Stoke Red

An established bittersharp cider apple that can produce a very good cider of its own. Juice is pink and often scented. The apples are small, flat round, slightly waxy and mostly all over red with darker red striping. The flesh is white sometimes with some redness, sharp with astringency but juicy.

A Somerset variety arising in the vicinity of Rodney Stoke in the earlys 1900s. From the 1930s it was commercially trialled. Though it can produce a quality cider Stoke Red did not take off as a commercial variety because of its small size and the lateness of harvesting, from mid November.

Tends to be slow to come into bearing, but once it does cropping is good but can become biennial. An alternative to Kingston Black, another bittersharp variety.