Gansel's Bergamot

Gansel's Bergamot

Origin/History

Raised from seed of the Autumn Bergamot by Lieutenant-General Gansel near Colchester, England, in 1768. An old English variety, considered to have few superiors when well grown. Documented in Brookshaw's Pomona Britannica (Vol. 2, Pl. L, 1817), the Pomological Magazine (1:35, Pl., 1828), Knoop's Fructologie (1:92, 135, 1771, as Bergamote Gansel), and Leroy's Dictionnaire de Pomologie (1:239, fig., 1867).

Tree

Vigorous and spreading in habit. Succeeds well on quince rootstock; productive. Requires a warm, rich soil — on cold clay it is almost tasteless. (Elliott) Shoots short, dark gray, spreading; leaves flat and mealy. (Thomas)

Fruit

Size: Sources disagree. Hedrick describes the fruit as medium. Elliott calls it large. Thomas characterizes it as rather large, sometimes only medium.

Form: Hedrick gives the form as globular-oblate. Elliott as roundish obovate. Thomas as roundish-oblate, more or less approaching obovate, flattened most at the crown — a description that partially reconciles the other two.

Stem: Short (Elliott); half or three-fourths of an inch long, with ends often fleshy (Thomas).

Cavity: Deep (Elliott); smooth (Thomas).

Calyx: Open (Elliott).

Basin: Deep (Elliott); smooth (Thomas).

Skin: Greenish-yellow on the shaded side, reddish-brown on the side of the sun, dotted and marbled with russet, and sometimes washed with red (Hedrick). Elliott describes it as yellowish-brown russet, red in the sun, with russet dots and patches. Thomas gives the ground color as yellowish-brown with a faint russet-brown blush.

Core and Seeds: Core large (Elliott). The flesh is described as a little gritty around the core (Hedrick).

Flesh and Flavor: White (Hedrick) to yellowish-white (Elliott). Melting and juicy across all sources. Hedrick describes it as buttery and melting, with juice abundant, sugary, vinous, slightly musky and acid, and rates it first quality. Elliott calls the flesh coarse, melting, and juicy, rating it "very good" or "best." Thomas describes the flesh as granular, melting, juicy, rich, sweet, and perfumed, with a very good flavor.

Season

October (Elliott); ripens through several of the early weeks of autumn (Thomas); October and November (Hedrick).

Uses

Considered to have few superiors as a dessert fruit when well grown in warm, rich soil (Elliott).

Subtypes/Variants

Not described in source.

Other

Not described in source.