I never heard of it. I learned the Victorians thought it was one of the best eating apples according to a BBC show on gardening I watched.
Do you grow it? What do you think? How is it for disease resistance?
Wikipedia
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I’ve never tried one, but curious from those who have, how it compares to the Calville blanc d’hiver, though taste is a very individual thing.
To me, the best fresh eating apple is Calville blanc d’hiver. I dragged my feet on scionwood two years in a row now, but next winter I have to get some. It stores really well, too. I had one in the fridge just to test this from October to March, and could have gone longer but I just could not restrain myself any longer and ate it.
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Ashmeads Kernal is completely different from Calville Blanc.
Ashmeads is very similar to Cox. Usually more crisp. More acid with complex spice.
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Calville’s are typically regarded as culinary apples. I’d say one of France’s best.
But there are a lot of great Culinary apples. Especially from the UK.
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Also reportedly a good cider apple. I’ve got a young treee that has produced a couple dozen. I’d agree with positive comments above.
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Ashmead’s is very good, my favorite flavored apple. High brix and high acid. Good strong refreshing apple flavor. Crisp and juicy for an heirloom. It has been a shy producer for me, however. I have about 20 apple varieties nearby but I hear pollination is tricky for AK. I have a few large multi branch grafts of AK which amounts to the equivalent of a small tree . Looks like I have a dozen or so fruits this year. At my location yellow jackets and hornets devour them in late summer, so I’ll have to protect them. Disease resistance is good but still gets hit by Plum Curculio.
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Agree with Ashmead’s Kernel being a very good tasting apple. I have read that they need to be stored for a bit before eating, but mine were fantastic straight off the tree last year.
Can’t speak to disease resistance since we don’t have much here, but if you are the kind of person that bags their apples, AK has fairly short stems that make bagging a little tricky.
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This is my favorite apple. Intense acidity, very sweet, rich, complex flavor and I think they look quite attractive when they get a splash of red and gold that shows through the russeting. 10/10 would recommend.
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I have yet to have one where the brix came anywhere close to competing with the acid. I’d like to try one though.
Golden Russet is one of my very favorite apples.
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Any of yall that live near central VA wanting to try this apple, i did get the chance to try them last October at Vintage Virginia Apples (near Charlottesville). Since a lot of older apples can be somewhat biennial bearers in not sure if they’d have them again this October or not, but figured I’d mention it on the off chance it helps folks looking for it to find a source to taste.
My opinion of these apples was that they were better than average, but not among my favorites (the best russet I tried so far was Roxbury Russet followed by Razor Russet). But my tastes may be less typical as i tend to prefer somewhat acidic or cinammon-y apples.
That said, Ashmeads did have a very interesting and complex flavor which is definitely worth experiencing even if it doesnt become a favorite.
No idea about the hardiness of the trees though. Considering it was grown well over a century ago in the midatlantic, I’d wager it has some disease tolerance at least, but… That is just a guess.
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Vintage Virginia Apples seems like a great place to visit. I bought two apple trees from them a few years back and they both are doing really well.
Ashmead’s Kernel was one of them- agreed it is a stingy producer.
Ashmead’s Kernel is a cider apple. Typically they aren’t good eating apples. Especially if it has tannins.
But if you have some you may want to consider juicing them and making hard cider.
It’s very easy. Just put some wine yeast into a gallon jug with the juice in it. Fit an airlock on it (or don’t worry about it) and then give it a while.
Drink and enjoy
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It can be used as a cider apple but not necessarily just that.
“Ashmead’s Kernel is a versatile apple, not just for eating fresh, it can also be used for salads and cooking, and it is a highly-valued apple for juicing and hard cider.” From Orange Pippin site. I have seen this type of review on more than just this site that says the same thing.
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Interesting. I didn’t know that. I had read about it solely as a cider apple. I have some juice of it in the freezer
Apple Tasting Notes (bought from farm stand) - General Fruit Growing - Growing Fruit
A few years back, I had bought a large variety of heirloom apples from an orchard in CT. Ashmed’s Kernel was one of the apples that I was able to try. Definitely agree with some of the other posters that it is a good eating apple. It was a sweet and tart apple with some spice elements. Golden russet was a bit similar in taste and look but in my sample the golden russet had higher brix and was a bit sweeter. If you like granny smith apples then I think you would like Ashmed’s Kernel (more complexity and sweetness than a granny smith but it would be a good proxy for the tart aspect).
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When I was able to try Golden Russet and Ashmead’s Kernel side by side, I also found that Golden Russet had the higher brix that was able to offset the acid while Ashmead’s Kernel leaned more acid.
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I had one a couple years ago at a farmers market. It was a pretty good apple sweet and sour. I dint think it stood out far and away though from other sweet tart varieties like goldrush
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I got a box of Ashmead’s kernel apples from a local farm CSA and they were excellent. Intensely sweet and acidic and flavorful. I know the farm ships stonefruit but I’m not sure about apples.
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High quality fruit for those that like high flavor for fresh eating. Makes a very rich fresh cider. Tree can take awhile to bear. The apples ripen unevenly, my tree starts to drop fruit in September and continues well into October. A decent keeper. Like many heirlooms, it’s reasonably pest n disease resistant. Roxbury is somewhat similar
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Ashmede’s is one of the more well known English russets. Considering the sheer number of English russets out there and the fact that theirs not that much difference between them, its almost a toss up as to which one you go with.
Of the culinary russets available we grow the Ashmede’s, Pitmastans Pineapple and Claygate Pearmain. Not a lot of eating difference but it does spread the harvest out for our u pick.
A couple of take home points for AK are:
It tends to be biennieal, blossom thinning and pruning timing can help with that.
Trees are very vigorous,
highly recommend dwarfing rootstock.
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