I think you will be pleased with goldrush
Yes, they have an Arkansas Black varietal.
Today, I went to Distillery Lane in Jefferson, Maryland again. Hereās what I snatched up.
Far left: Ashmeadās Kernel
Top left: Sundance
Bottom left: Arkansas Black
Top right: Roxbury Russet
Middle right: Pixie Crunch
Bottom right: Golden Russet
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Looks good, Matt. How do the Sundance, Ashmeads and Ark Black taste? Those Gold Russetās look different than the ones we had.
As i mentioned in the Northern Spy thread, weāre going to try to go back to the orchard this week. Really looking forward to trying out the Goldrush, Suncrisp, and Rox Russetās, along with many others. It supposed to be in the 60s this week, so should be ideal picking weather. Plus, with the leaves turning, it ought to be very scenic.
I just ate my first-ever Sundance andā¦ I did NOT like it.
Initially, it tastes good, but it has a bizarre fennel and licorice aftertaste that I do not like. I did not finish it. Too bad.
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OK, just got home after a long day over in the Lexington area doing various things. And, yes, we went to the orchard again, this being the third, and prob last time this season.
We were at the orchard for about 3 hours, my wife was SO ready to leave, but it was a lot of walking and dragging a wagon behind us to haul all the fruit. Think I wore her out, but was glad she went.
And haul it was, we ended up with about 40lb of fruit! Mostly all apples, with a few pears.
We sampled prob a dozen different varieties before heading out to pick. So, we got a orchard map, grabbed a wagon and headed out. It was a nice day, mostly sunny, about 70, and the trees in the area had mostly turned color, but not all the leaves had fallen yet.
There were others we sampled, but they just didnāt do much for us: Idared, York and Rome were some of them. We did like Enterprise, but forgot to pick any.
Here are the varieties we picked, Iāll try to get some pics of them in a few days:
Arkansas Black, Suncrisp, Stark and Stayman Winesap, Candy Crisp, Granny Smith, Roxbury Russet, Brushy Mountain Limbertwig, Ben Davis, Goldrush, Pink Lady, and since they still had some left, Golden Russet and Liberty. We also picked up a few Korean Giantās, the only pears they had left.
They had one Ben Davis tree, the ownerās wife said her grand dad had introduced them to that area, I think. BD was a big commercial apple in the Civil War era, but has fallen into some disfavor. They had only one big Limbertwig tree, and a handful of smaller versions, so not a lot to pick from.
The few Rox trees were pretty well picked clean, someone had come by a few weeks ago, and took a lot for cider, but I nabbed a few of them.
I think if I had to pick my 4 favorites, it would be Suncrisp, Stark Winesap, Ark Black and Goldrush, my wifeās would be Suncrisp, Pink Lady, Granny Smith and Goldrush.
The Suncrisp had the most unique taste, more sweet than tart, but also some peach undertones for the Mrs, and what almost seemed like banana to me, very odd, but pleasant. This may be an addition for next year.
I thought the Ark Black had a taste unlike any apple Iāve ever had, hard to pin it down, Iāll have to try another later and try to describe it better. My wife did not like it at all, said it was almost bitter, and a chewy skin. But, this is an apple that needs to sit a while, so Iāve heard. But, I did like it in this state, plus itās a beautiful dark purple fruit.
The Stark Winesap was very juicy, and true to its name, a grape like flavor, is that what you call a āvinuousā taste? A bit like a Mac in flavor.
Goldrush was very tasty, wasnāt as tart as I thought itād be just off the tree, it actually was pretty sweet, nicely balanced. We picked prob a dozen of these, and will try to let them sit a while, some look still a bit green in spots.
Granny Smith were puckeringly tart, I know thatās their thing, I didnāt like all that zing, but my wife loved them.
We havenāt tasted any of the Rox Russet, Ben Davis, Limbertwig, or Candy Crisp, those werenāt available for sampling in the store.
Like I said, Iāll get some pics of the fruit in a few days, and try to offer up some better descriptions, and have Mrs Dood do so as well.
