Belle de Boskoop

Found at Boskoop in 1856 and much grown in the Netherlands and Germany; DNA shows Kasseler Renette is one parent

Belle de Boskoop, painted by Bertha Heiges in 1902 for the US Department of Agriculture. Bertha Heiges. U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection. Rare and Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705. Source; public domain.

Origin: Boskoop, Netherlands, 1856
Raised by: Ottolander nursery
Parentage: Seedling of Kasseler Renette One parent established by SNP data (Larsen and others, 2025): Kasseler Renette, also called Dutch Mignonne and Reinette de Caux. The other parent is unknown, and the data do not say which parent bore the seed. The National Fruit Collection records it instead as a sport of Reinette de Montfort.
Uses: Dessert, Cooking
Picked: October, in Brogdale, Kent
Keeps: Until March or April
Skin: Golden or greenish yellow, much russeted, with a brick-red to orange flush and broken stripes on the sunny side
Flesh: Yellowish, firm, juicy and somewhat coarse
Flavour: Acid and aromatic
Ploidy: Triploid
Also called: Boskoop; Schöner aus Boskoop; Schöner von Boskoop; Schone van Boskoop; Goudreinette; Reinette von Montfort; Reinette Monstrueuse

History

Belle de Boskoop is said to have grown from seed in 1856 in the Ottolander family’s nursery at Boskoop, in the Netherlands³; the National Fruit Collection records that a member of the family found it there that year¹. In German it is Schöner aus Boskoop, and in Dutch Schone van Boskoop or goudrenet^2,8.

In 1883 Wilhelm Lauche, writing for the German pomological society, reported that the Boskoop nurseryman Ottolander had raised and distributed it a few years earlier². It was still little known in Germany, although the royal gardeners’ school had obtained it directly from Ottolander, and Lauche urged wide planting for its beauty, productiveness and quality². It received an Award of Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society in 1897¹, and by 1920 Bunyard could call it “much grown for market in Holland and Germany”⁴. In 1905 Beach wrote that it had reached the United States more than 25 years before³.

Belle de Boskoop is triploid^1,5. A 2025 study using SNP markers identified Kasseler Renette, a variety also known as Dutch Mignonne and Reinette de Caux, as one of its parents; the other was not identified⁵. The same study confirmed it, with Filippa, as a parent of the tetraploid Alfa 68⁵.

Dutch statistics combine it with Red Boskoop (Rode Boskoop): the two covered 1,281 hectares of orchard in 1997 and 215 hectares in 2025, when the Netherlands had 5,061 hectares of apples⁷. In Germany in 2022 it was grown as a table apple on 278 hectares in Lower Saxony and 271 hectares in Baden-Württemberg⁶.

The fruit

The fruit is large and flattish^1,3; the UK’s National Apple Register of 1971 gives it as 60 mm high and 70 mm wide¹. The skin is golden or greenish yellow, roughened by much russet, with a brick-red or orange flush and broken stripes on the side facing the sun^1,2,4. Beach noted that it turns bright red in some districts but more often stays dull green or yellow³. The yellowish flesh is firm, juicy and somewhat coarse^1,3, and its flavour acid and aromatic^1,4.

At Brogdale, Kent, the tree reaches 10 per cent flowering on 2 May, and the fruit is picked in early October¹. Lauche gave its season as November to March and Bunyard as December to April^2,4; in western New York some fruit kept until April³.

Growing

Lauche found the tree very vigorous and very fertile, with a rounded crown, thriving in any soil that was not too dry². Beach found it moderately vigorous, wide-spreading and drooping, fairly hardy and a good bearer³; Bunyard rated its growth moderate⁴. Its sports include Red Belle de Boskoop and Wilhelm Ley¹.

Uses

It serves both for dessert and for cooking: Lauche thought it equally good for each², and the National Fruit Collection notes that it cooks well¹. A Dutch account says that it can be eaten fresh and does well in salads and above all in baking, and that in Dutch home kitchens most of it ends as apple sauce or in apple tart⁸.

Where the sources disagree

Seedling or sport. Beach says that it grew from seed and Lauche that Ottolander raised it^2,3, while the National Fruit Collection thinks it a bud sport of Reinette de Montfort¹. Beach reported that Palandt found it identical with the Reinette von Montfort described by Lauche and Oberdieck, and Bunyard that some authorities held Reinette von Montfort to be its correct name^3,4.
Quality. Lauche praised its fine, tender, juicy flesh and delicate, sweet and winy taste²; Beach found it coarse, too acid for dessert until late in the season, and not of high quality³.

Family tree

Parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, as the entries in the atlas record them.

Belle de Boskoop Netherlands, 1856
- Parent Kasseler Renette

Offspring in the atlas

Alfa 68 × Fillippa; Sweden, 1937
Wilhelm Ley Germany

3 varieties in the atlas descend from Belle de Boskoop.

Where Belle de Boskoop came from.

