Vintage Virginia Apples

DYER is also called Pomme Royal, its original name, and is also known as Golden Spice, Bard Apple, Beard Burden, Bullripe, Coe's Spice, Pomme Water, Smithfield Spice, White Spice and Woodstock. It was first cultivated in Rhode Island in Revolutionary War times, and is believed to be a French variety, brought to America by Huguenot settlers, who fled France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. The Massachusetts Horticultural Society named it Dyer before 1855. The medium-sized fruit is greenish-yellow with a blush of red and some veins of russet. The creamy flesh is very crisp, tender and fine-grained with a spicy flavor. It is a high-flavored but subacid dessert variety. Tree growth is vigorous but it does not mature as a large tree. Fruiting begins early and there is a tendency to biennial production, but productiveness seems to vary. Ripening takes place over an extended period in late August and early September.