We bought three Molly Sheepnose apples at the farmers market yesterday, and I just tried one.
I am not impressed. The skin is thick, and the apple flesh doesn't taste like much. Adrian's comment was "I wonder whether, if we were to cook with it, we could make soomething as tasty as the RItz Cracker mock apple pie."
Since we have three, we will try another later, because sometimes there's significant variation even between apples of the same variety, picked at the same time. (I expect variation from year to year, and sometimes from place to place.)
Apparently "sheepnose" is another name for the Black Gilliflower apple. The apple information websites I was looking at say it ripens in September or October, and is better for cooking (baking, applesauce) or drying than just eating.
I am not impressed. The skin is thick, and the apple flesh doesn't taste like much. Adrian's comment was "I wonder whether, if we were to cook with it, we could make soomething as tasty as the RItz Cracker mock apple pie."
Since we have three, we will try another later, because sometimes there's significant variation even between apples of the same variety, picked at the same time. (I expect variation from year to year, and sometimes from place to place.)
Apparently "sheepnose" is another name for the Black Gilliflower apple. The apple information websites I was looking at say it ripens in September or October, and is better for cooking (baking, applesauce) or drying than just eating.
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I vaguely remembered these living up to their name, so bought some a few weeks ago and finally ate one last night.
After a few weeks in our fridge, and bought in August, it was juicy, not as crisp as promised, and had almost no flavor. Ah, well.
After a few weeks in our fridge, and bought in August, it was juicy, not as crisp as promised, and had almost no flavor. Ah, well.
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The grocery I was in today had organic Tsugaru apples on sale for 99 cents/pound. I'd never heard of this variety, so googled (to make sure it wasn't another name for one I knew), Wikipedia told me that it's a cross between Golden Delicious and a Japanese variety, and compared it to Honeycrisp. I bought two, mostly out of curiosity.
Whoever compared this to Honeycrisp must have gotten a better (individual) apple than I have in front of me, which I'm not going to bother to finish. It's a little juicy, not crisp, and the flavor is off somehow; I don't think it's actually musty, but it doesn't taste apple-y either. Ah, well, I have some Hudson's Golden Gem apples, and most of a bag of Moroccan clementines, in the fridge.
Whoever compared this to Honeycrisp must have gotten a better (individual) apple than I have in front of me, which I'm not going to bother to finish. It's a little juicy, not crisp, and the flavor is off somehow; I don't think it's actually musty, but it doesn't taste apple-y either. Ah, well, I have some Hudson's Golden Gem apples, and most of a bag of Moroccan clementines, in the fridge.
I bought two locally grown honeycrisp apples at the farmers market on Monday, and just ate one.
I liked it: large, sweet, juicy, and yes crisp, with a good though not intense apple flavor. It's a good eating apple, though I suspect it wouldn't be great for baking. I'm a little skeptical about it as a cider apple; I've seen "100% Honeycrisp" labels on half gallons of apple cider, here as well as in Washington.
I'd had a Washington-grown Honeycrisp apple when we were living in Bellevue and been disappointed. That was when I was trying varieties I hadn't tasted here in the Northeast, some (like Pacific Rose) that I hadn't heard of until I moved to Washington, before I realized that Washington apples are all bland, because of either the soil, the climate, or both.
(This post is mostly for my own reference. It may also help you calibrate my apple reviews, since a lot of people have tried Honeycrisps.)
I liked it: large, sweet, juicy, and yes crisp, with a good though not intense apple flavor. It's a good eating apple, though I suspect it wouldn't be great for baking. I'm a little skeptical about it as a cider apple; I've seen "100% Honeycrisp" labels on half gallons of apple cider, here as well as in Washington.
I'd had a Washington-grown Honeycrisp apple when we were living in Bellevue and been disappointed. That was when I was trying varieties I hadn't tasted here in the Northeast, some (like Pacific Rose) that I hadn't heard of until I moved to Washington, before I realized that Washington apples are all bland, because of either the soil, the climate, or both.
(This post is mostly for my own reference. It may also help you calibrate my apple reviews, since a lot of people have tried Honeycrisps.)
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miss_s_b, this week's Friday 5 questions are all about apples. So:
1. Have you ever bobbed for apples?
Yes, a long time ago, and I didn't enjoy it; it was awkward and seemed pointless.
