Have any of you that are growing Hooples also tried Sergeant Russet? I had one thrown in my order from Pipsqueak Nursery this year. The description says it’s a russeted Golden Delicious sport and he says it’s his favorite GD sport. The picture looks very similar to some of the Hooples pictures online. Curious if they compare favorably or are maybe even the same sport with different names?
There are many strains of Yellow Delicious out there. To my palate Hooples is like one of the better strains, but with full russet. However there may be several strains of Hooples as well. I feel pretty sure that if Murky grew the one I have, his would be russeted as well. In the three years I’ve been growing it not a single apple has failed to be fully russeted and the apple he shows looks like an old strain of Yellow Delicious.
When russets went out of fashion, the tendency of some russeting of YD was intentionally bred out of it, which to my palate, adversely affected flavor, especially by reducing brix.
Three years does not an expert on Hooples make, and taste is highly subjective, but I think Yellow Delicious is an underestimated apple because modern varieties simply aren’t as good. For me, the jury is still out on Hooples on whether it is a superior apple to old-strain YD.
The last 3 years here have had excessive rain for much of the growing seasons. Evaluating apples has to be much easier outside of the humid regions where weather can have so much influence. All I know is how Hooples performs under conditions with lots of wet and cloudy weather.
4 Likes
I’ve never tried Sergeant Russet, but there is another GD russet, Razor Russet, which I tried and found to be not that great. It has these really big lenticels which can be sources for fruit degradation, and it tastes more bland than Hooples. At least for me it did. Sergeant Russet could be the same as Hooples but in the USDA database it has its own unique entry which makes me think someone thinks it’s different. It does look a lot like Hooples. See a past thread here, Sergeant Russet apple, anyone heard of it?, for more info on Sergeant Russet.
Re: the original GD vs Hooples, I never grew an old strain GD but have tasted it over the years and my memory is it is not too different from Hooples. My guess is in a side-by-side the Hooples will be a bit more intense. In general russeting adds a bit of intensity. For example I have King Russet which is a russet sport of Reine des Reinettes. The trees are side-by-side and the KR is a bit more intense than RdR. Unfortunately both are fireblight magnets, I love them but am not sure they will be staying.
2 Likes
I was reading a research article about a polyphenol called Phloridzin that is unique to apples. Like most polyphenols it’s associated with some very positive health outcomes. The interesting thing about Phloridzin is that when they tested different variations of Golden Delicious, Phloridzin was more abundant the more russeting that the apple had.
Different polyphenols have an opposite correlation meaning they are less abundant with more russeting. Because of that it would seem variety is a good thing, but I think most people are missing a lot of important nutrients and antioxidants because they are stuck just getting the typical supermarket apple. At least I’ve never seen an apple with much russeting at my local supermarkets.
I think our taste buds know what they need so maybe that’s why a russet apple like Hooples can taste so wonderful and unique, especially when you’ve never had one before. None of my russets are producing yet, but based on all of your descriptions I can’t wait!
Is it less susceptible to cedar apple rust on the foliage? Or basically the same?
Challenge accepted, if you can provide some dormant scion wood in winter.
2 Likes
In my yard Hoople’s is the most susceptible apple to CAR out of the 6 varieties I grew.
3 Likes
Myclo works so well on that I hardly consider it a problem- it just needs to be in the tank when I’m spraying insects anyway. It’s mostly an issue if you are going organic… probably a very big issue some years.
2 Likes
Hooples is generally susceptible to stuff … fireblight, CAR, curculio, moths … They don’t rot badly though. I also spray myclo so practically speaking CAR is not an issue.
1 Like