After a week of full sun and 2 hard frosts, the HC apples I just picked have a minimally acceptable amount of sugar and flavor. I’m glad I only pick the loose ones. They needed the extra boost.
Mine are uneven taste- wise. It appeared the early ones were mildly sweet or even bland. However, this past week, the taste has improved on some but not all, unfortunately. The one I had today was excellent.
I had one today that got up 15% but still did not impress my palate. I just don’t much like Honeycrisp. I grow it for friends. My Ashmead’s do it for me right now. It seems I did grow some exceptionally good Honeycrisps about 5 years ago- but who knows, maybe it’s the result of changing tastes.
Here in michigan,there was a killing frost,two days ina row,after an early start to spring.lots of trees had few fruit,if any at all. Then,a wet spring,which made everything grow fast. The pears i harvested looked great on the outside,but started to rot inside more quickly.seriously weird season!
I always have a certain amount of trouble deciding when to harvest pears- too early and they don’t get sugar, too late and some varieties get internal rot.
Maybe you are better at this than me and your rot was inevitable but I thought I’d make the suggestion. One of several reasons I really like Harrow Sweet is that if you wait too long to harvest at least the pears are still good to eat, just not good for storing. They also ripen gradually, so you can actually wait for a few to drop and then harvest the crop for longer storage.
Their fruit gets up good sugar and they are much more productive and reliable than most varieties, although they are a tad below the best for gourmet eating. However, few Americans ever eat better pears than the Harrow Sweet I grow. I think Duchess and Sheldon are superior in quality, but vastly inferior in reliable annual production here in NY. At least those 2 are not so vulnerable to pear psyla and fabrea defoliation as Seckel and especially Bosc. Those 2 were worthless for me this season because I didn’t keep fungicide on them during all the rain in early summer. Many other varieties would have similarly suffered if I grew them in my orchard. Bartlett, however, held their leaves and produced sound fruit in my nursery.
2 Likes
Its definitely not a great tasting apple, I think people conflate texture with flavor. When they are much sweeter than average, they become pretty darn good. But it still has the characteristic flavor that reminds me of all of the disappointing Honeycrisps I’ve had over the years.