2. Do you like regular or hard apple cider?
Yes, both: I like regular [unfiltered, pressed apple juice] when it's made from interesting apples, which alas isn't always; unpasteurized has more flavor, but is hard to get, and tends to start fermenting if we don't finish it quickly. Despite liking hard cider (now and again, but it's one of the few alcoholic beverages I do sometimes like), I don't like regular cider that has fermented enough to be noticeably alcoholic.
3. Do you have a special type of apple that you prefer over others?
Several, which is why this journal has a couple of dozen posts tagged "apple." Favorites include Macoun, Macintosh, and Esopus Spitzenberg, and I've recently become fond of Hudson's Golden Gem (at least last year, they were keeping well and I was buying them at the Somerville Winter Farmers Market in January and February) and Elstar. For supermarket apples, Granny Smith for cooking; Gala is a good and easy-to-find eating apple. (Macintosh seems to be more regional, but it's the region I live in.)
4. Have you ever made baked apples?
Yes; I should do so again, maybe core them and put butter and cinnamon inside.
5. Who is the apple of your eye?
There's nobody I think of in those terms, not even my beloveds. I think of that as more of a proud or doting parent or grandparent's term, as well as somewhat old-fashioned.
miss_s_b, this week's Friday 5 questions are all about apples. So:1. Have you ever bobbed for apples?
Yes, a long time ago, and I didn't enjoy it; it was awkward and seemed pointless.
2. Do you like regular or hard apple cider?
Yes, both: I like regular [unfiltered, pressed apple juice] when it's made from interesting apples, which alas isn't always; unpasteurized has more flavor, but is hard to get, and tends to start fermenting if we don't finish it quickly. Despite liking hard cider (now and again, but it's one of the few alcoholic beverages I do sometimes like), I don't like regular cider that has fermented enough to be noticeably alcoholic.
3. Do you have a special type of apple that you prefer over others?
Several, which is why this journal has a couple of dozen posts tagged "apple." Favorites include Macoun, Macintosh, and Esopus Spitzenberg, and I've recently become fond of Hudson's Golden Gem (at least last year, they were keeping well and I was buying them at the Somerville Winter Farmers Market in January and February) and Elstar. For supermarket apples, Granny Smith for cooking; Gala is a good and easy-to-find eating apple. (Macintosh seems to be more regional, but it's the region I live in.)
4. Have you ever made baked apples?
Yes; I should do so again, maybe core them and put butter and cinnamon inside.
5. Who is the apple of your eye?
There's nobody I think of in those terms, not even my beloveds. I think of that as more of a proud or doting parent or grandparent's term, as well as somewhat old-fashioned.
This week's new-to-me apple is Ashmead's kernel, an English heirloom variety. It's crisp, juicy, and has a good apple flavor, nicely balanced between sweet and tart. orangepippin.com says its drab appearance "belies a unique peardrop flavor." Eating one right out of the fridge (I like my apples chilled) I didn't notice anything pear-ish. We have two more of these, and I will likely get more next week, if nothing else catches my eye. (It seems to be an okay year for Macoun and indifferent for Macintosh; more Macouns are also an option.)
The flesh of the Shamrock apple is somewhat soft but not mealy (except for the bit near the stem, which I ate last). A mild flavor, not too sweet and a little bit tart. The peel is almost entirely green, and the apple is shaped a bit like a Macintosh or Macoun.
The sign at the Kimball Fruit Farms stand described this as relatively tart and "a good substitute for Granny Smith"; if the one I just tried is typical it's a reasonable apple to just pick up and eat, but I would choose some other variety for cooking.
https://www.orangepippin.com/ says the parentage is "spur Macintosh X spur Golden Delicious."
(We bought two of these; I'll update this if the other is significantly different. This is the Fall 2018 Massachusetts harvest.)
The sign at the Kimball Fruit Farms stand described this as relatively tart and "a good substitute for Granny Smith"; if the one I just tried is typical it's a reasonable apple to just pick up and eat, but I would choose some other variety for cooking.
https://www.orangepippin.com/ says the parentage is "spur Macintosh X spur Golden Delicious."
(We bought two of these; I'll update this if the other is significantly different. This is the Fall 2018 Massachusetts harvest.)
