Synonyms: Belfort

Summary: Originating in Italy, this large, fresh-eating apple offers a refreshing sweet-tart flavour.

Identification: Small, tending to medium size. Round to round-conic in shape, sometimes lopsided. The base colour is yellow over which is a deep red wash on the sun-exposed face. Bright red, broken stripes radiate off the stem cavity's shoulder. Sparsely marked with light coloured lenticels. The calyx is small and tightly closed, set in a funnel shaped basin. The stem is short and medium stout, set in a deep and narrow cavity. The skin is somewhat thick and turns waxy when ripe.

Characteristics: The flesh is cream-coloured, firm and fine-grained. Vinous with a distinct raspberry flavour.

Uses: Dessert, also for cooking.

Origins: A wild seedling found near San Pietro Capofiume, Bologna (Italy), in 1896.

Cultivation: Vigorous. Precocious. Requires rich, moist and well drained soil, does not react well to drought conditions.

Ploidism: Diploid. Self sterile.

Cold storage: Keeps up to five months

Vulnerabilities: Highly susceptible to fireblight.

Harvest: In the middle of the fifth period.

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Apples with a similar sounding name: