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
compiled by Nigel Deacon / Diversity website
