Cider apple trees
Make your own hard cider by planting some of our organic traditional cider apple varieties.
- Cider apple trees
Amere de Berthencourt
Amere de Berthencourt is a traditional French bittersweet cider apple.- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Flowering group: 2
- Cider apple trees
Amere Nouvelle
Amere Nouvelle is a traditional French bittersweet cider apple.- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Flowering group: 3
- Cider apple trees
Bedan des Parts
A traditional French cider variety, producing a high quality bittersweet juice.- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Flowering group: 6
- Cider apple trees
Binet Rouge
Binet Rouge is a traditional French hard cider variety from the Pays d'Auge area of Normandy.- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Flowering group: 4
- Cider apple trees
Dabinett
Best sellerDabinett is a traditional English cider apple variety, producing a bittersweet juice.- Self-fertility: Self-fertile
- Flowering group: 6
- Cider apple trees
Ellis Bitter
Ellis Bitter is a traditional and popular English cider apple, producing a bittersweet juice.- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Flowering group: 5
- Cider apple trees
Frequin Rouge
Best sellerFrequin Rouge is one of the most important of the traditional French hard-cider apple varieties.- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Flowering group: 4
- Cider apple trees
Harry Masters Jersey
Harry Masters Jersey is a traditional English cider apple variety, producing a bittersweet juice.From 24.25€ to 24.95€buy- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Flowering group: 4
- Cider apple trees
Kingston Black
Best sellerKingston Black is one of the premier English cider varieties and produces a bittersharp juice.24.25€buy- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Flowering group: 4
- Cider apple trees
Marseigna
Marseigna is a traditional French cider variety, producing a high quality bitter sweet juice.- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Flowering group: 2
- Cider apple trees
Medaille d'Or
Medaille d'Or is a traditional French cider variety, which produces a full bittersweet juice.- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Flowering group: 6
- Cider apple trees
Michelin
Michelin (or Normandie Blanc) is a traditional French cider apple variety producing a bittersweet juice.- Self-fertility: Partially self-fertile
- Flowering group: 4
- Cider apple trees
Muscadet de Dieppe
A very old French bittersweet cider variety.- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Flowering group: 2
- Cider apple trees
Reinette Abry
A traditional dual-purpose yellow/green apple from northern France.- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Flowering group: 3
- Cider apple trees
Wickson Crab
Best sellerWickson crab is a popular American hard-cider variety.- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Flowering group: 2
- Cider apple trees
Yarlington Mill
Yarlington Mill is a traditional English cider apple variety producing a bittersweet juice.- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Flowering group: 5
How to choose 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.