Newtown Pippin
| 'Newtown Pippin' | |
|---|---|
.jpg) |
|
| Genus | Malus |
| Species | Malus domestica |
| Hybrid parentage | unknown |
| Cultivar | 'Newtown Pippin' |
| Origin |
 Newtown, New York
|
The Newtown Pippin, also known as Albemarle Pippin, is an American apple originated in the late 17th or early 18th century and still cultivated on a small scale. At one time there were two very similar apple cultivars known as the 'Yellow Newtown' ('Albermarle Pippin') and 'Green Newtown' ('Brooke Pippin'), one of which perhaps originated as a sport of the other.
The Newtown Pippin is typically light green, sometimes with a yellow tinge. It is often russeted around the stem. The flesh is yellow and crisp. The flavor is complex and somewhat tart, and requires storage to develop properly; some sources ascribe to it a piney aroma. Green and yellow varieties are sometimes distinguished but it is not clear that they are in fact distinct cultivars. It is one of the best keeping apples.
This variety originated as a chance seedling (a "pippin") on the Gershom Moore estate in the village of Newtown (now called Elmhurst; the Moore property stood in the vicinity of what is now Broadway and 45th Avenue) in Queens County on Long Island, New York in the late 17th or early 18th century. It was widely grown and praised in colonial America. Thomas Jefferson, for example, wrote from Paris that "they have no apples here to compare with our Newtown Pippin."
It was widely cultivated in the Piedmont region, brought there by Col. Thomas Walker, who grew it on his estate, Castle Hill. U.S. presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both grew the Newtown in Virginia, where it acquired the alternate name "Albemarle Pippin" after Albemarle County, Virginia. It came to the fore in 1838 when Andrew Stevenson, the American minister to Great Britain, presented Queen Victoria with a gift basket of the apples from his wife's Albemarle County orchard. In response, the British Parliament lifted import duties on the variety, and it was an important export until duties were reimposed during World War II.
...
Wikipedia