Fruit ripening time: March - April
 
Extremely crunchy and juicy, with a delicious, sweet flavour. Cleopatra is considered lightly acidic, with hints of pineapple flavour. Lovely fresh eating as well as an excellent cooking apple, as it becomes beautifully fluffy when cooked.
 
A pale-green skin with a nice red blush on the sunny side. The flesh is creamy white, firm and juicy.
 
Vigorous and tends towards being a biannual cropper. Can be prone to bitter pit when excessive vigour is encouraged with high Nitrogen fertilisers or excessive winter pruning.
 
The exact parentage of this apple is unknown, and it is likely a chance seedling. Known by a variety of names, including ‘Ortley’, the commercial name ‘Cleopatra’ was adopted in 1872 when it was widely grown in Tasmania for local and export markets. Sadly, you will no longer find this variety on supermarket shelves.
 
Uses: A lovely fresh eating apple. Excellent cooking apple, great for dried apple rings, apple butter and apple pies. Stores well in the refrigerator. 
 
 
Pollinators: Akané, Belle Cacheuse, Braeburn, Bonza, Cornish Aromatic, Cox’s Orange Pippin, Cripps Pink, Democrat, Fuji, Freyberg, Gala, Geeveston Fanny, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Jonathan, Kingston Black, Lady in the Snow, Laxton’s Fortune, Prince Alfred, Red Delicious, Sturmer, Worcester Pearmain, Yarlington Mill, and white flowering Crabapples.
 
Flowering Group 3