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I grabbed a few Sundance when I was there a few weeks ago as Rob was quite positive on it. They didnāt have a whole lot of flavor. Blue Pearmain was also boring. I got some Snow Sweets which I have yet to try. His Ashmeadās Kernels are excellent and the Pixie Crunch did a lot better after some aging (though I think they needed even more). I think that could be a really great apple when properly ripened.
Had another Ark Black yesterday to try to pin down the flavor. For one thing, it is a very hard apple, hard to cut. As far as taste, a little bit sweet, hardly any tartness. The flavor was maybe a bit of licorice? Another reviewer had mentioned maybe a hint of tobacco, and you can kinda see that. It wasnāt a turn off to me as much as my wife.
Interesting flavor, but not an apple Iāll be reaching for until it sits maybe a couple months and mellows out and softens a bit.
We also tried a Candy Crisp for the first time. The fruit is large, reminded me of a bigger, more oblate version of Golden Delicious. It was mildly sweet, little bit tart, and very crisp. The sweetness did have a candy tint to it, not the kind of sweetness I care for. Not really too complex of an apple, pleasant flavor, but not one Iād seek out again.
OK, continuing on, I submitted a review of a Limbertwig in @hamboneās LT, now Goldrush review. Itās good, but it was too green and hard for a proper review, but it has potential.
I tried a Roxbury Russet today, the skin is very rough, and kind of squatty in form, not real attractive, but not an issue for me.
This apple compares to a Golden Russet in flavor, good sweet/tart balance, with a citrus, maybe lemon-y tinge. Very juicy, with a soft texture, almost mealy, but not too bad. Good flavor, but I prefer the firmness and the more concentrated flavor of the GR.
We tried another Goldrush yesterday, and enjoyed it very much. Texture is crisp, skin is a pale yellow. It is a rush of acid at the beginning, then the sweet kicks in, but not enough to counter the tartnessā¦ My teeth were tingling from the acid/sugar assault. Hard to pin down any other flavors, this apple needs to age a bit longer to tamp that tartness down a bit. The only other apple that compared to this one in intensity was the Honeycrisp, except the HC was more sweet than tart, but both were at high levels.
I think the only apple from this bunch we havenāt tried is a Ben Davis. Iāll try one of these in a few days.
Alright, another update. We picked a few Ben Davis apples at the orchard but had not tried any yet. The orchard owner told me it was the only BD tree on the farm, and had been there a long time.
Yesterday I pulled one out of the bag, and sliced it up. It is a large reddish apple with green splotches. It was a bit tough to cut up, but not too bad, and the flesh is creamy white, and doesnāt brown when cut.
The texture is firm, and the flavor was mildly sweet and tart and a bit aromatic, a pleasant unassuming apple. It reminded me of an apple Iād had before and couldnāt figure it out. Then it hit me- medium tart and sweet, doesnāt brown- itās a Cortland! Which makes sense, because it is a Ben Davis and Mac cross. To me, the Cortland tastes, and looks more like a BD than a Mac.
Ben Davis was a big apple back in the 19th century grown in southern areas, but isnāt that popular nowadays. But, it is a nice old apple to try.
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I have a Ben Davis I wanted to grow to taste the reportedly once popular excellent keeper. It will be producing anytime now. It reportedly lacks flavor but your comments sound promising.
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Itās a good, large sized apple, prob good for baking, canning, and it doesnāt brown. Itās a decent fresh eating apple, so all in all, itās a solid choice. I donāt know about its disease resistance, but if you look at Cortland, its offspring, it has some suspectability to various diseases. And from I read on the Big Horse website, itās a good keeper, although Cortland is not really known for that.
We planted a Cortland this spring on M7, and itās put on some nice growth, itās about 6ft tall now, with decent little branchesā¦ I planted this variety before I had tasted it, and while itās an OK apple, I might have picked a different one, like maybe a Suncrisp or Zestar. But, those two may be added next year.
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OK, this last trip to Reed Valley may be our last visit there, but I may go back and stock up on some more if we like what weāve tasted since our last trip. We really like Goldrush, Suncrisp and Pink Lady, and may make another trip there, especially if they drop their prices a bit more. Even though, at $1.39, thatās still reasonable for PYO.