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
I bought two Hudson's Golden Gem apples at the winter farmers market yesterday, purely because I hadn't tasted or even heard of them before. When I told the vendor this, she said they're sweet, which they are. cattitude said "too sweet," but I like a sweeter range of apples than he does; our preferences overlap on Macoun and Esopus Spitzenburg, but I like Gala and he mostly doesn't.
This apple has fairly soft (but not mealy) flesh, and a thin skin with a bit of texture but not much flavor. Juicy, mild flavor. It's a bit reminiscent of Golden Delicious in taste (but not appearance: this is more of a light golden brown, not the yellow of a Golden Delicious).
Orangepippin.com describes this as an "excellent eating apple," derived from a seedling of unknown parentage and introduced in Oregon in 1931. Unsurprisingly, it's a late-season apple. (On the other hand, the same vendor had Esopus Spitzenburg yesterday, which isn't, and doesn't store very well.)
cattitude said "too sweet," but I like a sweeter range of apples than he does; our preferences overlap on Macoun and Esopus Spitzenburg, but I like Gala and he mostly doesn't.This apple has fairly soft (but not mealy) flesh, and a thin skin with a bit of texture but not much flavor. Juicy, mild flavor. It's a bit reminiscent of Golden Delicious in taste (but not appearance: this is more of a light golden brown, not the yellow of a Golden Delicious).
Orangepippin.com describes this as an "excellent eating apple," derived from a seedling of unknown parentage and introduced in Oregon in 1931. Unsurprisingly, it's a late-season apple. (On the other hand, the same vendor had Esopus Spitzenburg yesterday, which isn't, and doesn't store very well.)
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These are old notes that I had in Evernote instead of on DW:
Junami apples are a variety I tried in Bellevue (bought in early December, but I didn't note the year). They're not bad. The man at QFC [supermarket] said it was like a Gala or Honeycrisp but not as sweet; a good Gala is juicier and a bit more flavorful. I didn't note where these were from, and it might be worth trying outside Washington, given that the soil or climate here produces more flavorful apples.
Pazzaz apple is "a little tart but had Delicious nature," which I suspect I meant as an unfavorable comment on texture.
Williams pride apples have some flavor and are crisp 8/11/16. That's an early season Massachusetts apple.
I'm transcribing these mostly so I can include them in my index of apple posts, for next year.
Junami apples are a variety I tried in Bellevue (bought in early December, but I didn't note the year). They're not bad. The man at QFC [supermarket] said it was like a Gala or Honeycrisp but not as sweet; a good Gala is juicier and a bit more flavorful. I didn't note where these were from, and it might be worth trying outside Washington, given that the soil or climate here produces more flavorful apples.
Pazzaz apple is "a little tart but had Delicious nature," which I suspect I meant as an unfavorable comment on texture.
Williams pride apples have some flavor and are crisp 8/11/16. That's an early season Massachusetts apple.
I'm transcribing these mostly so I can include them in my index of apple posts, for next year.
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
We bought a couple of Roxbury russets on Monday, because we wanted to try another apple variety and one that originated in this area seemed like a good choice.
It's a nice apple: I'm tempted to say very apple-flavored, in that it's a good balance of sweet and a bit tart, and the flavor is basically what I expect an apple to taste like. Not very crisp: this one is a little soft, which fits withanne's comment that they get mealy fast, but that's all right because she doesn't mind eating them fast.
It's a nice apple: I'm tempted to say very apple-flavored, in that it's a good balance of sweet and a bit tart, and the flavor is basically what I expect an apple to taste like. Not very crisp: this one is a little soft, which fits with
anne's comment that they get mealy fast, but that's all right because she doesn't mind eating them fast.Wickson is a tiny heirloom apple, just small enough for me to put my hand around.
It's tart, juicy, a bit sweet, with a pleasant though not very strong flavor. There's no entry for this variety on orangepippin.com, so I asked them to create one (hoping they can find out something about its background), and sent a photo as requested.
This post is, again, based on eating one apple, as an after-dinner nibble. If I get hungry again before bedtime, I'm going to eat an Esopus Spitzenberg. It was a good week for apples at the market; there were at least three other heirloom varieties I hadn't heard of, so we got a bunch of the Esopus and a handful of the little Wickson apples, plus grapes and raspberries and tomatoes.
