Huge fruit with sweet, fruity flavor with firm, moderately breaking texture and excellent storage life. Variety is believed to have originated in America, and was widely propagated throughout New England and New York in the 19th century. It is also reputed to have been Thoreau’s favorite apple. Circa 1700s. Ripens late september.

“I know a Blue-Pearmain tree, growing within the edge of a swamp, almost as good as wild. You would not suppose that there was any fruit left there, on the first survey, but you must look according to system…. If I am sharp-set, for I do not refuse the Blue-Pearmain, I fill my pockets on each side; and as I retrace my steps in the frosty eve, being perhaps four or five miles from home, I eat one first from this side, and then from that, to keep my balance.” -Henry David Thoreau, from his essay “Wild Apples”