Mrs. Peasgood's Nonsuch

 

This year the branches of the Peasgood’s Nonsuch apple are in danger of snapping under the weight of fruit. The variety was originally raised from a pip sown by the father of Emma Peasgood (nee Mamby), of Grantham in Lincolnshire in 1858. She and her husband John Peasgood settled in Stamford and planted it in their garden, and its apples won a prize in the local agricultural show in 1872. From there its fruit was sent to the Royal Horticultural Society in London, where it was awarded first prize, a First Class Certificate and named Peasgood’s Nonsuch.

It’s a dual-purpose apple, flavoursome and juicy for eating. It cooks down to a frothy puree in a matter of minutes. Perfect for baked apples and particularly good it you like apple puree with your porridge on autumn mornings. Individual apples can be very large but bruise easily and don’t keep well, so it doesn’t travel well and has never been commercially successful, but its a great apple to grow, producing a heavy crop every year.

There are far more apples than we can eat of give away, so butterflies and birds are going to be major beneficiaries of all the windfalls.