The Knotted Kernel cider apple is an old Somerset variety that was believed to have been lost to Britain.
However Bernwode Fruit Trees rediscovered the variety and reintroduced it to the UK in 2007. The folks at Bernwode found the Knotted Kernel on a list of trees grown by British radiologist Dr. Trevor Fitzjohn. The Doctor had acquired the Knotted Kernel from another Englishman who had taken British cider apple varieties to New Zealand in the 1960s.
It produces a large tree with small to medium bittersweet apples of excellent quality. The Knotted Kernel was referenced in the catalogue of the London horticultural Society in 1842 and probably date back much further. We have been growing the Knotted Kernel in our own orchards for a number of years now and this photograph captures the magnificence of th 'Kernel'.
