Apple: Elstar

[redbird]

adrian_turtle bought some Elstar apples at the farmers' market on Wednesday, and I got to taste one yesterday. Ie was sweet, crisp, and a little tart. It's a good early-season apple (much like the zestar I tried almost exactly a year ago) The Orange Pippin fruit website describes it as "one of the best Golden Delicious offspring"; I wouldn't have guessed that ancestry from Elstar's flavor, texture, or appearance. It doesn't appear to be related to zestar*, despite both being good early-season apples and having similar names and appearances (the peel is a mix of pale red and green).

*except in the sense that any two domestic apple cultivars are more closely related to each other than either is to a pear, or a poodle

Comments

[moem]

Elstar is my favourite apple. It was named for the town of Elst in Gelderland, the Netherlands. I'm always happy when fresh Elstars appear in the stores again. They are often on the small side, the right size for eating with my muesli. The tartness and crispness are perfect for my tastes. If people find that they lack flavour, the apples may have been stored too long.

[redbird]

Thanks for that information.

I find that a lot of the really early apples (e.g., Lodi, Pristine, or Gingergold) are sufficiently bland that they're not worth eating: a Granny Smith or Gala that's been in storage for a few months and shipped halfway around the world has more flavor. It may be like fiddleheads (edible ferns): the first greens, or first apples, of the season would probably have been a lot more appealing before twentieth-century food storage techniques, but I'd rather have a bag of frozen peas than freshly gathered fiddleheads.

[moem]

I've just bought some fresh Elstars, the first that arrived at my greengrocer's... let's put them to the test.
...
Well, they are pretty sour still, but I like that. Crunchy, aromatic and flavourfull. Not sweet... soursweet at best. Niiiice. Here's a pic.

[redbird]

Nice picture.

The two we've tried so far weren't sour, but if there's anything I learned from living in Washington for three years, it's that it really matters where the apples are grown. Varieties that I love when grown in New York, or New Zealand (Gala), were bland when grown in Washington. I assume it's something about the climate, the soil, or both. (Washington cherries, peaches, plums, and apricots are excellent—we're still choosing Washington cherries over Californian now that both are being shipped thousands of miles to get to my supermarket.)

[ranunculus]

Last year I learned that I wasn't leaving my apples on the tree long enough. They are Sierra Beauty, a mid/late season apple. I happily picked apples that were apparently ripe in late Sept. They were ok, but disapointingly bland. In fact I wondered why I had really liked them in the past. A month later they were amazing, crisp, tart and full of flavour.

[ranunculus]

P.S. A Sierra Beauty is a branch of the Orange Pippin family.

[redbird]

*nod* This is why I don't usually get the "early Macintosh" that can turn up at the farmers market in mid-August next to Lodi, Gingergold, or Vista Bella.