'Brown Snout' is a 19th-century

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...

of cider apple originating in

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, though now grown in other counties and parts of the world.

History

Although several different apple varieties have been given this name in the past,Morgan, ''The New Book of Apples'', 2013, lvii the familiar 'Brown Snout' cultivar of apple is said to have been discovered on the farm of a Mr Dent at

Yarkhill Yarkhill is a village in Herefordshire, England located about from both Hereford and Ledbury. The village is Anglo-Saxon in origin and is a much dispersed parish, with no definable nucleus, of approximately 145 homes spread over some , compri ...

, Herefordshire, in the middle of the 19th century.Copas, L. ''A Somerset Pomona: the cider apples of Somerset'', Dovecote, 2001, p.26 It was subsequently widely propagated by the

H. P. Bulmer H.P. Bulmer is a cider-making company founded in 1887 in Hereford, England. The company's two principal brands are its own Bulmers cider, which is sold worldwide, and Strongbow, which is sold across Europe, the US & Canada, Oceania and Ea ...

company of Hereford, and was planted in orchards across the west Midlands and, less commonly, in parts of the

West Country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Gloucesters ...

. The Brown Snout remains a popular cultivar in traditional cider making.

Characteristics

It is a late-flowering variety, classed as a "bittersweet" apple, with relatively high

tannin Tannins (or tannoids) are a class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids. The term ''tannin'' (from Anglo-Norman ''tanner'', ...

s and low levels of

malic acid Malic acid is an organic compound with the molecular formula . It is a dicarboxylic acid that is made by all living organisms, contributes to the sour taste of fruits, and is used as a food additive. Malic acid has two stereoisomeric forms ...

. It makes a medium-sized tree with a stiffly upright habit. The fruit are small and green, with patches of

russeting Russeting or russetting is an abnormality of fruit skin which manifests in russet-colored (brownish) patches that are rougher than healthy skin. It is a common feature in apples and pears. Russeting is typically an undesirable trait, which reduce ...

, and a large patch of russeting at the

calyx Calyx or calyce (plural "calyces"), from the Latin ''calix'' which itself comes from the Ancient Greek ''κάλυξ'' (''kálux'') meaning "husk" or "pod", may refer to: Biology * Calyx (anatomy), collective name for several cup-like structures ...

end, giving the variety its name. 'Brown Snout' is very susceptible to fire blight.

References

{{Apples, state=collapsed Apple cultivars British apples Cider apples