spotted dick

Spotted Dick is an old, English bittersweet cider apple local to the Honiton area of East Devon. It may be of value to US cider-makers and may also have promise as a culinary apple. The name is likely due to its distinctively prominent lenticels (the spots). There is also the famous English dessert of the same name. On the “daring gourmet” website they describe the dessert as, “A quintessential British dessert, Spotted Dick represents everything that is delicious about traditional English cooking. Tender steamed pudding dotted with succulent black currants is drizzled with a luxuriously rich and creamy vanilla custard. It’s heaven!”

The apple Spotted Dick is medium-sized, round, and slightly ribbed. The ground color is yellow with a pinkish-red blush and spotted with small, prominent, russet dots. The shallow, obtuse cavity sometimes has a russet stem splash. The basin is also shallow and obtuse. It is a very distinctive apple. We currently have one tree on the farm that produces beautiful fruit mid-season and going well although we had to remove a second tree because of fire blight. We obtained our scionwood from Dan Bussey. Currently growing at Super Chilly Farm.