Merton Prolific apple

Merton Prolific is one of the early results of research at the John Innes Institute, based in Merton, South London.  It is based on the premise of crossing an excellent dessert apple - Cox's Orange Pippin - with a tried and tested cooker - Northern Greening.  The result is not entirely successful, as the Northern Greening tends to dominate the mix - but this does mean that Merton Prolific is as its name suggests, a good cropper and it also keeps very well.  The flavour can best be described as strong apple-like - which is no bad thing.