I stopped in my local Aldi today but they did not have the honeycrisp juice. I really wanted to try it.
I’m not up to speed on calcium sprays as this will be the first year I bother. I will know the ropes by petal fall here- I believe the calcium sprays are summer affairs.
Here’s my kid eating a Goldrush apple yesterday (in May)!
These truly are among the superior keeping apples, and they still taste phenomenal. The local orchard grows these and keeps them in perfect refrigerated storage conditions through fall, winter, and spring.
The best Goldrush are those that develop an orange-yellow hue with beautiful bright red speckles for blush. If they remain greenish, then they’re no good at all (spit-out bad). But the ruddy-flecked ones with a glowing orange cast are sublime-- really rich & tangy flavor, retaining a nice crunchy juicy texture… yum !!!
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Looks like it passed the taste test.
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Hi Matt. When did your GR ripen? It is my understanding that it is a late season apple (October). My potted GR ripened much earlier and I’m wondering if the pot temperature combined with bagging speeded up the ripening date. I also wonder if my scion wood was not labeled correctly although they looked just like yours and had an excellent taste. Thanks, Bill
Adorable photo.
I’ve never had one that was “spit out bad” just bland from inadequate sugar because of being picked too green. Up here we barely have the necessary season to ripen it properly- and that’s when trees get full light.
I was almost counting them out this year with our late spring, but presto, a few warm days and everything is blooming at once. I only worry that things won’t get adequately pollinated. A seven course meal has all been set at the table at once and my pollinators may be filling up on dessert.
Auburn, my Goldrush is newly planted this year. Never sampled my own fruit… yet… the thing is covered in blossoms.
A local orchard here grows the Goldrush we’ve eaten. They begin picking in October, I believe. But they don’t achieve the best flavor until after 2 months of cold storage. They are great beginning in Dec through May if kept in good storage.
Pick them in November and they can be great right off the tree.
My GR has gotten biennial recently 
I’ll have to remember to thin it extra hard next spring.
Matt…as Alan said, for us Z6 folks Goldrush really pushes the envelope for ripening. I’m sure most years you will likely be ok down your way, but here, not so much. I left mine on the tree last year until snow and below freezing temps were forcasted for that night. I’d have liked to leave them go a bit, but the season just wasn’t long enough. Nov. 10 though is kinda late even down your way I would think. Here we’ve usually had nights below freezing by then.
The color you describe I think occurs in storage. Mine were precisely as you describe after a week of storage. Here is what they looked like the night I picked them.
Honestly, these were some of the poorest quality apples I’ve ever eaten. I’m hoping this year will be different. I really like the looks of them and really like the size, not too big, not too small. To me they tasted a bit like lemon Joy dish detergent.
Good looking kid you have there Matt. How old?
Thanks Matt. My fifteen GR are about nickel-quarter size. Hoping these make it until ripening time. Bill
Same happened to me even though I was mindful of early thinning. That’s when I began blossom thinning- just removing all the flowers from entire spurs ASAP. Seemed to do the trick.
Appleseed, one of my favorite all time apple gurus, Ed Fackler, described Goldrush as battery acid at harvest but an excellent apple after Dec. However, for people that like a tart apple, it is excellent right off the tree.
I’m not sure if your palate is more sensitive to some bitterness many of us can’t taste or if you just happen to hate tart apples. I assume you’ve tasted Goldrush from other trees besides your own.
I get lots of opportunity to see how other folks react to the flavor of apples and it is common for me to see Goldrush apples left on the tree by people who didn’t think it worth picking, although I have a hunch they would love the apple if they had stored it. I’ve also had several customers tell me it was the best apple they’ve ever eaten with much more passion than I see for the ever popular Honeycrisp.
I’ve never tasted any apple that was at all like dish washing detergent. The only one whose flavor I found to have an objectionable flavor is Sweet 16, but now I have been enlightened by members of this forum that I may have been harvesting it too late. It could be a rare apple that holds its texture after achieving its peak flavor. I’ll likely find out for sure this season.
I have taken a lot of time going to area you pick orchards and trying apple and making notes. Of course apples change with storage and it can be hard to find fully tree ripened, But bug damage visible from the ground will keep a few in place.
(Z5 near Omaha NE) I find Honeycrisp to be low on one of the thee things I judge, which are texture, sweet/tart, and flavor. None of these are linear, it is not that simple. properly ripened HC has great texture and is very sweet, but it is weak on flavor. Not that the flavor tones are bad, just weak. If there were a sport of HC that brings out a good flavor that would be a real winner. Although there are many apples that have a better flavor, Suncrisp is one of my favorites.
I was reading some of the reviews for Suncrisp and it sounds similar to Goldrush. Ripens late, not very good off the tree, long storage potential up to 6 months, can taste like battery acid if not eaten from storage. Sounds like it’s not as firm as goldrush. Can anyone that has eaten both compare and contrast?
On my trees, Suncrisp is notably sweeter than GR at harvest and it gets bland in long term conventional storage based on my limited experience of storing it. Last year I got confused and thought my Suncrisp coming out of storage was GR and complained about their blandness.
I think it is delicious off the tree as grown here with a more balanced sweetness than GR at that point.
Suncrisp is awesome off the tree. So good they don’t stay around long enough for me to have any experience with much storage.
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My son turns 3 at the end of the month. He is the real apple of my eye.
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The Suncrisp I’ve eaten look a lot like Gingergold, with a similar texture, but with a pear-like flavor. My wife liked them, and she’s not easy to please!
No, I have not tasted any other Goldrush other than these from my tree. It is because of this and the overwhelming positive reviews that I’m holding out hope for Goldrush. I like everything else about the apple…it grows nice and this year has a zillion blooms and is very pretty. It’s nice shape and attractiveness in bloom almost makes it worthwhile just for aesthetics.
I looked for it in farmer’s markets for a long time before planting it, but it always evaded me.
That’s my description and just the most accurate I could think of. I was surprised though when I saw Susan Brown, head of Cornell’s breeding program actually had “soap” as one of the flavor profiles in apple evaluation, so it apparently is justified.
It is very likely that my Goldrush simply were not fully tree ripened and that is the reason for the off-taste. They did not however have any of the chalkiness common in most under-ripe apples, so I dunno. They at least look ripe, but none had dropped and if you look close at the photos you can tell by the area of stem separation that they didn’t come off as easily as a ripe apple normally does.
This year will be the determinant, assuming it sets fruit which I expect it will even though I allowed it to fruit in year 2, or maybe even 1st year…can’t remember right now. It certainly looks promising…I’ll know very soon.
I read a lot of reviews on Suncrisp and because of it’s similarity to Goldrush it was sometimes directly compared and it seems Goldrush was hands down, the favored of the two. If those reviews were accurate and given Goldrush’s DR and good growth habits it seems Goldrush would be the obvious choice.
As well he should be Matt. He’ll be in pre-K next year then right? That will keep you busy. Here they only run a bus one way, either to or fro, depending on whether they go morning or afternoon. My oldest will be in kindergarten next year and my youngest will start pre-K.
Good times.
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