English Apples - Blackjack
BLACK JACK
Colin Rudling, of Shermanbury, West Sussex, recently asked
"Have you heard of a Black Jack apple? .......
I wonder if you could identify it from this description ....over 50 years ago a neighbouring farmer
(at Shermanbury) had in his garden an apple tree which bore fruit
completely dark red and flattened. The most striking feature was
that it was very, very hard; these apples could be found on the ground
in March in perfect condition, and they could be eaten by cutting
thin biscuit sized slices. They were quite sweet, according to my
grandmother, and the tree kept the farm workers in apples right
though the winter and spring. The tree is no longer standing, but
we called the apples Black Jacks".
........if anyone knows about these apples, or if you
know of a grafted Black Jack tree still in existence, Colin and I would like to hear
from you........N.D..
UPDATE...I have been contacted by a person in Surrey, T.W.,
who knows a of a local Black Jack tree. He has kindly supplied
a sample, and Colin has has identified them as the apple he
remembers. He has also sent some pictures (many thanks):
FURTHER UPDATE: Colin has grafted about a dozen
blackjack trees onto MM106; I also have one.
.....
.....
I am grateful to Alison Lean of Brogdale, who has found one
reference to this variety - it
was apparently exhibited at an apple conference in Sussex in 1934 and
is described
as dark red, flattened and very acidic, though no mention is
made of its
extremely late season.
This variety is not in the National Fruit Collection.
- Mel Wilson found a reference to Blackjack in HOGG:
WINTER COLMAN (Black Jack; Norfolk Colman ; Norfolk Storing]. Fruit, above medium size, three inches wide, and two inches and a quarter high ; roundish and flattened, obtusely angular on the side, and ribbed at the crown. Skin, yellowish green, with a tinge of dull red, on the shaded side, but deep dull mahogany brown on the side next the sun, which becomes clearer and more red as it attains maturity. Eye, with broad, erect, convergent segments, set in a rather shallow and plaited basin. Stamens, median, inclining to basal ; tube, conical. Stalk, short, thick, and deeply inserted. Flesh, firm, crisp, and briskly acid. Cells, round ; axile, closed.
A culinary apple of first-rate quality ; in use from November to April. The tree is a very strong and vigorous grower, so much so, that in its young state it is not a great bearer, but when grafted on the paradise stock it produces abundantly.
ND / Diversity website
