Links to my apple posts

[redbird]

This is mostly for my own reference, so I don't have to keep clicking on the "apple" tag to find out if I've tried/posted about an apple variety.

• A more general and reflective post about apples, written for minoanmiss
• Ambrosia: still crisp when bought in March, but almost no flavor
• Ashmead's kernel: a good heirloom apple: crisp, juicy, nice balance of sweet and tart
• Blushing golden: a good heirloom apple: crisp, juicy, nice balance of sweet and tart
  
• Cripp's pink: like Gala but not as tasty
• Dandee Mac: pretty good for an early-season apple
• Elstar: a good, crisp early apple
• Esopus Spitzenburg: a very nice heirloom apple, with an unfortunately brief season
• Evercrisp: Somewhat crisp but lacking in flavor, and doesn't keep as well as the name suggests.
• Garnet Spy aka NY428: We liked this, it's crisp and tasty.
• Honeycrisp : crisp, sweet, tasty
• Hudson's Golden Gem: a mild-flavored late season apple with a texture I like
• "J" Mac: early-season, somewhat astringent, crisp
• Jonathan: I took one bite and spat it out, because it was sour. Try again some year?
• Junami: A mild apple I tried in Washington
• Kendall: crisp but little flavor, not very juicy
• Keepsake: almost no flavor
• Kiku: new variety from New Zealand, tasty but not a strong flavor
• Lodi: crisp, sour early apple
• Milton: juicy, tasty, but soft
• Molly Sheepnose: bland early apple
• NY543
• NY652: probably my favorite early apple
• Pacific rose: pretty, juicy, mild flavor
• Pazzaz: a little tart, had the Delicious nature
• Pink-a-boo: distinctly pink flesh, but very little flavor or sweetness
• Pomme gris: Sourer than I like, and not very juicy or interesting
• Pristine: another boring early-season apple.
• Puritan: bland early-season apple
• Ribston pippin: tasty, but not as sweet or as juicy as a good Macintosh or Gala
• Roxbury russet: I liked this: very apple-y.
• Sansa: mild and pleasant, tastes a bit like a banana
• Senshu: OK, nothing special
• Shamrock: another average apple: mild flavor but what's there is nice
• Sonya: crunchy, tart, juicy, flavor could be stronger
• Spartan: crisp but bland
• Spencer: an average apple
• Swiss gourmet: tart and crisp, but nothing special
• Tsugaru: bland and tasted not quite right.
• Vista Bella: this review seems to be from a particularly good year for this variety
• Williams pride: A crisp early season apple with some flavor
• Westfield seek-no-further: pleasant, mild flavor, very crisp
• Wickson: small, mild but pleasant flavor.
• Zestar: an early-season apple I happily bought more of while the market had them this year

Comments

[raino]

Oh, oh, this is so inspiring, makes me want to start apole tasting local varieties. Maybe the spit-out sour apples are intended for preservibg, baking or cider making? I find the tastiest apple jam is from sour-ish apples.

[redbird]

I don't think they'd bring a meant-for-cider apple to the farmers markets, which are basically retail. On the other hand, I have seen bottles of apple cider that boasted of being made from Honeycrisp apples. (That's a variety I want to try again now that we're back someplace where the soil will grow flavorful apples: one thing we learned living in Washington is that a Gala or Macintosh grown there is much blander than the same variety grown in New York. Washington cherries and peaches are wonderful; the apples are bland and we never did figure out why they sell well.)

I also know that Esopus Spitzenberg are vulnerable to just about every pest or disease that affects apples, and hence have more years than for most varieties when the entire crop goes to the cider mill. (Its susceptibility to everything is why almost nobody is growing this variety anymore, tasty though it is.)

[umadoshi]

The sheer array of apples will never cease to amaze me. Nova Scotia is rolling in apples, and yet the only one on your list that I recognize is Spartan.

[redbird]

I should probably do some posts about the apples that I have known and liked for many years, like Macintosh and Macoun. I'm making notes about ones that are new to me, meaning either heirloom varieties (Esopus Spitzenberg, Roxbury russet, Brock) or recent introductions (Pacific rose, Zestar).

What apples do you like up there?

[umadoshi]

I don't actually eat many apples personally (although I like them fine), but when I do, my preferences are for McIntosh or Pink Lady (supplanting my childhood preference for Granny Smith). Honeycrisp is really good too.

A whole new array of varieties seem to have become common since I worked in a grocery store back around 1999-2002, but IIRC we sold plenty of types like McIntosh, Spartan, Cortland, Granny Smith, Fuji, Jonagold, Gravenstein...