Harrison Cider Apple

Malus pumila

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The Harrison is a small, round-oblong apple that is generally yellow in color, but sometimes, in the Mid-Atlantic States, it is blushed a light pink. Tiny black spots on the skin surface give it a rough texture. The flavor is similar to a quince, making it suitable for dessert as well as cider.

Photo courtesy of Ben Waton

The Harrison apple originated in Essex County, New Jersey in the early 19th century and was grown extensively throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Eastern United States until about 1900. It was described in 1817 by the early fruit writer William Coxe as the celebrated Newark or Orange Cider Apple. In the colonial period the juice from the Harrison was blended with that of the Graniwinkle apple to produce one of the most popular alcoholic ciders. Alone, Harrison apple juice makes an extremely dark, rich cider with exceptional mouth-feel. It was a leading variety for cider production from the early 1800s until the early 1900s and documentation indicates that it was a variety of high merit for cider taste and profitability. As single-variety cider, it commanded the highest price on the New York market, “frequently ten dollars and upwards per barrel when fined for bottling.” In one orchard in Essex County, New Jersey, Coxe reported that a single tree produced upwards of 100 bushels of apples.

Current recovery of this apple variety is focused in Virginia but trees have recently been distributed, mainly to home orchardists and small commercial cider producers, throughout the United States. The American nurseryman and fruit historian, Tom Burford, who located a single tree in 1989 in New Jersey and collected scionwood for propagation, made the recovery effort possible. The Harrison apple remains very little known outside a small group of American apple enthusiasts and cider connoisseurs.

The apple is scab and rot-resistant, bears annual, full crops, and keeps well in storage. It remains one of the very finest apples for cider-making, either fresh or fermented.

Sources

In commercial production in Virginia at two sites with 50 to 100 trees for cider-making:

Foggy Ridge Cider
1328 Pineview Road
Dugspur, VA 24325
(276) 398-4041
http://www.foggyridgecider.com

Vintage Virginia Apples
2550 Rural Ridge Lane, P.O. Box 210
North Garden, VA 22959
(434) 297-2326
http://www.vintagevirginiaapples.com

Find Producers on LocalHarvest

http://www.localharvest.org/ark-product.jsp?id=253