Blue Pearmain
Black Oxford
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My great grandmother ate nothing but apples one day a week all year round, and apparently that didn’t mean one apple, or canned or dried… it was as many fresh as she felt like. She lived north of me, near the northern Oregon Coast for most of her life, then in the upper Willamette Valley. When she moved she took an early and a late apple with her, and planted them in her yard. Mom said she did have to buy apples from a neighbor after she moved, but apparently the early ones filled a gap she couldn’t buy. I would LOVE to know which two trees she bothered to take with her, but family just wrote early and late.
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I only planted Kidd’s Orange Red, Hoople’s Antique Gold, and GoldRush. The squirrels got the Hoople’s again this year and I’m still waiting on GoldRush which is harvested in November. I had 4 Kidd’s that didn’t go to the squirrels this year. The first 2 tasted like Mott’s apple juice. The last 2 were excellent with some acid and that orangey taste that I believe come from Cox, they were definitely better than a good GoldRush in my opinion (functionally, GoldRush should be better once my trees start going strong as it’s a keeper). Still waiting on Hoople’s but knowing how much I like old strain Yellow Delicious I’m pretty sure it’ll rival Kidd’s for me. The Kidd’s I most enjoyed were closer to a good Suncrisp from a local orchard than anything else I’ve tried.
So my answer for now is Kidd’s.
I’d definitely lean on some of these other guys like @scottfsmith and @alan, the guys with experience who take growing fruit very seriously. Their trials are your gain.
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Probably a lucy glo (so far my favorite red flesh and apple generally ive tried), and then probably something for cider production. Not sure. Some sort of crab most likely. In reality i got a lucy gem and a winekist. Planning on grafting some redlove one day.
I’m curious why you haven’t stated anything about your tastes or expected usage such as winter eating where storage life is important or for culinary use. What are the varieties you’ve eaten that you like the most?
I manage orchards for a living and know that tastes vary a great deal. Hell, I have customers that hate Goldrush so much for its acid that they don’t bother to harvest it, then think the very same apple is great after it’s mellowed in storage for a couple of months. I love them right off the tree- as do many.
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Jesse – I have Black Oxford and love it, but it seems to suffer from severe fruit loss due to rot. Any suggestions?
Don’t say that. I’m betting on BO as a good disease resistant apple in our area. I had the chance to try it while in NH and loved it. Do you spray? When does it seem to get hit by rot the hardest?
My first BO grafts this year did not make it. I grafted 2 more and grafted another on a crab tree September 1st. Still green wood but no leaves yet. 2 of 4 grafts that have not leafed yet.
I plan to make a pie out of some local Brush & Old Fashioned Limbertwigs. The commercial orchards don’t pick them until mid November in western NC.
I’m curious if the Limbertwigs pie up as well as the Golden D or Goldrush.
The OLF and Brushy Mt. Limbertwigs reportedly can be frozen whole and thaw out with zero issues.
I’ve also heard they are great for killing squirrels if a person has a strong throw.
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Yeah, I spray with both insecticides and fungicides through July. I’ve been avoiding spraying later, hoping to minimize residue at harvest. Most of my trees produce fruit with almost no blemishes. Among the near total successes: Centennial, Redfree, Liberty, Belle de Boskoop, Hudson’s Golden Gem, Roxbury Russet, Zabergau Reinette, Munson Sweet, Otterson, Winesap, Franklin. With some damage but very tolerable: Redbyrd Bitter, Ashmead’s Kernel, Egremont Russet, Enterprise. With significant late season rot: Dabinette, Black Oxford. Redfield can be bad but isn’t horrible.
This rot seems to accelerate in autumn, so it seems mainly to affect late-ripening varieties though not all of them. I’m thinking I will have to spray certain trees once again in August.
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No issues? You mean it defrosts with some crispness?
It was implied the apple didn’t change a bit. Good as fresh.
Sweet sixteen has been a favorite of mine to eat locally and growing it has been easy so far. It’s only in 2nd leaf so do not know if that will change. Haven’t had to spray for anything yet other than dormant spray.
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A good storing apple like Goldrush, Fuji and Pink Lady will keep in refrigeration for well over 6 months, so freezing apples would only extend their usefulness a few months. By then, those apples would likely have consumed a lot of energy to keep them frozen.
That said, I find the idea of an apple unchanged by temps below about 23F difficult to swallow. It would be an extremely valuable asset, if only because you could leave apples on trees late into winter… or under trees if they dropped.
What stops apples from freezing well below freezing temps for water is mostly sugar.
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I wasn’t provided with freeze time duration. It may have been only a couple months. That being said, the presumed OFLTs/Brushy Mt. LTs being grown in the Brushy Mts and sold at local markets are far sweeter than any mainstream apple by miles, and are acidic as well.
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Funny you mention Goldrush:
Here’s one i cut up 2 days ago that has been sitting in my crisper drawer in a plastic baggy since we picked it up at a local orchard last year.
It was slightly more bland than it was 11 months ago (still better than store bought), and more crisp than crunchy after 11 months in storage, but impressive for being 11 months and a week or so old.
I dont think it would keep too much longer as there were a few small spots starting to break down under the skin, but… makes me excited for once my own goldrush starts producing.
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I’m suspicious of researched info and well as anecdotal observation by even very experienced fruit growers, including my own, at this point. Misinfo runs rampant from all of the above for various reasons, especially because of unaccounted for variables. Also, researchers have strong incentive to exaggerate the implications of their own research. Humility is not a great tool for career success in that profession- beyond that it is human to exaggerate the importance of everything we do.
If you find this apple and freeze it to normal freezer temps, please let us know about its quality when it thaws. That would be an anecdote of high credibility. My guess is the apple will not live up to its “reputation”. The anti-freeze influence of sugar only takes you so far.
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I just ran the question by CHAT GPT and got a very long and interesting answer, even about the frozen flesh of Limbertwigs part. However, like every source of info I use, CHAT can spout some nonsense. This little bit is interesting to me.
Small orchardists from Pennsylvania to Vermont have noted the same:
- GoldRush in a cool basement, kept humid, is crisp into May.
- Arkansas Black softens by March unless it’s genuinely cold.
- Limbertwigs, though dense, lose acid and turn mealy faster once cellar temps rise above 45 °F.
So empirically and physiologically, you’re right — GoldRush is probably the best cellar apple ever bred, just coincidentally adapted to CA storage as well.