The World of Apples

Growing regions

Kashmir

India's apple valley, where the native Ambri is being brought back

How apples came

The apple did not have to be brought to Kashmir. Walter Lawrence, the British settlement commissioner who surveyed the valley in the 1890s, listed it among the fruits indigenous to the country, with the pear, vine, mulberry, walnut, hazel, cherry, peach and apricot, and wrote that “the wild apple and pear can be obtained with ease from the forests on the slope of the hills surrounding the valley, and the Kashmíris have for generations brought down the wild stock from the hills and planted it in orchards.” The year after planting, the wild tree was grafted in spring or budded in July and August; for budding, the bud of the apple to be reproduced was slipped off a young shoot into a saucer of milk and carried into the orchard1.

The apples were already prized at the Mughal court. The Ain-i-Akbari, Abul Fazl’s gazetteer of the emperor Akbar’s dominions, says of Kashmir: “Besides plums and mulberries, the fruits are numerous. Melons, apples, peaches, apricots are excellent.” It also notes a class of pious men in the valley who “employ themselves in planting fruit trees, and are generally a source of benefit to the people”2.

Apples are written into the geography of Srinagar itself. In his translation of Kalhana’s Rajatarangini, the twelfth-century chronicle of the kings of Kashmir, M. A. Stein identified the ancient Mahasarit with the canal that drains the Dal lake towards the river, “now called Tsunth Kul”, which he glosses as “the apple-tree canal”3.

By 1895 the valley’s apples were a trade. “The most popular apple in Kashmír is the anbru or amri,” Lawrence wrote, “which has a large round red and white sweet fruit, ripening in October and keeping its condition for a long time. This is the apple which is exported in large quantities, and it finds favour with the natives of India for its sweetness and its handsome appearance.” Another variety, the kuddu sari, was “said to have been introduced from Kabul”. The state ran a nursery and a distillery that made apple brandy1.

The American Delicious then took over; when is not something the sources date (see below). The result is clear. By the 2020s “the main commercial varieties, including Delicious” set the rhythm of the season8, and the Ambri survived in scattered plantations, “indigenous to Kashmir”, kept alive by breeders who valued its flavour, its aroma and its ability to keep for up to six months in ordinary storage7.

How they’re grown

The valley is a temperate zone with dry, warm summers and wet, severe winters, with snow at the higher altitudes; its districts, Anantnag, Pulwama, Srinagar, Budgam, Baramulla and Kupwara among them, suit the apple, cherry, almond, saffron, walnut and pear5. India’s National Horticulture Board puts apple country at 1,500 to 2,700 m, where trees get the 1,000 to 1,500 hours of winter chilling they need6. The valley floor sits around 1,600 m: the saffron fields at Pampore, a few kilometres from Srinagar, lie at 1,600 to 1,800 m5.

Apples take up half of Jammu and Kashmir’s fruit area and yield about 12.5 tonnes a hectare, the most of any fruit grown there. Picking is still done by hand into woven wicker baskets holding up to 5 kg5. New high-density orchards on dwarfing rootstocks are changing the look of the valley: researchers at the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology have been working out the best picking dates for imported strains, Gala Redlum, Red Velox and Super Chief, planted in such orchards10.

The old apple is coming back too. In August 2026 the university held a field day at its research centre at Pahnoo, Shopian, where the conservation of “Kashmir’s iconic Ambri apple” took centre stage9. A 2016 study collected 34 Ambri variants from the Jammu side of the territory to revive the variety for commercial planting and breeding7. Indian breeders have crossed it repeatedly: Lal Ambri (Red Delicious × Ambri), Sunehari (Ambri × Golden Delicious), Ambred, Ambrich and Ambroyal all carry Ambri blood6.

What’s picked

Jammu and Kashmir grew 21.4 lakh tonnes (2.14 million tonnes) of apples in 2023, of which 9 to 10 lakh tonnes were A-grade5, and about 21.1 lakh tonnes in 2024–25 from roughly 1.72 lakh hectares of orchard11. That is nearly 79% of India’s entire apple crop on the 2023–24 figures. The main districts are in the south of the valley: Anantnag, Shopian, Kulgam and Pulwama5.

The season opens in early August, when early varieties are picked in Shopian, Pulwama, Kulgam, Baramulla and Sopore; the main commercial varieties, Delicious among them, reach the markets later in August and in September8. The Ambri ripens in October1,4, and Indian apples are on sale through November7. After that the crop goes into the territory’s roughly 60 controlled-atmosphere stores, though losses after harvest of 20 to 25% remain a problem5.

On the table

Lawrence found a valley that could hardly wait for its fruit: “So eager are the people to get fruit that most of the apples are eaten unripe.” Dried apple, classed as a “cold” food, was boiled and eaten with the flour of amaranth, an “extremely hot” grain, and in winter dried fruits were an important part of the diet. Excellent cider had been made from the little trel of Sopore, “half sour, half sweet”, and the drink of choice in Srinagar was the apple brandy from the state distillery, which fashionable young men bet they could drink by the quart1.

