If the fruit is that size at this point in the year, it may well be a regular apple. And yes, it is a Malus (apple and crabapple.)

Trees are definitely technically plants! Guessing by the language you are in the UK. In which case that is a normal size for apples at this time of year. Wild guess based on its ubiquity and the appearance of the baby apples would be that you have a Bramley.

Thanks for your help :) Yes, am in the good ol' UK. Hopefully they are Bramley, therefore cookable (mmmm. Apple pie/crumble) If they are crab, can you cook those?

You can cook crabs but the fruit are small and fiddly. They make great jelly, though. I'm 99% certain yours isnt a crab. Bramleys make the all time greatest baked apples.

you will need to let them ripen.. to ID the fruit.. and then to determine the value ... and there is a fruit forum .. should we not be able to ID the fruit ...

but to be sure .. if it is NOT a fruit that you desire.. just get rid of it ... and get a fruit you want ...

my house came with 14 apples trees .. what a complete PIA ... because if you want quality eating fruit.. you have to spray them 4 to 5 times per season ... starting in dormancy ... and if you dont.. you will have some real ugly fruit.. most of the time... and a large tree can .. if you dont pick even the ugly fruit ... can cause an onslaught of decaying rotting apples under them.. which the bees and wasps just love to party on.. once the goo starts fermenting ...

enjoy it for this season.. see what happens... maybe youll beat the odds ... but just get rid of it.. and find your fave above... if its doesnt work out ...

ken

Thanks for advice :) Will take a wander to fruit forum once apples get bigger.

I'm renting the house, so not sure if am allowed to get rid of trees etc. Luckily, it's only the one tree & its relatively small, so if we do have issues with fruit dropping & decaying, it should be perfectly manageable. We have an outdoor garden waste disposal bin, which we can use to get rid of any old/maggot apples. Suppose it's different with FOURTEEN trees! Bless you... must have got a bit mental!! x

Thanks Floral/Mystic Meg :p I see crumbles, pies, chutney & much more in my crystal ball, hehehe. Doommonger - now that's not a term I've not come across before! Thanks for the help. Excited about apples!

I've never seen Bramleys sold here in the states.All we have is Granny Smith. I love tart apples.Seems they have a few different baking apple varieties over there. I can get the nice spicy Colman's Mustard over here,but fresh fruit I don't think so.

Jaybirdyj, where in the states are you? I can buy something like 25 types of apples at the two orchards in my town of 2200 plus another 8 or so at the grocery store.

Mandy....am curious, what are your thoughts about what a plant is? You aren't alone in being confused about this, by the way.

So....what is a plant?

Rhizo_1, VERY good question! I guess I see a plant as a little dude (close to the ground), with leaves, stems and sometimes flowers.

Think maybe in my minds eye, trees are too big to be plants? Like, tadpoles are tadpoles, but they aren't yet big enough to be called an actual frog.... BUT then they turn into frogs.... so can they be called frogs? (Silly analogy but it's early morning here & brain half dead!)

Wikipedia describes a tree as "a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, supporting branches and leaves in most species" - so, it is a plant! Have learnt something new :)

PS - speaking of tadpoles, is there also a bug/nature/wildlife identify section of this forum? Am relatively new on here, hence curiosity. Haven't explored other areas yet :)

Bramley is a wonderful cooking apple. It breaks down very fast, so it's no good for something like a French apple tart where the slices must remain intact. But it will break down into smooth apple sauce within minutes. No need for straining or stirring even. It just melts to mush all by itself.

As for WIki's definition of a plant. 'Perennial' is not needed in there. Many plants are not perennial. Are they suggesting that the millions of annuals in the world are not plants?

Bramley apples over here in the U.K. are known for their greatness in crumbles (one of my fave desserts) You can serve warm with custard, ice cream or cream. Real good, hearty comfort food :) When those apples are ripe, I'll be making crumbles galore!

Hmm, I don't rightly know what Perennial means. But then, I'm a complete newbie to garden land. Lots to learn!

