A name for Blenheim Orange, a large, crisp, dry, aromatic, yellowish-fleshed, pippin apple with a sweet, slightly tart flavour and dull, yellow skin washed and speckled with orange-red. It is a good-looking eating apple which cooks well and is preferred in tarte tatin as it is soft-textured but does not lose its shape. It was discovered growing along the wall that was the boundary of the grounds of Blenheim Palace in Woodstock in Oxfordshire around 1740 by Kempster. It was originally named Kempster's Pippin but the name was changed with the approval of the Duke of Marlborough around 1904. It was awarded the Banksian Medal of the London Horticultural Society in 1822. In the 1920s it became widespread throughout Europe and the United States. In France it is known as Bénédictin. A traditional Christmas, mid- to late-season, apple which is harvested from late September to early October in South-East England, is stored and is at its best between October and December. In the United States it is harvested from October to December.
