National Bramley Apple Week (UK)

 

Bramley Apples are widely considered to be the cook's choice for cooking apples and have become one of the most popular cooking apples used in the UK, available to buy all year. They have a tart flavour which is generally not suitable to eat raw plus the added bonus of an excellent texture when cooked. They also have a higher acidity which lends for a stronger more "appley" taste.

 

 

History

 

The Bramley apple hails from Nottinghamshire UK.  A young girl called Mary Ann Brailsford who lived in  Southwell, Nottinghamshire is believed to have sown some apple pips in her garden between 1809 and 1813 one of which which grew into the first Bramley apple tree.  Unfortunately, it isn't known from where she got the original pips, however the nature of sowing seed from fruit is that they often don't mirror the original plant so it is safe to say that the original fruit from where she took the pip bore little resemblance to today's Bramleys.

 

By 1837 the tree was bearing its first fruit and in 1846 Matthew Bramley, a local butcher,  bought the cottage complete with garden and tree. It was whilst he was there that a local nurseryman called Henry Merryweather recognised the commercial potential of the fruit and asked if he could take cuttings from the tree which would reproduce true to type specimens. Mr Bramley agreed, with the proviso that the apples should be named after him.

 

Apparently, the original tree is still bearing fruit today.
 

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Bramleys in Cooking

As mentioned above,  Bramley apples are ideal for use in recipes because of their heightened appley taste and good texture once cooked. They work very well in most recipes including  pies, crumbles, compotes and most other desserts as well as  chutneys and are equally as good used in savoury dishes and sauces.

In general, prepare the fruit by peeling then cutting into slices. Sprinkling with lemon juice prevents them going brown. Remember the fruit is very sharp,  so care should be taken to add sufficient sweetener to compensate in dessert dishes.

 

They can be used in any recipe calling for "cooking apples".

 

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Recipes

 

Below are a few sweet and savoury recipes using cooking apples. To find more use the search page and type in "cooking apples".

 

V = Vegetarian       GF = Gluten/wheat Free      DF = Dairy Free
	Lentil Winter Supper     V   GF Liver with Apples Cotswolds Squab Pie Stuffed Cabbage     V   GF Apple and Potato Mash     V   GF Apple and Maple Sauce    Vegan    GF   DF Apple and Celery Stuffing Sultana and Apple Clafoutis    V Traditional Apple Pie    V Blackberry and Apple DumplingsV Apple Gingerbread    V