Mandy there is a "bug/nature/wildlife" forum. Here is a link NATURE.NET

This one is buried a little bit. Once you click on Nature.net then click view all and you can choose your topic.

p.s. Apparently it has to be an individual topic (the main heading does not work)

INSECTS then you can explore from there

thank you peren.all - very helpful :)

I'm 40 miles south of Chicago in Illinois.We can get quite a few varieties of apples here, I just don't remember seeing any called Bramleys.This thread just brought them to me , because I love eating fresh tart apples and there is a new one to try. I actually like the tartness of immature green apples.Used to eat them off the neighbors trees as a kid.They had let the trees fall into neglect.By the time the apples ripened they were looking kind of buggy.

At a rental house.. its a perfect tree ... you always have the option of moving.. lol ...

flora makes it sound a lot like a macintosh apple ... the way it cooks up i mean ...

ken

I've seen Bramley at a green grocery here.

Jaybirdyj, Bramley is specifically a cooking apple. Unless you like a very sour fruit I wouldn't eat it raw.

What apples do you use when you want the apples to maintain some form over there?All we have for baking really over here are granny smith.They were talking about putting out a new GMO version of them that don't turn brown when cut. I'm thinking that using something like a Granny Smith in combination with Bramley's would give you the best of both worlds.Baked apple pieces that hold up nestled in sweet Bramley sauce.Would like to give that a try with the apple strudel,apple slices and apple pies that we eat.Clotted cream,another U.K. luxury not found in the U.S. I wonder if that would be good on top of a Bramley crumble.All this talk making me hungry. I heard chutney and am now craving spicy Indian food.

Any sharp eating apple for cooking where slices are required. Turning brown when cut is not a problem if you put the cut pieces immediately into acidulated water.

Honeycrisp is an excellent cooking/baking apple as well as being delicious fresh. Also Rome and Jonagold. In fact, these two are better when used in cooking than if eaten fresh, IMO. And all three are big commercial varieties so should be easily found at the grocery store or at farmer's markets.

btw, I grew apples for many years and never sprayed them, ever. They were very productive and had few if any insect or disease issues or nothing that couldn't be easily tolerated or ignored. Spraying fruit trees constantly is not necessarily a requirement :-)

There are actually some people over here who are too lazy to prepare water with lemon juice or chop their own celery.

Jbirdyj - if you want an apple that doesn't mush easy or lose form (good for tarts etc), here we'd use Granny Smith, Cox, Braeburn, Bramley or Pink Lady. We have quite a good variety of apples at shops and supermarkets, and even more at farmers markets.

Oh I totally forgot about clotted cream! That stuff is delicious.... but I fear for my waistline and arteries whenever I've had it LOL! Clotted Cream is more commonly found down the south of England - Cornwall, Devon etc, so being in Hertfordshire (nr London), we don't see it about that much, although you could probably find it in specialist stores. I'd send you some.... but don't think it posts well! Hey, if you're anywhere near Kansas City I could personally deliver some! Am visiting again in November! :)

Mandy, Roddas Clotted Cream is found nationwide, I believe.

BTW - I wouldn't include Bramley in with apples that hold their form. The whole point is that they collapse almost immediately into apple sauce.

Jaybirdyj - I would have thought if someone couldn't be bothered to make lemon water they'd be buying a ready made apple pie in the first place ;-)

The Bramley Apple story

Floral - oops! I put Bramley in that list by mistake! BRAMLEY ON THE BRAIN!

Hmm, I've never come across clotted cream in our supermarkets or general stores. Usually you can get it or farm shops or in London, which is fairly nearby. I live in a small market town so maybe most places here just don't stock it. Probably for the best. Am dieting!

Heck, even the better specialty groceries with good imports sections sell clotted cream here!! Comes in a jar labeled "The Devon Cream Company - English Luxury Clotted Cream".

Mandy, Waitrose, Sainsbury's and ASDA all carry Roddas afaik. And Ocado.

There must be a bigger demand for clotted cream over on the west coast. I'm not surprised you can find it there.It's not something that's readily available in the dairy section of grocers in the Midwest.Maybe some specialty grocers closer to Chicago have it,but that requires driving.There are a couple recipes for making your own,but I would like to try the real stuff made by experts.Until then, regular whipped cream will suffice.