Crabapple continue to ripen here, thsee are from another 5th leaf tree which is yielding a significant first crop, a couple gallows woth. Never tried these before, I can now understand how this variety could be useful in a cider blend-perhaps one of the most intensely flavored crabs with acidity, astringency, sugar, a bit of exotic fruitiness and amazing aroma. Some will get saved for blending but the bulk this year will go to culinary usage, the traditional crabapple jelly and whole spiced Dolgo in syrup. Any other ideas? Should be excellent for the holidays!
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what happened to the tip of your knife 
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Hmmmm, never use a paring knife to separate frozen drumsticks! I am known as a serial tool abuser in certain circles…
I should mention that the Dolgo is on antonovka roots, purchased from St Lawerence.
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Hey Jesse
I have a Dolgo from SLN that I planted in 1995. My sister-in-law makes some great jelly from the fruit.
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Nice tree, Rick! I hope mine will someday be that sized…
Jelly came out nice-
8 cups quartered dolgo
H2o to cover
3 cups sugar
strain with cheesecloth
Simmer til 220F.
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I really like Dolgo. A different species of apple involved in it. I just eat them fresh.
John S
PDX OR
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My Dolgo was heavily loaded with fruit this year, I will be making jelly, canning pickled whole fruit, and very sparingly adding some to cider. Maybe a bushel of usable fruit? The tree’s crop is amazingly aromatic I can smell it 20’ away. Unfortunately, I waited a bit long to harvest and a significant portion has gone by…must remember to bring the in by the first week of September!
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Why only sparingly adding them to cider? Only because you don’t have enough to add more, or do you think they wouldn’t be good in cider at higher concentrations?
Dolgo has very high acidity, good astringency, pretty high sugar. Used over 10% in a blend it would be too flavorful, acidic (think fingernail polish remover) for a balanced hard cider. I think the attraction of using it in cider is the aromatic component, bright acidity.
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Old thread, I know
My grafted Dolgo
A Dolgo seedling (rootstock)
A comparison of the fruit. Larger fruit is from the grafted Dolgo. Neither is worth eating IMHO
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Yes, but the jelly you can make from them is pretty awesome! But definitely not a fresh eating fruit, at least for me.
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I’ve got a friend who likes Dolgo for fresh eating. Way too tannic and tart for me. I’ve heard Dolgo jelly is good. We’re not big jelly eaters though.
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Northland crab, a cross between Dolgo and Macintosh. Much better for fresh eating. Just a bit bigger than Dolgo.
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Montana Ciderworks, in Montana, made a single variety cider from Dolgo a couple years ago and sold a lot of it for a little over $9 a bottle. I liked it, but it is no longer available. Not sure why. And my daughter had a young tree that produced a small crop. She made some excellent butter with it, AND those small apples tasted pretty darn good to me eaten right off the tree. Maybe the climate here mellows them out somewhat??? She has moved from that house, but I grafted a scion from her tree onto a large tree at my house and next year it ought to be giving me some to sample again. I’ll do some testing of the juice’s acidity and PH before I ferment it to make cider.
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I have a Kerr crabapple I planted last year, putting up a crop as we speak. For what I read Dolgo is one of the parents, larger, milder than dolgo but mostly because dolgo can be a bit concentrated. I’m looking forward to see if I’m happy with it.
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I grafted one or two Kerr this spring. I’ve heard good things about the variety
Yes, the local nursery owner raves about his Kerr crabs (“lunchbox” sized, sweet, & etc.), and so I grafted a couple this spring onto an older tree…and also onto some rootstocks. Not sure if any of the rootstocks survived, but the ones on the tree did and are looking good. I got my scions from Steve Masterman, at Alaska Fruit Trees, and there were two different Kerrs he called Kerr #1, and Kerr #2. He sent me the chemical analysis spreadsheet info on a bunch of different Alaskan varieties, and both of the different Kerrs were included. Kerr #1 was listed as a Bittersharp with a Brix of 12, PH of 3.1, tannins of .331%, TA 1.23%(12.25g/L). Kerr #2 had a Brix of 16.9, avg PH 3.86, tannins of .800%, TA .44% (4.35g/L), and listed as a Sweet apple.
Again, I am not sure if any of my bench graft survived, but both Kerr #1 grafts on the old tree have two healthy, foot-long shoots. I really would like to have both #1 and #2, for obvious reasons, and so I may have to order more #2 scions from Steve to try again next year. (A long story, but I do not like the owner of our local nursery, so…) 
Kerr is Dolgo x Haralson.
I like it a lot; tart, with a musky wine undertone.
Centennial is Dolgo x Wealthy, larger, sweeter, and a bit earlier than Kerr, here.
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Like Lucky, I also like Dolgo to eat fresh. It is more of a flavorful delicacy to me than something to fill me up. I grow enough apples and I’m overweight, so I need more flavor and not so much food.
For me, centennial is a bit too soft here, and the flavor isn’t strong enough.
John S
PDX OR
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I like the centennial picked a bit early so they are more crisp and have some tart…and I can kind of taste the dolgo in them. It works sort of ok sometime. But I like the Dolgo too!
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