From the Living Museum
Orleans Reinette
- Origin
- France (probably the Orléans district); first described by Knoop in 1766
- Era
- First described 1766
- Type / use
- Dessert (Reinette)
History & Stories
Medium fruit with russet and red flush, firm aromatic sweet-sharp flesh, and good storage. Unique as a representative of the refined French reinette tradition.
Folklore & Name
Classic French Reinette. Name indicates membership in the refined reinette group of aromatic, good-keeping French dessert apples.
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
Orléans Reinette (Reinette d'Orléans) was first described by the Dutch pomologist Herman Knoop in 1766, in the German edition of his book. He wrote that it "comes from Strasbourg; it is the largest, the most beautiful and the most prized of all the Reinettes" 1 (our translation). André Leroy (1867) puzzled over why an apple from Strasbourg would be named for Orléans.
The competing accounts
- Herman Knoop, 1766, as quoted by André Leroy 1: the apple "comes from Strasbourg."
- Leroy, 1867 1: the name points to Orléans, then a great fruit-tree centre, and Knoop probably meant only that his own tree came from Strasbourg. The German pomologist Lucas agreed that it is French.
Most likely (our judgment, not a certainty): a French Reinette of the 1700s, probably from the Orléans district. Leroy's reading explains both the name and Knoop's remark, but it remains an interpretation.
What we think: stories & traditions
Orléans or Strasbourg? (Leroy's reading) Leroy pointed out that Orléans was still a famous centre of fruit-tree growing in the mid-18th century, and argued that the name shows its birthplace. He thought Knoop meant that his own tree came from Strasbourg, not that the apple originated there. He called this "the only plausible explanation" 1. Either way, Leroy said, the apple "has the right to take its place among the French varieties," and he noted that the German pomologist Dr Lucas had come to the same view 1.
We can't settle it, but both readings point to France in the 1700s.
Sources
- André Leroy, Dictionnaire de pomologie, Vol. 4 (Pommes, G–Z) (Paris/Angers, 1867), "Reinette d'Orléans," pp. 720–721. archive.org/details/dictionnairedepo04lero/page/720
Curious about Orleans Reinette?
Email us at drgoss@honeytreeorchard.com.