The 'Chisel Jersey' is a

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

cider apple Cider apples are a group of apple cultivars grown for their use in the production of cider (referred to as "hard cider" in the United States). Cider apples are distinguished from "cookers" and "eaters", or dessert apples, by their bitterness or ...

originating in

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

Etymology

The term "Jersey" or "Jaysey" is applied to bittersweet type cider apples in Somerset; the equivalent varietal terms in

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

and

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

are "Norman" and "French" respectively.Martell, C. ''Native Apples of Gloucestershire'', Gloucester Orchard Group, p.38 "Chisel" may be derived from the old dialect word ''chesil'', meaning a pebble, and refer to the apple's small, russetted appearance and hardness.Copas, L. ''A Somerset Pomona'', 2001, p.22

History

'Chisel Jersey' is thought to have originated in the 19th century in

Martock Martock is a large village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Somerset, England. It is situated on the edge of the Somerset Levels, north-west of Yeovil in the South Somerset district. The parish includes Hurst, approximately one ...

and for around a century was planted little outside the immediate area.Copas, p.29 During the mid 20th century it was more widely planted in commercial orchards in Somerset and

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

, and can still be found despite the subsequent destruction of many older orchards. In the Martock district 'Chisel Jersey' was believed to be one of the parents of the commercially important cultivar ' Dabinett', a belief supported by subsequent research by the

Long Ashton Research Station Long Ashton Research Station (LARS) was an agricultural and horticultural government-funded research centre located in the village of Long Ashton near Bristol, UK. It was created in 1903 to study and improve the West Country cider industry an ...

Characteristics

'Chisel Jersey' is a full "bittersweet" apple, high in tannins and sugars and relatively low in

malic acid Malic acid is an organic compound with the molecular formula . It is a dicarboxylic acid that is made by all living organisms, contributes to the sour taste of fruits, and is used as a food additive. Malic acid has two stereoisomeric forms ( ...

. The fruit are small, green with a striped red flush, and ripen late in the year: they usually have a distinctive offset stem (hence its alternative name 'Sidestalk Jersey'). In some seasons virus infection can tend to produce small, cracked, heavily russetted fruit.''Annual Report of the Long Ashton Research Station'', 1964, p.58 The fruit somewhat resembles that of the cultivar's supposed offspring 'Dabinett', albeit the latter is less tannic. The cultivar 'Sandford Jersey' was commercially planted in Herefordshire under the name 'Chisel Jersey', but can be distinguished from the true cultivar by the lack of an offset stem. The tree is

diploid Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for autosomal and pseudoautosomal genes. Here ''sets of chromosomes'' refers to the number of maternal and paternal chromosome copies, ...

and though self-sterile is an excellent pollinator.

References

External links

* {{apples, state=collapsed Apple cultivars Cider apples British apples