Bramley Seedling makes perfect British apple pies
Motherhood and apple pie. Motherhood often means indulging her child. Around 1809 a young British Mary Ann Brailsford planted apple seeds in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, U.K.
Apple trees do not grow true from seed, and even in 1809 farmers knew to graft a stem or scion of wood from the variety they wanted to grow onto a seedling rootstock. Planting apple seeds usually meant bizarre trees with all but inedible sour fruit. Never say you can’t do something to a determined young woman.
Innocent or naïve, Mary Ann planted her apple seeds and left home before the tree bore fruit. The fruitless tree was left in the care of her mother Elizabeth. Finally Mary Ann’s seedling bloomed and bore fruit. Huge deep green apples streaked with red on one side, with pure white flesh and very tart. Perfect for pies. Well, perfect for British pies, which tend to be smoother and saucier, more toward applesauce than traditional American pies. It is this creamy texture that makes the Bramley Seedling apple pie literally melt in your mouth. Even cooked, the Bramley Seedling apples have a deep true apple flavor. Besides pies, the tart apples are great cooked into apple chutney.
Eventually, the tree came into the possession of the local butcher, Matthew Bramley. Finally in 1856 local nurseryman Henry Merryweather’s 17-year-old son took scions and grafted trees for sale. As promised to Mr. Bramley, the trees are even today called “Bramley Seedling.” (Malus domestica ‘Bramley’s Seedling’.)
The Bramley Seedling is making a bit of sensation on this side of the pond and is a new, old-fashioned favorite among heirloom growers.
The tree itself is hardy, doing best in full sun, but putting up with some light shade. Unlike many apple trees, the Bramley Seedling can even tolerate heavy, soggy soils. Bramley Seedling is known as a partial tip-bearer, bearing fruits on the tips or ends of 1-year-old branches. Like many old-fashioned heirloom apples, they will sometimes skip a year of bearing fruit, especially following a heavy crop. In spring, the trees bloom with fragrant pale pink flowers with ripe fruit by October. Every apple variety bears more fruit when pollinated by a different variety. Because Bramley Seedling trees are triploids, they produce little pollen themselves, so they cannot be counted on to pollinate other varieties.
For best results, plant it near two other apple trees. Even ornamental crabapples can pollinate the Bramley Seedling. Trees are available from Trees of Antiquity (www.Treesofantiquity.com, Trees of Antiquity 20 Wellsona Road, Paso Robles, CA 93446; 805-467-9909) or Southmeadow Fruit Gardens (www.southmeadowfruitgardens.com, Southmeadow Fruit Gardens, P.O. Box 211, Baroda, MI 49101’ 269-422-2411).
The gnarled original tree, now more than 200 years old, still blooms every year and still produces crops of giant baking apples. A tribute to going ahead, taking a chance when the world tells you the odds are against planting an apple seed and creating a new apple variety. And of course having a mother standing behind you, and watering your plants when you are gone.
