Disease resistance: Liberty vs. Freedom apples

I think Belle de Boskoop is a gem that you don’t hear much about. Complex sweet/tart taste, super crisp, crunchy. I have a branch of Sundance but have not tasted it, still hanging, very late it appears. Sweet Sixteen has mixed reputation for taste, worth at least a branch to see if you like the unusual taste.

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I must not eat my Liberty apples at the right time. They just don’t do much for me. Too tart, very little sweetness, not a lot of flavor (to my palate anyway). They do have a decent texture and are juicy. I could see them being a great addition to cider.

Hmm …I will readily admit I do like tart fruit and apples are no exception…my mother, when I was a child was perplexed that I liked eating Northern Spy out of hand, a standard cooking apple in these parts. But I did not find my Liberty apples lacking in sweetness or even, overly tart…sprightly yes, but not puckering at all and not lacking sweet…almost like a less sweet more juicy version of red delicious ( which I don’t care for much) …I really liked it !

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I was also wondering about Karmijn de Sonneville…which I think is closely related to Belle de Boskoop if not a sibling ? …and if people are growing both, which they prefer ? …

In the case of Liberty, some other reasons could be that it should be picked when ripe, not before and not after. If picked too early, it can be way too sour. If left on the tree for too long, it looses quality. In a commercial setting, this would be difficult to achieve since Liberty apples don’t ripen all at once.

I wish I had the chance to taste all the apples you named. Out of them, I only had Liberty, Freedom and Enterprise. I liked the 3 of them for different reasons.

P.S. I think Liberty makes the best apple pies!

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Crimson Crisp is almost as bad as Goldrush for CAR