“Time, Faith and Patience”: The Jan Van Riebeeck Apple Makes a Comeback in Cape Town

• Tru-Cape Fruit Marketing planted a rare historic apple tree in Cape Town to mark 364 years since Jan van Riebeeck grew the first apple at the Cape
• The Witte Wijnappel variety is the exact type Van Riebeeck recorded picking in 1662
• South Africans had very mixed feelings, with some finding it fascinating and others making it political

South Africa's oldest apple variety is back. Instagram page @trucapefruit shared photos on 16 April 2026 of a tree planting event at Jan van Riebeeck High School in Cape Town. Here, a rare Witte Wijnappel tree was planted to celebrate 364 years of apple farming in the country. The school is also turning 100 this year, so the timing made the whole occasion feel extra special.

The Witte Wijnappel means white wine apple. According to the press release, it is the very same variety Van Riebeeck wrote about in his diary on 17 April 1662, when he picked the first two apples grown at the Cape. Bringing it back to South Africa was not a quick or easy process.

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Tru-Cape's Henk Griessel and his colleague Buks Nel did years of research, digging through old records and historical texts until they tracked down two surviving trees growing in a private garden in the Netherlands. Those trees had somehow made it through the Second World War despite the area around them being heavily bombed, which made finding them all the more remarkable.

Jan van Riebeeck apple tree planted at Cape Town school

Before this one was planted, there were only three of these trees in the whole country. One was in Grabouw, one at Babylonstoren and one in the Cape Gardens. Getting the tree into South Africa meant jumping through a lot of hoops with import regulations, but the team got it done. For Tru-Cape, planting it at a school that carries Van Riebeeck's name, in a year when both the apple industry and the school are marking big anniversaries, meant a great deal.

What started with one tree in 1662 has grown into something enormous. South Africa now has around 45 million apple trees, sends apples to more than 100 countries every year and keeps over 240 000 people employed through the industry alone.

View the Instagram post below:

People discuss the Jan van Riebeeck's apple

People shared their thoughts on the apple that took all sorts of directions on the post from the Instagram page @trucapefruit:

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@Leonore Wildeman said:

"Wow, those apple seeds lasted a few centuries."

@Nthabiseng Joy Moloi wrote:

"Now I want to taste it. Can someone in Cape Town courier me some? I'm sure they are expensive though."

@Bernarco Roode joked:

"It was from the same variety Eve gave to Adam, only much sweeter."

@Didi Taylor said:

"Oh, for goodness sake. It's just an apple."

@Gustav Oosthuizen joked:

"These apples will probably be fined by the Human Rights Commission before they can be exported."

@Donovan Mark Phipps joked:

"Give an apple to Malema in jail and then tell him after he ate it that it's from Van Riebeeck."

More South African food and culture stories

• Briefly News recently reported on a woman who attempted the RocoMamas Fire Wings Challenge and what her body did afterwards had people seriously reconsidering their next spicy food dare.
• An American woman touring South Africa shared her full list of culture shocks and one thing she said about the country's food had locals firing back hard in the comments.
• A Namibian doctor walked through a grocery store calling out the foods parents buy most often for their children, and his list of what to avoid had people deeply divided.

Source: Briefly News