From the Living Museum
Bloody Ploughman
- Origin
- Carse of Gowrie, Scotland; recorded 1883
- Era
- Recorded 1883
- Type / use
- Cider · Culinary · Novelty
History & Stories
Distinctive red-fleshed or heavily red-stained apple named after a legendary ploughman. Medium fruit with dark red skin and pink-to-red flesh that is juicy and sharply flavored. Unique for the combination of dramatic red flesh, Scottish folklore, and usefulness for cider and jelly. Visually striking when cut.
Folklore & Name
Scottish variety whose name comes from a folk legend: a ploughman shot by a gamekeeper for stealing apples on the Megginch estate, whose discarded apples grew into the first tree 2. The red-stained flesh makes the story vivid. Classic example of apple folklore tied to appearance.
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
Bloody Ploughman is a Scottish apple from the Carse of Gowrie, the fertile strip along the River Tay between Perth and Dundee. The UK National Fruit Collection says it originated there and was recorded in 1883 1. Slow Food UK, which lists it in its Ark of Taste, describes it as dark red-skinned, with flesh that "can be stained pink," and "one of the best Scottish midseason eaters" 2.
The competing accounts
- UK National Fruit Collection 1: originated in the Carse of Gowrie and recorded in 1883.
- Slow Food UK 2: links the name to a ploughman shot for stealing apples on the Megginch estate, whose discarded apples produced the first tree. No date or names are given.
- A version sometimes told, that the name comes from a ploughman hurt in an accident, has no source we could find.
Most likely (our judgment, not a certainty): a Carse of Gowrie apple on record by 1883. The legend is the only explanation of the name we found in print, but it is a story, not a record.
What we think: stories & traditions
The ploughman's legend (folklore). As Slow Food UK tells it, the name goes back to a farm worker on the Megginch estate who was shot by a gamekeeper for taking apples. His widow, finding the fruit on him, flung it onto a midden; a seedling grew there, and its apples were "of a deep, blood red," so the tree was kept and named for him 2.
It is a story, not a record. Nobody can say whether it really happened, and no names or dates are attached. Still, it is one of the most haunting apple legends in Britain.
Sources
- UK National Fruit Collection, "Bloody Ploughman." www.nationalfruitcollection.org.uk/full2.php?id=633&fruit=apple
- Slow Food in the UK, Ark of Taste, "Bloody Ploughman Apple." www.slowfood.org.uk/ark-product/bloody-ploughman-apple/
Curious about Bloody Ploughman?
Email us at drgoss@honeytreeorchard.com.