A rare find in coastal Maine—magnificent spreading multi-trunked tree residing at the College of the Atlantic’s (COA) Beech Hill Farm in Mount Desert for more than 100 years. Prized as a true bittersweet by Rocky Ground Cider and used in their blends. Soft astringent tannins. Minimal acidity. Small-to-medium irregular roundish fruit is yellow-green with a russet cavity and some red blush.

Recent DNA tests revealed 14th-century traditional French bittersweet apple Bedan as a parent. But how did a Bedan seedling wind up on an island in Maine? COA history professor Todd Little-Siebold has a theory. Research suggests that in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, nurseries in Rochester, NY, imported hundreds of thousands of French seedling rootstocks from the cider-producing region of Normandy. Todd believes “the likely origin of the Beech Hill Bittersweet is that the farmers up on Beech Hill bought a tree from a New York nursery and the graft failed, leaving the Bedan seedling rootstock to grow for decade upon decade.” Late bloomer. Z4. Maine Grown. (Standard: 3–6' bare-root trees)