court royal

Court Royal is an extremely rare English triploid cider apple that I obtained from the cider historian and collector, John Teiser through collaboration with the USDA APHIS program (T47936A-2a). The scionwood was originally imported under the name of as Cowarne Red, but recent DNA tests in England show it to be Court Royal.

The fruit is large, roundish, blocky and green-skinned with some orange-red blush and stripes. The flesh is sweet and crisp. It is classified as a “sweet” meaning that it’s low in acidity and tannins. It may be useful as a dessert and cooking apple as well as for cider. We have not produced enough fruit yet to give it a proper evaluation. There is a detailed description with photographs of the fruit in Liz Copas’ excellent book, Cider Apples: The New Pomona.

Court Royal has a reputation of being a vigorous tree which has been the case in our trials. Our young trees are huge. It might be useful for topworking other less vigorous varieties. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.