Sources

Belle de Boskoop (accession 1973-169), National Fruit Collection, Brogdale, Kent (Defra). Supports: "Triploid"; "Thought to be a bud sport of Reinette de Montfort"; found by K.J.W. Ottolander at Boskoop in 1856; an Award of Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society in 1897; firm, coarse-textured flesh with "a pleasant, aromatic flavour"; "Also cooks well"; synonyms including Boskoop, Goudrenet, Reinette de Montfort and Reinette Monstrueuse; mother to Alfa 68; sports Red Belle de Boskoop and Wilhelm Ley; the collection's characterisation (a): large, broad globose-conical, green-yellow with a little striped or mottled orange over colour, medium-high russet, crisp, juicy, yellowish flesh; Smith's National Apple Register of 1971 (b): 60 mm high and 70 mm wide, flushed red over yellow, russet present, firm yellow flesh, "acid aromatic"; 10% flowering on 2 May and picking in early October at Brogdale.
First supplement to Lucas and Oberdieck's Illustrated Handbook of Pomology, pp. 265–266: No. 822, Schöner aus Boskoop (in German), Wilhelm Lauche, for the Deutscher Pomologen-Verein; Paul Parey, Berlin; Internet Archive, 1883. Supports: the name Schöner aus Boskoop; raised and distributed "a few years ago" (vor einigen Jahren) by Ottolander, nursery owner at Boskoop (Holland); little known in Germany but deserving wide planting for its beauty, productiveness and quality; the Royal Gardeners' School (Königliche Gärtner-Lehranstalt) received it directly from Ottolander; yellowish skin roughened by russet, with a dull, later almost crimson red and many broken stripes on the sunny side; yellowish-white, fine, tender, juicy flesh of a delicate, sweet and winy taste; season November to March, "equally good" for the table and the kitchen (für Tafel und Wirthschaft gleich gut); a very vigorous, very fertile tree with a rounded crown, thriving in any soil that is not too dry.
The Apples of New York, vol. II, pp. 25–26: Boskoop, S. A. Beach, New York Agricultural Experiment Station; Internet Archive, 1905. Supports: "said to have originated from seed in 1856 in the nursery of the Ottolander family at Boskoop"; Palandt's finding that it is identical with the "Reinette von Montfort" described by Lauche and Oberdieck; imported into the United States "more than twenty-five years ago"; colour highly red in some places but more often dull green or yellow and russeted; "more suitable for general market and culinary purposes than for dessert"; somewhat coarse texture, flavour too acid for dessert until late in the season, not ranking high in quality; pretty hardy and a good bearer; tree rather large, moderately vigorous, wide-spreading and drooping; large, oblate fruit; seeds "apt to be abortive"; firm, somewhat coarse, juicy flesh; commercial season September to November, some fruit keeping until April in western New York.
A Handbook of Hardy Fruits, vol. I, p. 25: Belle de Boskoop, E. A. Bunyard, John Murray; Internet Archive, 1920. Supports: the German name Schoener aus Boskoop and the names Reinette Monstreuse and Reinette von Montfort; culinary or dessert, December to April; golden-yellow with a brick-red flush and much thin russet; firm, yellowish flesh, acid and aromatic; growth moderate, fertile; originated at Boskoop in Holland in 1856; "Reinette von Montfort is considered by some authorities to be the correct name"; "much grown for market in Holland and Germany".
Cultivar fingerprinting and SNP-based pedigree reconstruction in Danish heritage apple cultivars utilizing genotypic data from multiple germplasm collections in the world, B. Larsen and others, Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 72: 2397, with supplementary tables, 2025. Supports: Table S5: Schone van Boskoop (MUNQ 886) triploid, with Kasseler Renette as its one SNP-confirmed parent and the other unknown; Alfa 68, a tetraploid, with Schone van Boskoop and Filippa as parents; the text: Kasseler Renette (MUNQ 629) also known as Dutch Mignonne and Reinette de Caux.
Tree fruit 2022 (Fachserie 3, Reihe 3.2.1), table 3: final estimate of the apple harvest by variety in the main growing states (in German), Statistisches Bundesamt (Destatis), 2023-01-09. Supports: planted area of Boskoop among table apples in 2022: 278 ha in Lower Saxony and 271 ha in Baden-Württemberg.
Fruit growing: harvest and growing area of apples and pears (in Dutch), Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS), StatLine table 84499NED, 2026-08-14. Supports: the category "Rode Boskoop (Goudreinette)", "Inclusief Schone van Boskoop" (Red Boskoop, including Schone van Boskoop): 1,281 ha in 1997 and 215 ha in 2025 (final figures); all apples 5,061 ha in 2025.
The Schone van Boskoop (in Dutch), Jeroen Habets, NRC (7 October 2000), reprinted in Pomospost, spring 2016, pp. 15–17; Wageningen University and Research eDepot, 2016. Supports: the Dutch names goudrenet and Schone van Boskoop; firm, pale yellow, juicy flesh with a fresh, sharp taste; eaten fresh and very good for cooking, good in salads and above all in pastry; in Dutch home kitchens most goudrenets end as apple sauce or in apple tart.