Somerset Redstreak cider apple trees

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• Check pollinators >

• Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
• Flowering group: 5

A traditional English cider apple producing a bittersweet juice. Somerset Redstreak is one of the main commercial cider varieties planted in England.

Somerset Redstreak organic cider apple trees for sale

• 1 yeartree on M116 rootstock23.25€
  Medium tree (2m-3.5m after 10 years) Bare-root
  

  Sold-out

Contact us if you would like to go on the waiting list for next season.

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If you do not hear from us by March you can contact us to pre-order for next autumn.

Growing and Training

Somerset Redstreak is slightly prone to biennial bearing, fruiting more heavily in alternate years. This can be controlled by heavier thinning in the "on" year.

It ripens slightly ahead of the main late-season cider varieties.

History

England, early 20th century.

Somerset Redstreak characteristics

• Gardening skillAverage
• Self-fertilityNot self-fertile
• Flowering group5
• Disease resistanceAverage
• Picking seasonLate
• Season of use2-3 weeks
• Food usesHard cider
• Cold hardiness (USDA)Zone 4 (-34C)
• Summer average maximum temperaturesCool ( 20-24C / 68-75F)
• Country of originUnited Kingdom
• Period of origin1900 - 1949
• Fruit colourOrange / RedRed striped

Similar varieties

• 
  Amere Nouvelle
  Amere Nouvelle is a traditional French bittersweet cider apple.
• 
  Dabinett
  
• 
  Dabinett
  Dabinett is a traditional English cider apple variety, producing a bittersweet juice.
• 
  Kingston Black
  
• 
  Kingston Black
  Kingston Black is one of the premier English cider varieties and produces a bittersharp juice.
• 
  Michelin
  Michelin (or Normandie Blanc) is a traditional French cider apple variety producing a bittersweet juice.
• 
  Tremlett's Bitter
  
• 
  Wickson Crab
  

More about cider apple trees

Cider production in Europe is traditionally associated with three main regions - Asturias in north west Spain, Bretagne and Normandie in north west France, and the "west country" area of south-west England. These regions all face the Atlantic ocean and have cool temperate maritime climates.

Cider can of course be made with any variety of apples, but in these three regions apple varieties have evolved which are specifically intended for cider production - they have high levels of tannins which give "body" to the resulting cider, but which make them very unpalatable to eat fresh.

Good quality cider is almost always made with a blend of different apple varieties, using bitter, sweet, and sharp flavour components. It is quite common to mix in regular cooking and dessert apples to lend extra flavours.

If you are in an area with a hotter continental climate (with average summer maximum temperatures routinely over 30C) then you might want to consider using apple varieties that can withstand warmer temperatures, but still have good juice qualities. In this case rather than using European varieties you might want to seek inspiration from the very different "hard cider" traditions of North America, where dessert and crab-apples are widely used.

We have a good range of traditional English and French cider varieties, as well as a number of mainstream apple varieties with good juice qualities that lend themselves to cider production.