Black Gilliflower or Sheep’s Nose

A New England variety from the early 1800’s. Traditionally it’s used as a cooking apple due to its rich flavor and aromatic quality, though many prefer it for fresh use. Sheep’s nose stores well until February, and its distinctive flavor and thin skin make it perfect for use in a traditional mincemeat pie recipe. Gilliflower refers to a clove flavor and black refers to the color the skin sometimes gets as it ripens. It’s also known as “Sheep’s Nose” because of its unusual shape, which tapers towards the base. The skin is greenish and somewhat pithy, though the taste is very distinctive and worth trying out of hand. Tom Burford in his book Apples of North America refers to this variety as the “olive apple” as people either love it or hate it. Burford also suggests that Sheep’s Nose is speculated to be parent to the widely known Red Delicious. We start harvest in early October.

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