Bethel

type: Culinary, Cider, Dessert

synonyms: Often confused with and lumped together with the Stone apple. Sometimes also confused with the Bectel Crab which is an ornamental crab apple.

summary: A handsome and flavourful, multi-purpose apple from the late 1700s, similar to the Stone and Blue Pearmain apples. Very hardy.

identification: Large and round, somewhat conic and often irregular. The skin is smooth and thick with a yellow base colour over which is an extensive red blush and a pattern of darker stripes. The lenticels are large, yellowish and plentiful. The stem is short and slender, set in a deep and wide, russeted cavity.

characteristics: The flesh is yellow, often stained pink next to the skin, moderately tender, coarse-grained and slightly dry. Sprightly.

origins: The story of the Bethel apple starts with David Stone, one of the original settlers of what became known as the town of Bethel along the White River in Princeton County, Vermont. Story has it that Stone and a number of other settlers in the Bethel area were taken prisoner during the course of the Royalton Raid which took place on August 9, 1780 when a party of 21 Mohawk natives attacked the Royalton area, capturing several settlers, Stone included, and driving them north to the Kahnawake Reserve in Quebec (Canada). Some time later, several of the men escaped and made their way back to their homes in Bethel, among them Stone. His route home took him past a cidery where he foraged some fallen apples to eat. He found them so good that he collected a small bag full of pips from those apples to take home. They were almost certain to be Blue Pearmain (Blue Pearmain) apple pips which had been open pollinated. When Stone arrived back home in Bethel, he planted them them around the region. Several of the pips sprouted and eventually bore apples that were remarkably similar to the Blue Pearmain ( Blue Pearmain ) which was widely used for cider making through the northeastern Americas. The Blue Pearmain had originated just a few years prior and had made a name for itself as the essential ingredient in the New England style cider produced extensively around Boston, in what was to become the state of Massachusetts. The Bethel maintains that tradition, bearing excellent all-purpose apples. It has been, to some extent, overshadowed by modern custom bred varieties, it nevertheless has a strong following in the New England states (U.S.A.) and has benefited from the resurgence of heritage breeds. Finding rooted grafts and scionwood is perhaps not easy but it is possible from U.S. nurseries specializing in heritage apple trees.

cultivation: Moderately vigorous, round and spreading tree. Starts to bear fruit quite young and continues to produce good crops annually.,

progeny: Stone

cold storage: Keeps for up to four months in cold storage.

harvest: Ready for harvest in the first half of the fifth period. Tends to drop fruit when ripe or even slightly before. Bruises easily.