23/02/2026
These are‘Kingston Black’ apples. They are one of the cider apple varieties we grow here.
Lately, these have been finding themselves used a lot in our publicity photos. This is beautiful they develop a remarkable dark red colour quite early in their development, so look appealing and are ready to photograph before the others are.
But good as they look, you wouldn’t want to eat them. While they produce a terrific tasting juice and cider, the skin is thick and waxy, the flesh is dry and pasty and the flavour is dominated by strong, mouth-drying tannins.
Cider apples are meant to be pressed into juice. We grow four different varieties here and use a mixture of them for our West Country cider and Zero. The Kingston Black have a very intense ‘appley’ flavour and aroma which we like to allow to dominate the mix in the West Country cider.
