From the Living Museum
Bedan
- Origin
- Normandy, France
- Era
- Traditional French
- Type / use
- Cider (Bittersweet)
History & Stories
Traditional French bittersweet cider apple. Reliable producer of high-tannin juice used for full-bodied cider. Part of the classic French cider apple suite. Unique mainly as a proven, authentic French bittersweet rather than for dramatic individual character.
Folklore & Name
Traditional French cider apple (Normandy). Old Norman name shared by several cider apples, including Bec d'Ane and Bedengue; Bedan-des-Parts is a later seedling raised at Yvetot by the nurseryman Legrand 1,2.
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
In 1876–85 the Herefordshire Pomona wrote that "The Bedan, Bedengue, Bec d'Ane, with other varieties in name has held a high repute in the Norman Orchards from time immemorial" 1. The variety it described in detail, Bedan-des-Parts, was "a seedling grown by M. Legrand, of Yvetot, which first bore fruit in 1874" 1. The Herefordshire committee chose it for trial in English cider orchards 1.
The competing accounts
- Herefordshire Pomona 1: the Bedan name has long been used in Normandy for several apples; Bedan-des-Parts was raised by M. Legrand of Yvetot and first fruited in 1874.
- Pomiferous, citing the 1875 French study Le Cidre 2: Bedan-des-Parts was raised from seed by the Yvetot nurseryman Pierre Legrand and first fruited in 1872. It says this is a different apple from plain Bédan.
- Pomiferous 3: plain Bédan is an old Normandy (Calvados) bittersweet, dated there to the Middle Ages, though it gives no source for that date.
- Fruitiers.org 4: describes a sweet cider Bedan from eastern Brittany.
Most likely (our judgment, not a certainty): Plain Bedan is an old Norman cider apple of unknown date, and Bedan-des-Parts is Legrand's seedling, which first fruited in 1872. Le Cidre was written closer to the event than the Pomona, so we prefer its date. Which of the two grows here is still to be confirmed.
What we think: stories & traditions
More than one Bedan. The Pomona's own wording, "with other varieties in name," shows that several Norman apples shared the name 1. Legrand's Bedan-des-Parts is one of them. We can't tell from the records which Bedan the tree here is.
Sources
- Robert Hogg and Henry Graves Bull, eds., The Herefordshire Pomona, Vol. 1 (Hereford, 1876–85), "Bedan-des-Parts." archive.org/details/herefordshirepo00bull/mode/2up?q=Bedan
- Pomiferous, "Bédan des Partes" (citing L. de Boutteville and A. Hauchecorne, Le Cidre, 1875). Secondary source. pomiferous.com/applebyname/bedan-des-partes-id-6881
- Pomiferous, "Bédan." Secondary source. pomiferous.com/applebyname/bedan-id-6879
- Fruitiers.org, "Pommier : 'bedan'" (French). www.fruitiers.org/variete/pommier-bedan/
Curious about Bedan?
Email us at drgoss@honeytreeorchard.com.