We are still working on the Keepsake and Gold Rush. I’m trying to stop everyone from eating the Gold Rush so that we can taste them in the spring. The Keepsake are hit or miss with some being okay and others mushy and sour.
1 Like
The last of the refrigerated apples are gone. Surprisingly a couple Chestnut crabs did as well as any. I have about four bushels left of several varieties of apples, including Northern Spy, Tompkins King, and Macoun, in the unheated barn, insulated by layers of straw bales. I’m almost afraid to unbury them to see how well they withstood our recent sub-zero temperatures. Maybe Friday, when it next gets above freezing again.
1 Like
I have no apples in storage, but a few Lady Williams still hanging on the tree. Ate this one on the photo a few days ago. Grown in a cloth bag (to protect against birds) so didn’t get as much red color as it can.
2 Likes
My very last Black Oxford was eaten today. The rest of the BlOx’s were gone by Dec. 23; some a little rubbery, some still firm, all mild sweet flavor and very good. They started storage at 50 deg then down to 40 in the root cellar. In spite of not ideal temps this saved one was still nicely firm and I was going to see how long it would last. But, today was my birthday so I treated myself (diplomatically shared, of course). And it was a treat! Texture almost as good as fresh, and flavor good. Maybe next year I’ll have a larger harvest and will see just how much longer they will last. Meantime, there is just one lone apple left in the root cellar now, a decent late fall gleaning from a road tree that had a bit of a peculiar “herbage” taste, though texture was good. Made the rest into sauce with the last of some other wild apples last month. But I stored this one to see if the flavor could improve. Maybe I’ll eat it tomorrow. Sue
7 Likes
Hey Happy Birthday Sue!
3 Likes
I have been always thinking Suntan is a very good keeper until I see this video Apples: British to the Core - YouTube
The gentleman from suntan’s orign East Malling Station says that some problem (with/over) storage. Sorry I am not able to catch that word. The interview starts at 35’30’’ and storage is mentioned at 36’20’’.
Suntan is quite acidic off tree. It need some storage to mellow. But some problems for storage. Is this correct understanding?
1 Like
@HighlandDry
Have you seen any problem with storage of Suntan?
Thanks
This year was my first producing Suntan, so my opinions here are hardly based on long experience. I ate my last Suntan out of storage four days ago, so the apple just more than three months in storage in plastic, refrigerated. There was a bit of browning of the flesh in the lower fifth of the apple (calyx end), that resulted in little acidity remaining and some softening in that area, though it was still fairly sweet. The rest of the apple was terrific with plenty of acid and sweets (27 Brix).
A quick search revealed mixed information on Suntan’s keeping ability. Orange Pippin shows 2-3 weeks while Salt Spring Apple states up to four months under refrigeration. My experience suggests the folks at Salt Spring are correct. I’m fairly confident that a good portion of my final apple would still have been pretty good a month from now. If I’d harvested a few earlier, they might have stored a bit better (most of my last five or six apples eaten since January had similar amounts of browning, though the greenest specimens were fine all the way through the apple).
The gent commenting on Suntan on that video said that it was “not the leap forward (from Cox)” that they’d hoped for. Get back to me in a few years for comments on it’s consistency in my location. I can only hope it’s as good every year as it was in its first.
1 Like
Its not supposed to do well in places with a lot of heat. I had it for awhile but took it out once I heard that.
Thanks for your reply, HighlandDry
I have difficulty to catch every word that gentleman said. I am a non-English speaker. It is a good learning!
I have Rubinette, Egremont Russet, golden russet, Hudson golden gem, Spitzenberg and Suntan planted in my backyard. Last year I had a spitzen and a Suntan apple. But they dropped early. I planted suntan as a winter apple based on its reputation.
Looking forward to have a few apples to try this year.
1 Like
Scottfsmith, I live in Ontario. A cooler climate than yours. A local nursery man told me that Hudson golden gem is great here. I will figure it out after a few years.
Heat intolerance seems to be characteristic to many Cox offspring, and that’s been true in my orchard, yet Suntan was an exception last season, one of the hottest on record here. I had a lot of sunburn in the orchard, even on varieties that hadn’t shown it before, but none on Suntan. I don’t have your humidity out here, but average daytime temps are hotter from mid-late June through October by a couple or three degrees. Nightime lows are quite a bit cooler, so maybe that’s the difference. I’ve got my fingers crossed that it wasn’t a unicorn harvest.
2 Likes
The nighttime lows matter a lot, also the humidity. On the other hand someone could have lumped Suntan into the same basket as all the other Cox apples without actually trying it.
3 Likes
This is encouraging. I have a limb of Suntan on a tree, and plan on grafting a few dwarf trees of it this year. Our night time lows are great, even with hot summer days. About 40 degrees lower then the oven called Phoenix, or 60’s when Phoenix is 105!
Suncrisp are still good but starting to get mushy. Goldrush never really transformed into a sweet this year and taste a lot like it did in Dec which means good but substandard for this variety. This is the first season I’ve preferred Suncrisp, even though it’s a bit on the sweet side for me. .
Our Liberties are holding up pretty well; some brown core, texture change, skin toughening, but still great flavor. Apples picked too ripe are going pretty quickly, but the greener ones have been quite good.
Have a few Jonagolds that look to be good, and some Prairie Spy I’m holding off on.
We’ll run out of apples pretty soon and will be driven to shopping again.
1 Like
My Goldrush as you would expect are holding up well. I test one about every two weeks. Only five remaining. I’m not sure how long they will last but it would be great they would store well until new 2018 apples were ripe.
1 Like
My first year of storing GR. Mine were not fully ripe. Seeds were only medium brown. I’ve eaten a couple last week. Sweeter than when first picked in Nov. Texture was more tender than crunchy. Overall, they were good. Better than store bought Pink Lady from Trader Joe’s.
1 Like
Just pulled the last of the Keepsakes out of the fridge this week. Skins are just starting to get a bit wrinkled, but flesh is still crisp, and good flavor. I’m hoping to be able to provide a better storage environment for them next year, and hopefully will get a longer store.
1 Like
White Winter Pearmains are doing great … but they’ve only been off the tree for a month and stored on the counter in 70F temperatures.