Our Variety Assessment

Its strengths, growing requirements and the conditions in which it performs best.

Germaine is a traditional sweet cider apple from the Pays d’Auge, valued for adding sugar, fragrance and roundness. It works particularly well in blends that already contain sufficient acidity and tannin. We recommend it for producers seeking a soft, fruity Norman cider profile. Used alone, the juice may lack structure, but it becomes valuable alongside bitter and sharp varieties.

Germaine

Price range: 26,75 € through 59,75 €

Historic bittersweet cider apple from Northern France, producing aromatic juice that blends beautifully with sweet and sharp cider varieties.

Choose your tree form

1 year old grafted tree – approx. 1–2 m

Half-standard – 1 to 1.5 m stem

Standard tree – 1.8 m stem and over

Apple rootstock options

Bittenfelder – approx. 6 m mature height

EM9 – approx. 2.5 m mature height

M116 – approx. 4 m mature height

MM111 – approx. 4 m mature height

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SKU: 29217 Categories: Apple trees, Cider apple trees

Description

Germaine is a historic cider apple from Northern France, where it has been cultivated since at least the nineteenth century. It remains one of the region’s classic heritage cider cultivars.

Its small to medium-sized apples produce bittersweet, juicy and aromatic juice with moderate sugar levels. Rather than being used alone, Germaine is especially valued for blending, where it complements sweeter, sharper or more tannic cider apples.

The tree is vigorous, hardy and naturally well balanced, making it well suited to traditional orchards and standard trees. Its relatively late flowering also makes it a useful choice in areas prone to spring frost.

Variety characteristics

Variety origin

A historic cider variety from Northern France, cultivated since the nineteenth century and regarded as one of the region’s traditional bittersweet cider varieties.

Origin

France

Period of origin

USDA zone

Zone 7 (-18C)

Flowering

6 - very late

Harvest period

September 15-30

Eating / keeping period

Use

Disease resistance

Self-fertility

Pollinator value

Ploidy

Origin and identity

Parentage

Unknown.

Synonyms

No well established synonyms are documented.

Growth and adaptation

Vigour and habit

Vigorous tree with an upright to broadly spreading habit as it matures. Hardy, well balanced and particularly well suited to traditional standard orchards.