Eynsham Challenger

A large culinary apple attributed to Frederick William Wastie, fruit breeder and nurseryman at Eynsham in Oxfordshire, and raised from Blenheim Orange x Lord Derby in 1935. In that year, he was 77 years old, and it is more likely that the apple was raised by his son James Frederick Wastie who was then breeding his own fruits and who was also responsible for naming his father’s fruits. It was exhibited at the RHS in 1959 by James Frederick Wastie (according to family records) and later entered the National Fruit Trials.
The apple is ribbed, rounded and oblong to conical, with pale yellow-green skin, slightly flushed with orange and lightly russeted. The apples are ripe quite late in the season and will last until the year end. When cooked, the flesh breaks down to a sharp but fairly rich purée. It crops well.