I found in a hedge on the edge of the college grounds where I work (Wyggeston & Queen Elizabeth College, Leicester). It's fairly early, with a peculiar shape, quite large, and has a hint of crab apple in its flavour. In a cold year it's a depressing, sour apple with a metallic edge to its taste; in the way that Allington Pippin is disappointing when it's not had enough sun. W.P. in these years is acidic and too sour to eat as dessert, and best used as an early cooker. It responds well to a sunny site. The fruit texture is firm; in good years the taste is excellent.

Its main virtue is that the tree is reliable; it's loaded with fruit every year, which is why I propogated it. Frequently one can find sextets of fruit just after fruit-set. It's also a good early cider apple, taking the place of Bramley or Tom Putt in a blend when not fully ripe .It ripens later than Devonshire Quarrenden and Merton Knave but before Laxton's Fortune. On its own roots the tree is about the size of unpruned MM106 or M11.

Pictures (click on small images for detail):

Blossom



Fruit





Sextet

compiled by Nigel Deacon / Diversity website

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