Annie Elizabeth
Malus domestica Annie Elizabeth is a well-known traditional English "cooker". The flavour is sweeter than most culinary varieties, and it can also be eaten if you like a sharp apple. The apples are usefully large, and it is a good keeper.
This is a good variety for any recipe where you want slices to keep their shape when cooked.
Annie Elizabeth apple trees for sale
RF11-year bare-root
tree
on MM106 rootstock£34.95
Mature height: 3m-5m after 10 years
Can be trained on as a large free-standing apple tree, a half-standard apple tree, a large apple fan or espalier, or a pleached apple tree.
Available next season
RF22-year bare-root
tree
on MM106 rootstock£43.00
Mature height: 3m-5m after 10 years
Suitable for a large bush-trained free-standing apple tree.
Available next season
Growing and Training
Like many traditional cooking apples, Annie Elizabeth is reliable and easy to grow. It can be grown throughout the UK and is usually unaffected by pests and diseases.
Although usually considered as a partially self-fertile variety, Annie Elizabeth nevertheless has many of the hallmarks of a (self-sterile) triploid variety - good disease resistance, vigorous growth, and thick dark-coloured leaves. For this reason it is perhaps best planted with another compatible (different) variety nearby. It is also not a reliable pollinator of other varieties.
Recommended pollinators for Annie Elizabeth apple trees
Annie Elizabeth is partially self-fertile, so you do not need another variety to pollinate it to produce fruit.
However you will get a better crop if you plant any of the following pollinator varieties nearby.
If you are not sure about pollination requirements don't hesitate to ask us.
BraeburnBraeburn is one of the best-flavoured supermarket apple varieties.
Ellison's OrangeEllison's Orange is a well respected Cox-style apple which can achieve very good flavour.
GalaGala is popular supermarket apple - but better when home-grown, with a sweet pleasant flavour.
Golden GemA traditional crab-apple featuring a mass of white blossom in spring, followed by yellow crab apples.
Golden HornetMalus Golden Hornet is a traditional white blossom crab apple, with persistent yellow fruits.
Harry BakerMalus Harry Baker is a popular crab-apple with deep pink flowers and dark red fruits which are very good for crab-apple jelly.
John DownieJohn Downie is a traditional crab apple for making crab apple jelly. White blossom and orange-red fruits.
King of the PippinsA popular and versatile dual-purpose apple, widely grown in the Victorian era.
History
Raised in Leicestershire in the mid 19th century and introduced by the Harrison and Sons nursery of Leicester.
Annie Elizabeth characteristics
- Gardening skillBeginner
- Fruit persistenceFruit drops when ripe
- Self-fertile?Partially self-fertile
- Pollinating othersPoor
- Pick seasonLate
- Picking periodearly October
- Keeping3 months or more
- Food usesCulinary
- Country of originUnited Kingdom
- Period of origin1850 - 1899
- Fruit colourOrange flush
You might also like these varieties
Arthur TurnerA mid-season cooking apple, producing a light yellow puree. Very attractive blossom.
Bramley's SeedlingBramley is the essential English cooking apple, famous for its rich sharp acidity.
Howgate WonderHowgate Wonder is a large cooking apple which keeps well. Produces an excellent sharp juice.
Lord DerbyLord Derby is a high-quality mid/late-season traditional English cooking apple, cooks to a chunky puree.
More about apple trees
We've all grown up with Bramley cookng apples so we take it for granted that cooking apples are different to eating apples, but, surprisingly, the UK is one of the few countries that makes such a distinction between apples for cooking and apples for eating fresh.
The main qualtities of a good "cooker" are size - the bigger the better - and acidity. Counter-intuitively, it is the acid which gives cooking apples their flavour. In contrast the flavour of sweet dessert apples collapses with cooking.
Cooking apples are usually easier to grow than eating apples, and will tolerate partial shade.
