From the Living Museum
Redstreak
- Origin
- Herefordshire, England; arose about the start of the 17th century and was spread by Viscount Scudamore
- Era
- Early 17th c.
- Type / use
- Dual-purpose · Cider
History & Stories
Old dual-purpose or cider variety with red stripes. Unique mainly for its great age and survival as a named English variety of the early modern period.
Folklore & Name
Very old English name appearing in records from the 17th century or earlier. Descriptive of the red-striped fruit. Historic dual-purpose or cider type.
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
Redstreak, also called Herefordshire Redstreak or Scudamore's Crab, was the most famous English cider apple of the 17th century. Robert Hogg's Fruit Manual (1884) judged that no apple at any time had been so admired, or so much written about, as this one in the 1600s. He placed its origin near the start of that century, because John Evelyn said "it was within the memory of some now living surnamed the Scudamore's Crab, and then not much known save in the neighbourhood" 1.
The name Scudamore's Crab came from John, the first Viscount Scudamore (born 1600, died 1671). Hogg says that after the Duke of Buckingham was murdered, Scudamore withdrew from public life and turned to planting orchards, with Redstreak as his main tree 1. Ralph Austen (1653) already recommended "Red-streaks" among the best cider apples 1.
The competing accounts
- Robert Hogg, 1884 1: arose about the start of the 1600s in Herefordshire, based on John Evelyn's remark that people still alive remembered it as Scudamore's Crab.
- A date earlier than the 1600s is sometimes given; the earliest record Hogg cites is Ralph Austen in 1653 1.
Most likely (our judgment, not a certainty): an early-1600s Herefordshire apple spread by Viscount Scudamore. Evelyn's near-contemporary memory is the best evidence we have.
What we think: stories & traditions
The poet's apple. John Philips's poem Cyder (1708) told readers to "Let every tree in every garden own / The Red Streak as supreme" 1. By the early 18th century its reputation was fading. Hogg quotes a writer named Nourse who complained that its cider, though prized for "its noble colour and smell," would "sooner clog the stomach than any other cider whatsoever" 1. By Hogg's time it was "comparatively but little cultivated" 1.
Is today's Redstreak the same tree? Hogg's description is of a Redstreak still known in 1884 1. Whether trees sold as Redstreak now descend from Lord Scudamore's orchards can't be proven from the records we found.
Sources
- Robert Hogg, The Fruit Manual, 5th ed. (London, 1884), "Red-streak," pp. 188–189. archive.org/details/fruitmanualguide00hoggrich/page/188
Curious about Redstreak?
Email us at drgoss@honeytreeorchard.com.