Red Barron Apple
Malus domestica
A mid-season dessert apple, the fruit medium-sized and round-conical, with a golden-yellow ground colour largely covered by a bright red flush and broken darker stripes. The flesh is cream, crisp and juicy, sweet with a light acidity behind it. Raised in Sweden from Golden Delicious crossed with Katja, it is grown as a garden and small-orchard tree and is at its best eaten straight from the branch rather than stored.
A cultivated tree, grafted onto a dwarfing or semi-dwarfing rootstock and grown in gardens, allotments and small orchards across Britain and Ireland. Not a wild plant, though seedlings from discarded cores turn up in hedgerows and on waste ground.
The ripe fruit is eaten raw and poses no particular risk. The pips hold amygdalin and are best not chewed in quantity, though swallowing a few whole is harmless. Windfalls often carry wasps or brown rot inside. Garden and orchard trees are usually planted and owned, and may have been sprayed.
Always use more than one reference to confirm a plant. You are responsible for what you choose to forage.
Fruit colour
Yellow ground colour almost hidden by a solid red flush with broken stripes over it, usually reddest on the side that faced the sun. Medium sized and round-conical, tapering slightly towards the eye.
Flesh and flavour
Cream to pale yellow, firm and crisp, breaking cleanly rather than tearing. Sweet with a light acidity and an aromatic finish inherited from Katja; it softens quickly once picked.
Blossom
White petals opening from pink buds in mid spring, borne in clusters on short spurs on older wood. A mid-season flowerer, so it overlaps with most other garden apples.
Leaves and shoots
Oval leaves with finely toothed margins, dull green above and downy grey-green underneath, carried alternately on the shoot. Young twigs are brown and slightly hairy.
Graft union
A swollen kink low on the trunk, usually within a foot of the ground, marks where the cultivar was grafted onto its rootstock. Its presence confirms a planted tree rather than a wild seedling.
Updated 2026-08-07T20:37:46.444Z · Part of the shared Foragers Log catalogue · Fruit