Medieval Fruit Varieties

Variety: Chaumontel (1665)

Image - Pomona londinensis, William Hooker (1818)

Notes:
The fruit is large, but varies exceedingly in both form and magnitude: some are 2 1/2 inches in diameter, and 3 1/2 inches long; others are scarcely longer than wide, while others are quite equal in length and breadth: others again are flattened on one side their whole length. The eye is very deep, and obtuse angles generally run from it to the widest part. The footstock is thick and short. The color of the skin varies much; in a light soil and grafted on a quince stock, it is of a yellow citron on the shady side, and tinged with lively red next the sun. Sometimes it is yellowish tinged with grey, without any red. In a stiff soil it is brown, like the Crasanne. The flesh is buttery, melting, and excellent, but sometimes a little stony. It is much improved in both size and colour when on an espalier, or against a wall.

[Source: Pomona londinensis: containing colored engravings of the most esteemed fruits cultivated in the British gardens : with a descriptive account of each variety, Volume 1, William Hooker, Royal Horticultural Society (Great Britain) 1818. (Google eBook) ]