Inspirational Bramley Madness !!!

Let's see how easy it is to send your cells into a cryptic overdrive as they try and untangle these fantastic juicy facts around something which we all use often and possible take very much for granted – the almighty Bramley Apple

Although you can use Bramleys all year round the fruit only crops once, for the rest of the year the fruit is kept in store. If you are using Bramley apple in june (for example) it will definitely have been off of the tree for over 9 months !!!

The history around the trusty Bramley is DEEP - Bramley apples began with a couple of pips planted by Mary Ann Brailsford, in her garden in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, around 1809.

Mary Ann decided to marry & flee the home in 1813, with apple trees take some years to bear fruit, it was probably her mother who deserves the credit for watering and caring for the seedling.

1846 brought the sale of the house and a very lucky local butcher Matthew Bramley bought the property and tree!!

1856 soon came around and Bramley allowed Henry Merryweather to take a cutting from the tree as Merryweather fell in love with that sophisticated flavour and baking ability.

Eager Bramley insisted that any apples sold by Merryweather must bear the Bramley name just in case they were a hit.

The first recorded sale of a Bramley was on October 31, 1862, when Merryweather’s accounts include “three Bramley apples for two shillings.” That’s just 24p in our era !!!

The 1900’s had landed by now and unfortunately the original Bramley apple tree blew down in a violent storm, but somehow miraculously survived.

44 years later the UK fruit census recorded over two million Bramley seedling trees in England and Wales (wowza)

The original tree still bears fruit in the back garden and Mary Ann’s seed has grown into a £50 million industry which is truly mind-blowing.

Next time you see a lonesome seedling it could be worth a fortune, just wait to read about how the amazing Granny Smith was found (that’s a story for another day)