The Kashmiri word for apple is tsunth, in Grierson’s transcription ʦū̃ṭh. His dictionary also records the trel, the small Sopore apple; the ambari; and morba, apple jam. The quince is the bam-tsunth, a sour sort of apple4.

Notes

  • Srinagar has an apple-tree canal: the Tsunth Kul, the old Mahasarit, which carries the Dal lake’s surplus water to the river3.
  • Kashmir’s apples were called “excellent” in Akbar’s gazetteer2.
  • In 1895 the state distillery was making apple brandy, and most Kashmiri apples were eaten unripe1.
  • The Ambri keeps for up to six months in ordinary storage, which is why breeders want it back7.
  • Jammu and Kashmir grows nearly 79% of India’s apples5.

Where the sources disagree

  • When Delicious displaced the Ambri. Popular accounts say from the 1960s; no primary or scholarly source dating it was found, so the entry gives no date.
  • The orchard belt’s elevation. The 1,600 m figure for the valley floor is inferred from the altitude of the Pampore saffron fields5; the 1,500 to 2,700 m band is the Horticulture Board’s general range for India6.
  • The end of the season. News reports say picking runs to mid-November; only “through November” is verified7.
  • Spelling. Lawrence gave the Ambri two names, anbru and amri; Grierson’s dictionary has ambȧri, the form the name takes today1,4. Kashmiri is written in the Perso-Arabic script today; Grierson gives the Devanagari form च़ूँठु, and the Perso-Arabic spelling was not verified, so the words are given in roman letters.
Kashmir
Where Kashmir is.

Sources

  1. The Valley of Kashmír, Walter R. Lawrence, Henry Frowde, London; Internet Archive, 1895. Supports: the apple among the valley's indigenous fruits; wild stock brought down and grafted; the Ambri's popularity and export; the kuddu sari from Kabul; the trel of Sopore and its cider; the state nursery and distillery; fruit eaten unripe; dried apple with amaranth.
  2. Ain-i-Akbari, volume II, account of Kashmir, Abul Fazl, translated by H. S. Jarrett; Internet Archive, 1949 printing. Supports: 'Melons, apples, peaches, apricots are excellent'; the pious men who plant fruit trees.
  3. Kalhaṇa's Rājataraṅgiṇī: a chronicle of the kings of Kaśmīr, volume 2, M. A. Stein, translator; Internet Archive, 1900. Supports: the Mahasarit identified with the Tsunth Kul, 'the apple-tree canal'.
  4. A Dictionary of the Kashmiri Language, George A. Grierson, 1916–1932, Digital Dictionaries of South Asia. Supports: the words ʦū̃ṭh, trēl and ambȧri, morba for apple jam, bam-tsunth for the quince, and the Ambri ripening in October.
  5. Roadmap for Horticulture Development in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir, NITI Aayog, April 2026. Supports: nearly 79% of India's apples in 2023–24; 21.4 lakh tonnes in 2023 and 9–10 lakh A-grade; half the fruit area; 12.5 t/ha; wicker baskets; about 60 controlled-atmosphere stores; 20–25% post-harvest losses; the climate; the saffron fields at 1,600–1,800 m; the main districts.
  6. Apple: crop profile, National Horticulture Board, India. Supports: the 1,500–2,700 m band, the chilling hours, and the Ambri crosses Lal Ambri, Sunehari, Ambred, Ambrich and Ambroyal.
  7. Analysis and utilization of genetic diversity of 'Ambri' apple (Malus × domestica Borkh.) in Jammu region, R. M. Sharma et al., Indian Journal of Horticulture 73(1), March 2016. Supports: the Ambri as indigenous and late-maturing, keeping up to six months, surviving in scattered plantations; the 34 variants collected; Indian apples on sale through November.
  8. Kashmir's apple harvest begins on an optimistic note, Kashmir Vision, 5 August 2026. Supports: early varieties picked from early August in Shopian, Pulwama, Kulgam, Baramulla and Sopore; Delicious later in August and in September.
  9. Ambri apple revival takes centre stage at SKUAST-K field day, Rising Kashmir, 8 August 2026. Supports: the field day at Pahnoo, Shopian, and the Ambri's standing.
  10. Predicting the optimum harvesting dates for different exotic apple varieties grown under North Western Himalayan regions, N. R. Wani et al., via PMC, 2023. Supports: Gala Redlum, Red Velox and Super Chief in a high-density orchard at SKUAST-K.
  11. Apple orchards, unequal sprays: how Kashmir's pesticide use far exceeds Himachal and Uttarakhand, KNS Kashmir, column by a retired district horticulture officer, 11 September 2026. Supports: about 21.1 lakh tonnes in 2024–25 from roughly 1.72 lakh hectares.