Foxwhelp

type: Cider

synonyms: Foxwell, Old Foxwhelp, also Fauxwhelp although this name is used for a cider variety which is marketed as Foxwhelp, possibly a limb mutation, but is vastly inferior.

summary: A full-bodied, vintage English cider variety in use since the 1600s.

identification: Small to medium size, round to round flattened. Irregularly ribbed and ridged around the calyx basin. The base colour is yellowish, but much of the fruit is washed bright crimson and marked with a dense pattern of bright red stripes, except for the shaded side where stripes of yellow show through. Scab-like patches are distinctive to this variety. The stem is medium length and slender, set in a deep and narrow cavity which is lightly russeted. The calyx is moderately large and tightly closed, set in a narrow, shallow and puckered basin.

characteristics: The flesh is yellowish with red stains, tender. Tart and very bitter. Highly aromatic.

uses: Primarily used for the making of hard cider.

origins: This is a traditional bittersharp cider variety used throughout the Gloustershire (U.K.) for making cider in the 1600s. It was first documented by Ralph Austen in the 1653 edition of his "A Treatise on Fruit-trees" and again in 1664 by John Evelyn in "Pomona." John Worlidge also refers to it in "Vinetum Britannicum" which was published in 1676 with the comment "The Fox-whelp is esteemed among the choice Cider-fruits." While there seems to be no record of its ancestry, it is generally accepted that the Foxwhelp originated in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. The question is whether the original Foxwhelp—distinguished as the Old Foxwhelp—described by John Evelyn and highly regarded by cider-makers throughout the West Midlands still exists. The variety has a distinct predilection to growing limb mutations—known as sports—and the variety was held in such high regard that the name Foxwhelp was often used in order to benefit from that reputation. During the mid-1900s, the Long Ashton Research Station did use a number of trees in an old Gloucestershire orchard for propogation. However, the variety was propagated so widely that it is difficult to determine these days which is the Old Foxwhelp and which is a sport. Some so lack the finer qualities of the original cider apple that they are lumped together under the name Fauxwhelp. There is no indication of its parentage.

cultivation: Moderately vigorous, upright spreading growth habit. Bears fruit on spurs. Biennial

mutations: Black Foxwhelp , Broxwood Foxwhelp , New Foxwhelp , Red Foxwhelp

cold storage: Keeps about a month.

vulnerabilities: Susceptible to scab.

harvest: Starting early in the fifth period, over a span of several weeks.

notes: The Foxwhelp seems to be highly prone to growing mutations which accounts for so many variations and irregularities within this variety. Care needs to be taken in selecting the Foxwhelp in North America since trees sold as such are often not the true cultivar but rather a cooking apple which may have been mislabelled or else, according to one theory, apples that developed off an interstem. These are not suitable for cider making.

juice character: The pressed juice is golden in colour and has a pronounced musky aroma which has been described as reminiscent of a fox den, hence the name Foxwhelp. British style hard cider, usually blended.

juice_classification: Bittersharp