Court of Wick

type: Cider, Dessert

synonyms: Anis Seed, Aniseed, Barlow, Court of Wick Pippin, Court of Wyck, Fry’s Kingswick, Fry's Pippin, Golden Drop, Kingswick Pippin, Knightwich Pippin, Knightwick, Knightwick Pippin, Philip’s Reinette, Phillip’s Reinette, Rendell’s Pippin, Richlieu Pearmain, Rival Golden Pippin, Transparent Pippin, Weeks’ Pippin, Wick’s Pippin, Wood’s Huntington, Wood’s New Transparent, Wood’s Transparent, Wood’s Transparent Pippin, Wood's Huntingdon, Yellow Pippin

summary: A highly regarded dessert apple that originated in the late 1700s and is still grown today. Often used for making cider.

identification: Small to medium, round to round-conic. Green yellow maturing to golden yellow base colour over which is a red to pale orange flush and marked with abundant russetted lenticels. The stem is short and slender, set in a wide and open, russeted cavity surrounded by a thin, olive green russet that can extend onto the shoulder with rays onto the face. The calyx is large and wide open, set a shallow basin.

characteristics: The flesh is yellowish, tender, crisp. Very juicy, fruity and richly-flavoured. Sweet-sharp.

origins: Open pollinated seedling of Golden Pippin first introduced in 1790 by Wood of Huntingdon, but may have been grown earlier at the Court of Wick, Yatton, Somerset (U.K.). Widely grown in the West Country in the 1802. It was referred to as Wood's Pippin in honour of the Huntington (U.K.) nurseryman who propagated and sold the trees during the late 1700s. Robert Hogg stated in the 1851 edition of his "British Pomology" that "This variety is said to have originated at Court of Wick, in Somersetshire, and to have been raised from a pip of the Golden Pippin. It was first mentioned by William Forsyth, but I have not been able to discover any facts relative to its history." Forsyth does indeed provide information on the apple in his "A Treatise on the Culture and Management of Fruit Trees" (published 1818) in which he quotes John Billingsley in the 1794 "Survey of Somersetshire" (published 1794). "The favourite apple, both as table and cider fruit, is the Court-of-Week Pippin; taking its name from the spot where it was first produced. It originated from the pip, or seed, of the Golden Pippin, and may be considered as a beautiful variety of that fruit. In shape, colour, and flavour, it has not its superior."

cultivation: Vigorous. Spur bearer. Produces heavy crops

cold storage: Keeps up to three months in storage.

vulnerabilities: Resistant to canker, mildew,

harvest: Late in the fourth period.