From the Living Museum
Amère de Berthecourt
- Origin
- Berthecourt (Oise), Picardy, France; seedling sown 1848
- Era
- Sown 1848
- Type / use
- Cider (Bittersweet)
History & Stories
Traditional French bittersweet cider apple. The juice is notably high in tannin with a pleasant honey-vanilla undertone that allows it to stand alone as a single-varietal cider or add body and structure to blends. Unique among many French bittersweets for its relatively approachable bitterness and aromatic lift. Productive and reliable in cider orchards.
Folklore & Name
French cider apple; ‘Amère’ means bitter. Picardy bittersweet, raised from a seedling sown in 1848 at Berthecourt in the Oise, and grown for French cidre 1. The name means "bitter (apple) of Berthecourt," after the village where it was raised 1.
Digging into the History
Below my own notes, here is what the old fruit books and today’s collections record about this apple, kept apart from the stories people tell.
What we know
Amère de Berthecourt ("bitter of Berthecourt") is a cider apple from Picardy. A French fruit nursery records that it grew from a seedling sown in 1848 by the comte de Maupeou at the domaine de Parisis-Fontaines, in Berthecourt (Oise). It was a chance seedling, and its parents are unknown 1.
The competing accounts
- La Pépinière du Fruitier 1: a chance seedling sown in 1848 by the comte de Maupeou at Parisis-Fontaines in Berthecourt (Oise), in Picardy; parents unknown.
- It is often grouped with Normandy cider apples because it is grown there, but we found no source that places its origin in Normandy.
Most likely (our judgment, not a certainty): Picardy, from the 1848 seedling. This is the only origin story in print that we found.
What we think: stories & traditions
Normandy or Picardy? It is grown in Normandy's cider country, but its birthplace, Berthecourt in the Oise, is in Picardy 1.
Sources
- La Pépinière du Fruitier, "Pommier à cidre Amère de Berthecourt" (French). lapepinieredufruitier.fr/produit/pommier-a-cidre-amere-de-berthecourt/
Curious about Amère de Berthecourt?
Email us at drgoss@honeytreeorchard.com.