Apples, taxonomically are members of Rosaceae - the Rose family, along with such other yummy edibles as pears, plums, peaches, cherries, strawberries, and raspberries.

DNA analysis indicates that apples originated in the mountains of Kazakhstan ( in the wild apple forests in the Tian Shan Mountains ), where the wild Malus sieversii — the many-times great-grandparent of Malus domestica, the modern domesticated apple — still flourishes.
The Romans practiced the skill of grafting – selectively breeding apples they wanted, based on their size and taste and spread them around. Grafting is the incredible process of taking a cutting from your chosen apple variety and attaching it on to a rootstock (young roots and trunk) from another tree. This is necessary as apple trees grown from seed will not grow true to their parent fruit. It is a skill still used for almost all apple trees grown today.

In Store

All our apples are organic or grown locally without the use of pesticide chemicals.
We also stock Welsh Farmhouse Juices focusing on the varieties which are grown most local to us on the Prince of Wales Llwynywermod estate near Myddfai.

Our in-shop apple season

Aug - Jan/Feb we should have just British apples, often a different variety each week or two
Then Italy takes over with again some interesting/different varieties available
June-early Aug we are apple free as supply moves to Southern Hemispphere - unless some Eurpoean cold store supplies appear, which we will, ofcourse, order in.

Apple Varieties

These are some of the apple varieties we had 2020-2021 season

• Discovery - The early apple. Bright red flush outside and pinkish flesh. Crisp and juicy with a hint of strawberry.
• Scrumptious - Another early variety. Sweet and juicy with a tinge of pink flesh. A cross of Discovery and golden Delicious developed in the 1980's
• James Grieve - A wonderfully flavoured dual purpose apple. Sharp when picked off the tree and a delightful cooking apple. Mellows in to a great eater.
• Red Windsor - A mutation from a German apple called an Alkmene. Ripens early and has a juicy tangy flavor.
• Red Devil - a red fleshed apple, with the bright red skin colour bleeding into the creamy white flesh and leaving an attractive pinkish red stain. The juice is also pink and most beautiful. An excellent eating apple, Red Devil has a sweet strawberry-like flavour.
• Red Pippen - Rich aromatic and sweet. Stores well . An underrated highly coloured fruit
• Ida Red - a round, shiny, bright-red appearance resembles its parent, the Jonathan apple. Ida Red also has a tangy flavor similar to Jonathan. However, Ida Red apples are larger and have crisp, bright-white flesh that gives a firm, juicy bite.
• Lord Lambourne - A crispy juicy mid season apple. A slight bite to taste. A cross between James Grieve and Worcester Pearmain
• Falstaff - A sweet crisp apple that stores well. A cross from james Grieve and Red delicious developed in the 1980's
• Egremont Russet - The flesh is cream, tinged yellow, sweet and firm with an unusual nutty flavour.
• Cox's Orange - The original Cox and the finest flavoured apple in the world. Orange flush over greenish yellow. Deep cream flesh has an aromatic flavour.
• Spartan - A purple apple with extremely crisp and white flesh. Juicy and slightly sharp. A cross of McIntosh and Yellow Newtown Pippin
• Topaz - Medium sized apples red striped over yellow orange background. Has a flavour similar to Lord Lambourne, which is in its parentage, crisp , sweet and juicy with sharpness.

• Bramley - England’s finest cooking apple. Green with an occasional touch of red. Tart flavour unmatched in any imported apple

• Gala - originally from New Zealand it’s a stripy red skinned apple with crisp, sweet, juicy flesh
• Kanzi - the appearance is an alluring promise of crunchy bite and deliciously well-balanced sweet and sour flavour. A flavour that derives from the unique blend of the sweet Gala and the juicy, tangy Braeburn
• Pinova - striated dark red blush over yellow skin is reminiscent of the Cox’s Orange Pippin; the sweet aroma and flavor from the Golden Delicious; and a hint of tartness from the Duchess of Oldenburg. The Pinova apple has a creamy white inner flesh and a crisp, crunchy texture. Its sweet flavor has subtle tropical undertones, such as banana and pineapple.
• Bonita - first planted in 2016, created by crossing Topaz with Cripps Pink. They are also known (rather poetically) as ‘Bittersweet Lady’, perhaps because of their refreshing sweet-sharp flavour: uniquely aromatic, with a crisp, juicy bite. Bonita apples are equally happy crunched as they are, or used in cooking and baking.
• Braeburn - It is crisp, without being hard, and very juicy. It snaps cleanly to the bite, and there is an immediate rush of strong apple flavours. The overall flavour is sharp and refreshing but with a good balance of sweetness - and never sugary.