Medieval Fruit Varieties

Variety: Scarlet Crofton (16th c.)

Photo - UK National Fruit Collection

Taken from England to Ireland in the late 1500s or early 1600s and reintroduced to England in 1819. Fruits have firm, somewhat coarse, white flesh with a sweet subacid flavour.

Synonyms:
Crofton, Crofton Ecarlate, Crofton Pippin, Crofton Red, Crofton Scarlet, Longford Pearmain, Red Crofton, Saul Apple, Winter Crofton

[Source: UK National Fruit Collection ]

Notes:
Fruit: size below medium, 55-75 mm; skin 70-80% red and orange blush and stripes, russet streaks; shape oblate; flesh semifirm, nearly white; flavor slightly acid; eating quality fair; harvest season mid-September, 3 weeks before Delicious. Tree: not productive; strongly biennial cropping fruits drop as they ripen; Diploid (Proc. Am. Soc. Hort. Sci. 82:56. 1963). Very old variety, 1500's. R.D. Way, 1993.

[Source: USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN). [Online Database] National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Available: http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/acc/display.pl?1172772 (10 December 2006) ]