From the Living Museum
Gravenstein
- Origin
- Europe (exact country debated — Italy, Germany, or Denmark); known by the 17th century and brought early to North America
- Era
- By 17th c.
- Type / use
- Dessert · Fresh eating
From the ArchiveFilm
Watch its story
The Castle Apple
A short narrated history of Gravenstein, told through the archive illustrations of our apple collection.
Illustrations: Amanda Almira Newton (1905) and Mary Daisy Arnold (1925), USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection, National Agricultural Library (public domain). Narrated with a synthetic voice.
History & Stories
Large, irregular, ribbed fruit with red stripes over yellow-green. When fully ripe, the flesh is among the most aromatic and complex of all apples — intense, spicy, sweet-tart. Unique for the combination of irregular, sculptural appearance and extraordinary flavor that has made it a favorite of generations of growers and writers. Early-to-mid season, poor keeper, scab-susceptible, triploid.
Folklore & Name
European variety of debated exact origin (Italy/Germany/Denmark), known by the 17th century. Name of uncertain etymology; the irregular, ribbed fruit and extraordinary aromatic flavor when ripe have made it a favorite for centuries.
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
Gravenstein is an old northern European apple whose exact birthplace is disputed. The UK National Fruit Collection gives three competing accounts: that it first grew at Graefenstein castle in Schleswig-Holstein, in the Duke of Augustenberg's garden; that it came from Italy or the South Tyrol and was sent to Schleswig-Holstein; or that scions were sent home from Italy by a brother of Count Ahlefeldt of Graasten Castle in South Jutland. It is "thought to have arrived in Denmark in about 1669" 1.
S.A. Beach's The Apples of New York (1905) quotes the American horticulturist Hovey, writing in 1851, who also found "the origin of the Gravenstein remains in some doubt." Hovey noted that it was "a common apple throughout Germany and Sweden," and since neither Coxe nor Thacher mentioned it, he guessed it reached American gardens sometime after the London Horticultural Society described it in 1822 2. Beach thought that "for culinary purposes it is perhaps unexcelled by any variety of its season" 2.
The competing accounts
- UK National Fruit Collection 1, three versions: (a) it began in the Duke of Augustenberg's garden at Graefenstein castle in Schleswig-Holstein; (b) it came from Italy or the South Tyrol and was sent to Schleswig-Holstein; (c) a brother of Count Ahlefeldt of Graasten Castle sent scions home from Italy. It probably reached Denmark about 1669.
- C.M. Hovey, 1851, quoted by S.A. Beach 2: its origin is still in some doubt; common in Germany and Sweden.
- Arrival in America: Hovey 2 thought it reached eastern gardens only after 1822, while Slow Food 3 reports it was planted at Fort Ross, California, by Russian settlers in 1811.
Most likely (our judgment, not a certainty): an apple of the Danish–German border country around Gråsten, possibly from Italian stock, grown there by the late 1600s. All the accounts meet at the castle. The Italian link appears in two of the three versions, so it should not be ruled out. The two American dates may both be right, since one is for California and the other for the East Coast.
What we think: stories & traditions
A castle apple. Gråsten in Danish, Gravenstein in German: the castle and the apple share a name, and the castle story is the one most people tell. The Italian theory is just as old 1,2. It is fitting that an apple from a border region claimed by both Denmark and Germany should have more than one homeland.
Russian trappers in California (tradition). The Gravenstein became famous far from home, in Sonoma County, California. Slow Food's Ark of Taste says there is "evidence" that it was first planted there in 1811 by Russian trappers who settled around Fort Ross, and quotes Luther Burbank: "It has often been said that if the Gravenstein could be had throughout the year, no other apple need be grown" 3. Sebastopol still holds a Gravenstein Apple Fair every August 4.
Sources
- UK National Fruit Collection, "Gravenstein." www.nationalfruitcollection.org.uk/full2.php?id=2444&fruit=apple
- S.A. Beach, The Apples of New York, Vol. 2 (Albany: J.B. Lyon, 1905), "Gravenstein," pp. 84–86 (quoting Hovey). archive.org/details/applesofnewyork02beacrich/page/84
- Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity, Ark of Taste, "Sebastopol Gravenstein Apple." www.fondazioneslowfood.com/en/ark-of-taste-slow-food/sebastopol-gravenstein-apple-2/
- Gravenstein Apple Fair (Sebastopol, California), "Apple Alley." gravensteinapplefair.com/food-drink/apples/
Curious about Gravenstein?
Email us at drgoss@honeytreeorchard.com.