When in Rome ...

Norfolk Beefing / Norfolk Biffin

Autumn is over, winter has begun, the last apples have been milled and pressed, ferments slow down (or stop altogether if it gets too cold) and a welcome stillness settles over the barn. All of which is a sign that the tree-planting season has begun, so time to head out into a blasting wind and horizontal rain in a soggy field in Gloucestershire. But not this week, where we found ourselves in unfamiliar territory - a Victorian walled garden, in Norfolk, safely sheltered from a stiff breeze, blessed by the winter sun and entertained by Ruth, a friend from about 110 years ago, horticulturalist, sage and the creator of The Norfolk School of Gardening.

Unfamiliar territory in other ways too. Having spent the last few years promoting Gloucestershire’s apples for Gloucestershire’s orchards, there’s a sudden need to learn about Norfolk’s apples for Norfolk’s orchards. Apples such as London Pearmain and Dutch Mignonne or, more obviously, Norfolk Beauty and Norfolk Dumpling. The names of apples in Norfolk, as elsewhere, cry out for attention and tell their own stories; New Costessey Seedling, Vicar of Beighton, Jordan’s Weeping, Harling Hero. For practical reasons we settled on Norfolk Royal Russet, and for historical, literary and culinary reasons on Norfolk Beefing.

Norfolk Beefing or Norfolk Biffin … and biffins

Also known as Norfolk Biffin, it’s an ancient apple first recorded in 1698 in the estate records of Mannington, home of Robert Walpole, the country’s first Prime Minister (and more capable, certainly, than any of the current contenders). Charles Dickens was also a fan; he mentions the apple in three of his novels (A Christmas Carol, Martin Chuzzlewit, Dombey and Sons) and in a short story, Boots at the Holly Tree Inn, where we are introduced to a local treat, the biffin.

"Cobbs, do you think you could bring a biffin, please?... I think a Norfolk biffin would rouse her, Cobbs. She is very fond of them.”

So, how to make Norfolk biffins from Norfolk Biffins? Slow cook the apples at a low temperature for 4 to 5 hours, extract from the oven and press firmly but gently, to extract the juice but not burst the skin. Return to the oven for another hour, press again, allow to cool. When cold, cover with clarified sugar and you have a biffin. They were a Christmas treat in Victorian London, supplied by Norwich’s bakers. The same apple was also recommended for making Black Caps, a baked apple made with sugar, wine and lemon peel (Modern Cookery, in all its branches, by Eliza Acton (1845)). In 3 or 4 years’ time, when the first Norfolk Biffins are harvested from this new tree, perhaps a Norfolk biffin will soon follow?

From west to east …

We couldn’t resist it, so planted an Ashmead’s Kernel in that walled garden in Norfolk, a lonely outpost of Gloucestershire’s apple-growing tradition in the heart of the flatlands of East Anglia. Go well, hale friend; brace yourself for biting winter winds from Siberia and for long summer droughts … but you are in good hands. Gloucestershire and the West Country, Norfolk and East Anglia … later this week we’ll be planting another orchard in another unfamiliar setting, this time in Kent (and no walled garden to protect us). Whatever, wherever, there are local apples and local traditions, all valuable, all worth conserving and celebrating.

Apple varieties from Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk are available from the East of England Apples and Orchards Project.