It’s always entertaining when a mainstream product in one country becomes a gourmet niche product in another. For a few weeks this time of year, our apple seller, Jones Creek Farms, sells an enormous tart green apple called the Bramley. It turns out that Bramley is one of the most popular cooking apples in England. It even has its own mascot:


We don’t really distinguish between cooking apples and eating apples in the US, but maybe we should. I like a tart apple, but the Bramley is too sour even for me, and it’s also at least three times the size of a Granny Smith.

This means you can turn one Bramley into an apple tart, which is what I did the other day. I made some simple tart dough (which I managed to screw up and make sticky somehow, but it worked anyway) and sliced up the apple. An hour in the oven, and it was done. The Bramley still tastes like an apple after it’s cooked, which most apples don’t.

Oh, the Bramley also has its own web site, where you can view scientific proof that the Bramley is the world’s best cooking apple.

I have no idea where you’d find these things if you’re not in the UK and don’t have your own apple guy. Maybe try a you-pick farm.