Spring 2024 - end of seasonWe have finished taking orders for this season.
Orange Pippin Trees USA logoSpecialist fruit trees for your orchard or back-yard

Amere de Berthencourt cider apple tree

Malus domestica 'Amere de Berthencourt'

Amere de Berthencourt
Amere de Berthencourt is listed in the RHS Plants for Pollinators
  • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Pollination group: 2
  • Uses: Hard cider

Amere de Berthencourt is a traditional French bittersweet cider apple. The apples are mostly yellow, and quite small, with a very bitter flavor - they cannot be eaten.

Amere de Berthencourt produces a high quality juice which can be used to create a single varietal cider or blended with other cider varieties.

Amere de Berthencourt cider apple trees for sale

You can pre-order for spring 2025

  • Semi-dwarf 1-year bare-root tree $37.95
    Mature height: 8ft-12ft after 10 years
    Semi-dwarf rootstock
    Out of stock

How to grow

Amere de Berthencourt flowers much earlier than most French cider varieties, but is readily pollinated by other early-blooming apple varieties.

Like many French cider apple varieties, Amere de Berthencourt is susceptible to many of the diseases found in the US, particularly fireblight.

Biennial bearing is another issue - but this can be avoided by careful thinning of the fruitlets in early summer.

Advice on fruit tree pollination.

History

Amere de Berthencourt comes from the traditional cider growing area around the town of Berthencourt in Normandy. In English its name means "the bitter apple from Berthencourt".

Amere de Berthencourt characteristics

  • Gardening skillAverage
  • Self-fertilityNot self-fertile
  • Pollination group2
  • Pollinating othersAverage
  • UsesHard cider
  • Keeping (of fruit)2-3 weeks
  • General resistancePoor
  • FireblightVery susceptible
  • CankerSome susceptibility
  • ScabSome susceptibility
  • MildewSome susceptibility
  • Cold hardiness (USDA)Zone 4 (-34C)
  • Summer maximum temperaturesCool ( 20-24C / 68-75F)
  • Country of originFrance
  • Period of origin1850 - 1899
  • Flesh colourWhite
  • Fruit colorYellow / Orange