Monterey Bay CRFG - Apple tasting 2022 (73 varieties)

We attended our first Apple tasting event this weekend in Santa Cruz.

This is continuation of the 2019 version of it here, posted by @Richard

The event started at 2:00PM and we were there by 2:30 and there was a long line and it probably took us 45 min wait to get near the apples. But it was a beautiful day and the event itself was quite well organized. Most of the apples were from Freddy & Ellen’s orchard and Rider & Sons farms. Some pics below

Clipboard for each person with stickers for final vote



Final votes

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I didn’t make detailed notes, as we were managing two kids in a long line and they were getting bored at the end :slight_smile: My overall favorites were

  1. C-13-140 - I heard its a seedling of Rider farm’s red-fleshed apple breeding program. It doesn’t have any red flesh, so it was supposed to be culled but the high sugar made them retain it. It was a sugar bomb. Wish I had my brix meter with me. Sweetest by a mile compared to others with more interesting background flavors. I even asked them to cut me a slice to confirm if I accidentally found a random sweet spot. The whole apple was indeed very sweet. Now, I need to find where I can get some scions :stuck_out_tongue:

  2. King David - Interestingly, they arranged the whole tasting low-acid to high-acid. This is the best for me from the high acid group. Slightly better than others in the group like Belle de Boskoop, Ashmead Kernel and Newtown Pippin

  3. Hudson’s Golden Gem - Finally, I found a good one of this variety! At its best, it has a combination of nutty (due to russeted skin) and honey (mild but delicious) flavor

  4. Cornerstone - Freddy Menge seedling. Very balanced flavor.

  5. Pink Parfait - Best among the reds, although its more of a faint pink

oh yea, my daughter’s favorites were Pink Lady (familiar flavor) and Rubaiyat (red flesh)

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Thank you!

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I really like the voting chart. I’m surprised at some of them (spitzenberg and pinova), but a friend of mine (with 150 varieties in his orchard) reminded me that it’s not a fair fight since they won’t all be optimally ripe at the same time…

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Also, the flavor of ripe apple varies by region.

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Yeah, my favorites didn’t fare well. But I suspect Golden Russet may not be ripe yet.

One of those two votes is my wife’s :slight_smile: To me, Golden Russet was too tannic and probably needed to mellow down more. Under-ripened?

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Hudson’s golden gem is also one of my favorites among the russetted types.
I like Wickson crab as a different intense flavored apple. What did you think?

I was looking forward to Wickson’s crab and Pineapple candy (which is a seedling of WC). Both of them didn’t have much going on this time. I have tasted WC before and it had rich flavor

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I appreciate that chart as my son is looking to graft a few apples this coming Spring and we’re looking for suggestions.
But no Goldrush at the tasting?!? I think that’s a really great apple

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Thank you for the post. We also went to the tasting and had a great time. It was very well organized and helped me make some of my grafting decisions. Somehow I thought that I really liked Cortland after living in MA for 8 years. Now I’m discovering that this is probably not the case. :slight_smile:

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I wouldn’t rule out an apple from one tasting, unless people who tried the same piece of fruit were raving about it, and I still didn’t like it.

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Good idea. I had it when I lived in MA and liked it. However, Macoun tasted much better. I will graft Cortland if I happen to get a scion but I won’t hunt for it as I originally planned.

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