From the Living Museum
Violette
- Origin
- France; dated by Leroy to the late 1500s and grown at Orléans by 1628; the name means ‘Violet’
- Era
- Late 16th c.; recorded 1628
- Type / use
- Dessert
History & Stories
Often shows purple or dark-red coloration and aromatic flesh. Historic European dessert type with distinctive color.
Folklore & Name
Old French variety, dated to the late 1500s and recorded at Orléans in 1628 as Violette de Mars 1. ‘Violette’ = violet, referring to purple or dark-red coloration and often aromatic character. Historic European dessert 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
Violette is an old French apple named for the colour of its skin. André Leroy (1867) said it dates "at least, with us, from the last years of the 16th century," and that in 1628 it grew in the Orléans orchard of Le Lectier, the king's procurator, under the name Violette de Mars 1. The monk Saint-Étienne noted in 1670 that it was "already ripe at the beginning of autumn," and Merlet (1675) and La Quintinye (1690) argued over when it was best to eat 1 (our translations).
What we think: stories & traditions
Violet of March. Leroy thought the old name Violette de Mars was "perfectly chosen": it signalled an apple that ripens in October yet keeps through the winter 1. Merlet said it could be eaten from November to February, while La Quintinye insisted that "Christmas is its furthest point of ripeness" 1. It's a pleasant picture: two of Louis XIV's experts disagreeing about the same apple we can still taste.
Sources
- André Leroy, Dictionnaire de pomologie, Vol. 4 (Pommes, G–Z) (Paris/Angers, 1867), "Pomme de Violette," pp. 860–861. archive.org/details/dictionnairedepo04lero/page/860
Curious about Violette?
Email us at drgoss@honeytreeorchard.com.