Processed Bramley Apples

English Bramley apples

English Bramley apples offer unrivalled versatility as a processed apple. Some palates will appreciate the sharpness of fresh Bramley apples, however it’s one of the apple varieties that is most well known for its wide use in cooking and baking.  

Why Bramley makes the best apple pies

Its characteristic sharp tang makes Bramley apples ideal as cooking apples. When cooked in desserts, such as the beloved apple pie or apple crumble, it’s tangy and sweet. Firmer than many dessert apples, it retains a pleasant bite that makes an apple pie texture as well as flavour. 

Bramley apples: rooted in English history

It’s thought that the first known pips planted were by young Mary Ann Brailsford in Southwell, Nottinghamshire at the beginning of the 19th century. She took these from her mother’s cooking apple!

Nancy Harrison began looking after the original Bramley apple tree during World War Two while living in Brailsford Cottage where the Bramley tree grew (now known as Bramley Tree House). She tended the tree until she died in 2014. 

The first sale of the Bramley apple was in the 1870s by Henry Merryweather. Matthew Bramley owned Brailsford Cottage when Henry Merryweather first saw the tree bear its famous fruit, when he was just a teenager. Bramley agreed to let Henry take cuttings for propagation if he promised to call the fruit “The Bramley Seedling”.