It's tart, juicy, a bit sweet, with a pleasant though not very strong flavor. There's no entry for this variety on orangepippin.com, so I asked them to create one (hoping they can find out something about its background), and sent a photo as requested.
This post is, again, based on eating one apple, as an after-dinner nibble. If I get hungry again before bedtime, I'm going to eat an Esopus Spitzenberg. It was a good week for apples at the market; there were at least three other heirloom varieties I hadn't heard of, so we got a bunch of the Esopus and a handful of the little Wickson apples, plus grapes and raspberries and tomatoes.
cattitude brought three Westfield seek-no-further apples home from the farmers market today. This is another heirloom apple. We both thought it was pleasant but nothing special: mild though pleasant flavor, very crispy, not especially juicy or sweet, and a thick skin. I will update this if my opinion changes based on the other two of these.
The entry at Orangepippin.com says it's a late season apple, so we may have gotten it too soon for it to be at its best. On the other hand, the entry describes the size as all of small, medium, large, and "variable," and there's similar cculd-be-everything on shape.
We went to the Central Square farmers market today, and one of the vendors had a kind of apple I'd never heard of, so I bought one Zestar (and three Mcintosh, after chatting with the guy behind the counter, who agreed it was early for macs).
This is a nice apple: good though not intense flavor, reasonably crisp and juicy (cattitude says it's a little mealier than he likes, but I am pleased with the texture), and sweet but not too sweet. Similar to a Mcintosh in shape, also with a mix of red and green skin, but the green might be a little yellower than a Mcintosh and the red a little less intense. I'll probably get this again, especially if the Zestars get to the market before the mcintoshes do. Most early season apples strike me as bland; I didn't bother with Vista bella or ginger gold this year.
According to orangepippin.com, Zestar was introduced in 1999, and is a cross between two varieties I haven't tasted, State Fair and MN 1691.
This is a nice apple: good though not intense flavor, reasonably crisp and juicy (
cattitude says it's a little mealier than he likes, but I am pleased with the texture), and sweet but not too sweet. Similar to a Mcintosh in shape, also with a mix of red and green skin, but the green might be a little yellower than a Mcintosh and the red a little less intense. I'll probably get this again, especially if the Zestars get to the market before the mcintoshes do. Most early season apples strike me as bland; I didn't bother with Vista bella or ginger gold this year.According to orangepippin.com, Zestar was introduced in 1999, and is a cross between two varieties I haven't tasted, State Fair and MN 1691.
On the recommendation of a stranger, we bought a couple of Ambrosia apples at the supermarket on Sunday. It's apparently a new variety, and looks a bit like a large Gala (similar coloring, and about as tall, but with a larger girth). ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cattitude said "I'm afraid it's a classic Washington apple," and I agree (although the ones we got are from B.C.): very crisp, some juice, a little sweetness, and almost no flavor.
If what you like in an apple is crispness, you might want to try this, since last fall's crop is still crisp in March.
cattitude said "I'm afraid it's a classic Washington apple," and I agree (although the ones we got are from B.C.): very crisp, some juice, a little sweetness, and almost no flavor. If what you like in an apple is crispness, you might want to try this, since last fall's crop is still crisp in March.
I bought two of these at the Davis Square Farmers' Market today, and ate one when I got home (when it was still cool from being outside).
This is an average apple: a bit sweet but not very, a bit juicy, some apple flavor but nothing noteworthy, not especially tart. The inside is white and the skin mostly red, and it's a little bigger than a Macoun.
I'll be eating the other but probably not buy more. And then go to the supermarket for more Macouns (we're near the end of the farmers' market season here; I miss the year-round Greenmarket in Inwood).
This is an average apple: a bit sweet but not very, a bit juicy, some apple flavor but nothing noteworthy, not especially tart. The inside is white and the skin mostly red, and it's a little bigger than a Macoun.
I'll be eating the other but probably not buy more. And then go to the supermarket for more Macouns (we're near the end of the farmers' market season here; I miss the year-round Greenmarket in Inwood).
I just tried a Kendall apple; there's no there there. It was a small, mostly red apple (think a smaller Macoun or Macintosh). Somewhat crisp, but little flavor—neither sweet enough nor tart enough, nor very juicy.
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