The Bramley is a large apple that is mainly used for baking and cooking. Despite his British origins, he doesn't like damp and cool weather at all. But it has an interesting history to show.
The Bramley apple (Malus domestica "Bramley's Seedling") is part of British national pride. You can read below where and how the large cider apple thrives best and where its name comes from.
contents
- "Bramley's Seedling": Wanted poster
- Origin and history of the apple
- Apple variety ‘Bramley’: appearance and taste
- Plant and care for Malus ‘Bramley’
- Harvest time and uses of the Bramley apple
"Bramley's Seedling": Wanted poster
| Synonyms | Bramleys, Bramley‘s Seedling, Triomphe de Kiel |
| fruit | Large to very large, green-yellow, little body color |
| taste | Sour, aromatic |
| Yield | Mostly high, mass carriers |
| Harvest time | September |
| Ripe for enjoyment | From November on |
| Shelf life | See you in March |
| growth | Medium to strong |
| floor | Lighter soils recommended |
| Diseases and pests | Susceptible to fruit tree cancer; The flower is sensitive to frost |
Origin and history of the apple
The English apple ‘Bramley's seedling’ is actually wrongly named; strictly speaking, this variety should be called Brailsford's seedling ’. Because the big kitchen apple was made from an apple seed that little Mary Ann Brailsford bought at the beginning of the 19th century. Pottery in a small village in Nottinghamshire in the early 1900s. The girl had simply picked the seeds from an apple that her mother used to bake a cake. Therefore, the parents of the variety are not known to this day. A tree developed from the apple seed, which only began to change into the fertile phase of life after more than ten years, as is the case for the genus Malus is common. By this time the Brailsford family had already moved out and partially died and a butcher named Bramley moved into the cottage. The son of a local tree nursery owner came across the large, green and sour apples that were grown in grew in the butcher's garden, and asked for some cuttings to propagate the tree in the family nursery too to be allowed to. It was only a few years before "Bramley's Seedling" became increasingly popular in the UK. Even today it is produced in many fruit tree nurseries and is particularly popular in English cuisine. Outside of the UK, however, the strain is little known.
Apple variety ‘Bramley’: appearance and taste
The ‘Bramley’ is large to very large and bulbous or flat-round in shape. It is not uncommon for the halves to be unequal, which is due to incomplete fertilization. Accordingly, not all compartments of the large core house often contain a seed. The shell is elastic and shiny and greasy from wax excretions. The basic color is yellowish green and is covered with dots or striped dull red on the sunny side. The ribs, which represent the five carpels, are clearly protruding. The stem is short, thick, and sits in a narrow pit. The pulp of ‘Bramley's Seedling’ is yellowish green and medium to large. The juicy, aromatic pleasure as a pure apple is characterized by the high content of malic acid with a comparatively low sugar content. Therefore ‘Bramley’ is rarely consumed as a table apple.
Plant and care for Malus ‘Bramley’
The ‘Bramley’ can be cultivated as a small tree or as a large, natural tree with the right support, which enriches every orchard. If the tree has been grafted on a poorly growing base such as ‘M27’, it remains small, but it has to lifelong supported by a stable connection, especially when the branches of the mass carrier are in front Bending fruits. It is recommended for medium-sized or large house gardens to refine it on a medium-growing base such as ‘MM111’. In this way, the tree is usually only a maximum of 5 m high. On seedling bases, the ‘Bramley’ can develop into a 7 m high and 5 m wide tree.
In general, the ‘Bramley’ does not love clay-rich, heavy soils, but rather light, sandy soils that warm up quickly in spring. Fog-damp, late frost-prone locations are not well suited, because the mid-early flowering of ‘Bramleys Seedling’ is susceptible to frost. In addition, the ‘Bramley’ apple tree grows heavily vegetatively on soil that is too heavy, which results in more pruning and fewer apples. The location should be sunny and warm.
Good pollinators for ‘Bramley's seedling’ are, for example, ‘Gloster’, Danziger Kantapfel ’,‘ Cox ‘Pomona’ and ‘Croncels’. However, ‘Bramley’ itself is not a good pollinator, as it has a triple set of genes, which explains its size, but makes it impossible to pollinate other varieties.
As a mass carrier, the ‘Bramley’ can easily be driven to alternate, i.e. to annual strongly fluctuating yields, if the cut is wrong. Therefore, a cut should either be carried out rarely and carefully or annually, but never occasionally and radically. more on the subject "Cut apple tree" you can find out in our advanced topic article.
In order to harvest less, but larger fruits and to compensate for an alternation, (too) strong fruit sets can be thinned out. To do this, all but one of the fruits are removed from each fruit cluster, if they are about the size of a hazelnut.
The "Bramleys" are prone to fruit tree cancer. This is particularly evident in locations that are too humid - as a result, infestation can be effectively prevented by choosing an airy, sunny location with permeable soil. The ‘Bramley’ is not susceptible to other diseases.
Harvest time and uses of the Bramley apple
The apple variety ‘Bramley's seedling’ can be harvested in September. Apples harvested early can be kept until March if they are stored in a healthy, 2 to 4 ° C cool, humid place. It will only be ready for consumption from November onwards. However, the aromatic fragrant fruits are not necessarily suitable for direct consumption. Rather, the ‘Bramley’ is now ready to be made into delicious baked apples, apple pie or - very traditionally - into apple sauce. The fruit retains its structure during baking and develops a delicious aroma. The apple is also well suited for must, especially because it simply produces a lot of fruit as a mass carrier on the orchard.
The Bramley’s seedling ’apple is an uncomplicated addition to the home garden that does not plague its owners with diseases. Such a variety is that ‘Rhenish winter rambur’that develops a delicious sweetness.
