Vintage Virginia Apples

LIMBERTWIG is a category of apple that can be more characterized by the distinctive flavor than the form of the tree, or shape or color of the fruit. The earliest description was an advertisement in a 1798 Virginia newspaper: "Limbertwig; James River Limbertwig, branches drooping or pendant; the fruit is of a greenish color with a blush next to the sun; the flesh very juicy and pleasant at maturity. Winter. It keeps a long time." Some distinction has been made of black, red, and green limbertwigs, and there are many named ones as Appalachian, Brushy Mountain, Victoria, Royal, Swiss and Virginia. Vintage Virginia Apples has two limbertwig cultivars. The Black Limbertwig (also known as Old Fashioned Limbertwig), which may be the oldest of the Limbertwig varieties, according to Lee Calhoun in Old Southern Apples, likely originiated in the late 18th or early 19th century. He describes it as a good keeper that is good for eating fresh, making pies and cider, and is a somewhat rough-skinned greenish-yellow apple with a red blush. We also have Victoria Limbertwig, which has not yet produced fruit for Vintage Virginia Apples.