From the Living Museum
Granniewinkle
- Origin
- Eastern New Jersey (per William Coxe, 1817); rare
- Era
- In print by 1817 (New Jersey)
- Type / use
- Dessert · Dual-purpose (uncertain)
From the ArchiveFilm
Watch its story
Newark’s Syrup Cider
A short narrated history of Granniewinkle, told through the archive illustrations of our apple collection.
Illustrations: William Coxe, A View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees (Philadelphia, 1817), plate page Nos. 85–87 and woodcut No. 85 (public domain). Narrated with a synthetic voice.
Watch on YouTubeHistory & Stories
Limited published detail. William Coxe described it in 1817 as "Graniwinkle," a very sweet New Jersey cider apple named after the farmer who first grew it and usually blended with Harrison 1. Collectors’ variety whose uniqueness will be revealed by tasting and observation from my own trees.
Folklore & Name
Appears in older American lists (including 19th-century references to ‘Granny Winkle’). Rare, sparsely documented variety. Name has a folkloric, grandmotherly quality typical of some old American country apples. Further characterization needed.
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
Little is recorded about this apple, but its oldest description is a good one. William Coxe's 1817 fruit book, written in Philadelphia, lists it as "Graniwinkle," a New Jersey cider apple. He describes a fruit "of moderate size, in form rather oblong," with dark red, somewhat rough skin and flesh "a dead sweet, very rich, of a yellow colour." Its cider, he wrote, "resembles a sirup in its taste and consistence." Coxe says it "originated in one of the Eastern counties of New-Jersey, and obtained its name from a farmer who first cultivated it." It was "usually mixed with the Harrison for making cider of a superior quality," and ripened in November 1.
A 2010 history of New Jersey cider names Graniwinkle alongside Campfield as one of the apples blended with Harrison 2.
What we think: stories & traditions
A farmer's name. If Coxe is right, "Graniwinkle" was once somebody's surname, perhaps worn smooth by local pronunciation, though that last part is our guess. The grandmotherly sound of "Granny Winkle" is a happy accident of spelling, not a clue to its history.
Is today's tree the same apple? We have not found a modern study that ties the trees now sold as Granniewinkle to Coxe's apple. So we enjoy the old description and keep an open mind.
Sources
- William Coxe, A View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees (Philadelphia: M. Carey and Son, 1817), "No. 85. Graniwinkle," p. 150. archive.org/details/viewofcultivatio00coxerich/page/150
- "Lost & Found: The rise, fall and rebirth of the Harrison cider apple," Edible Jersey (Fall 2010), reprinted by the Newark History Society. www.newarkhistorysociety.org/images/articles/resources/PDF/EJ_Harrison_Apples_fall10.pdf
Curious about Granniewinkle?
Email us at drgoss@honeytreeorchard.com.