So, they had 9 out of the 13 varieties that we planted this spring, and I think for the most part, our selections were good ones. Hereās how Iād rate the ones they had that weāre growing, keeping in mind weāre about 75mi from them, with different terrain and micro-climate:
Very good choices: Goldrush, Honeycrisp, Golden Russet, Winesap
Good choices: Winecrisp, Liberty, Cortland
Fair choices: Grimes Golden, Roxbury Russet
We havenāt sampled any of the others that weāve planted: Pristine, King David, Macoun and Novaspy. So, I guess weāll have to wait and see on those.
Based on what we sampled there, we may add Suncrisp, Zestar and maybe Jonathan next year.
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Thanks subdood for the great Orchard trip reporting. I am on vacation in Charlottesville VA and visited Carter Mtn orchard today. My wife and I sampled some Newtown Pippin and Stayman Winesap They were pretty plane Jane tasting, nothing to get excited about but I understand they are better after some storage. We are heading to the Vintage Virginia Apple annual Apple Harvest Festival tomorrow and hope to offer more tasting feedback. If anyone is planning on going tomorrow, it would be great to meet you.
https://www.albemarleciderworks.com/news/event/16th-annual-apple-harvest-festival
What a wonderful place! They had to work really hard to grow fruit of that quality. Thanks for sharing.
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Sure, no problem. Actually, today, I went back to the orchard to stock up for the winter. They are shutting down the PYO part this weekend, but are keeping the store open for a little while longer.
Since they had a hard freeze early last week, it only cost 50c/lb to pick your own, although there wasnāt a lot left on the trees. They said the fruit wonāt keep as long, so we plan on eating and canning those first. I picked about 40lb, including Goldrush, Granny Smith, Pink Lady, Fuji, and some Limbertwigs. I also got some of these same varieties from their cold storage, about 3 peckās worth (~30lb?). Those cost 1.39/lb.
We tasted one each of the GR, PL and Fuji that I picked, and the GR seem fine, still pretty tart, but not as crunchy. The PL taste about the same as the ones we got before. The Fuji were slightly sweet, but not tart at all, and had kind of an odd, aromatic aftertaste. I donāt mind it, but Mrs Dood didnāt care for it. She loves the extra tart and sweet GR.
I took some pics from the trip today, Iāll try to post some soon.
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Please let us know about the tasting! You are in a great area with a lot of historic connection to apples/cider. I love the view from Carter Mountain Orchard, but Iām not sure how they get any spray equipment between the trees on such a steep hill. Hope to attend Burfordās apple tasting at Monticello again sometime, but it always seems to hit at a bad time for me.
Since I got home after dark last night, all 60+ pounds of apples are sitting in our kitchen in various plastic bags, they havenāt been put away yet. Iāve noticed that there is a noticeable odor in our small house. I know it has something to do do with the apples, because Iāve smelled it before when weāve lots of them in the house. Itās not a very pleasant smell.
Do they off-gas a particular chemical after picking? Ive heard about ethylene (?) gas, but thought that was odorless. Could it be some residual spray thatās left on the fruit? I doubt the bags would be putting out that odor.
OK, some promised pics from yesterday, and a few from our trip in October.
Goldrush
Granny Smith
Fuji
Pink Lady, from October
Some autumn orchard views
Dormant peach trees
Unoccupied bird domicile
More pics coming in another post.
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Alright, some pics of the booty from yesterday:
A Fuji off the tree
A wagon load oā apples! Think I picked about 40lbās worth.
GoldRush
Granny Smith
Pink Lady, these were the last of the ones one could get from the trees, but they were high up so I had to use one of those long cage pickers to reach them.
GS, Fuji on right, and @hambone, some more Brushy Mtn Limbertwig in the middle
I tried one of the LT from the bag, and it had more flavor than the ones we picked in October. A little sweeter, with kind of subtle spice flavor, not much tartness. Apple is still pretty firm, so I should just leave them alone for a while. The Granny Smith was pretty good, not as face puckeringly tart as the ones we tasted a couple months ago. I pulled a GS from our storage, and it has lost quite a bit of tartness, but still pretty firm.
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