Our apple taste tests

General Fruit Growing
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Last Saturday (October 12), we had another, much smaller gathering at the farm. Apples in the taste test were Colonel’s Kernal, Dyer, Haralson, Holstein, Red Canada, Rubinette, Smokehouse, Spigold, Tolman Sweet, and Westfield Seek No Further. Too few participants completed the rating sheets for me to list numbers, but there was a lively discussion about the varieties.

Rubinette was everyone’s favorite. I was tasting it for the first time, too. I had saved it out after picking because we only one apple – the first and only from our tree planted in 2022. Full of excellent flavor.

Colonel’s Kernel might be called the second favorite, since it was the most commented on. Because it was such pleasant eating, folks were surprised that Colonel’s Kernel was another tree from our woods where there once was an orchard. It seems almost certainly to be a named variety, but I’ve not been able to identify it. The fruits are very large, have an often dull red over yellow, have a nicely balanced flavor on the sweet side, and are crisp without a hard crunch. In other words, it is like many popular varieties from an earlier era. Its name is an homage to my wife and her father, who was a colonel.

Dyer, Westfield, and Spigold were also especially liked.

Smokehouse had its advocates, but high praise wasn’t universal.

No one had much to say about Red Canada or Haralson, but they were generally liked.

Tolman got similar reactions as it has gotten before. Sweet but otherwise of little flavor.

The Holstein was a spitter. I’m a slow learner, since our Holsteins have never tasted right. I’m finally more than suspecting that I was not sent the right tree when I bought it from South Meadow – a nursery not recommended for a variety of reasons. Something like confirmation came this year when two Tompkins King trees we got from there at the same time finally bore for the first time. They both bore yellow apples that look nothing like the fruits from our Tompkins King that died or are grown by Kingtown Orchard, an old enterprise that is just outside of Tompkins County.

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The Dyer apple seems to get really good reviews from the different taste testings. Where did you get your Dyer apple tree from? It may be one I could add to my orchard. I have to remove a couple of trees next spring. The ones that are just not producing enough fruit.

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I got our Dyer from Southmeadow Fruit Gardens in 2015. Unfortunately, as is noted in Growing Fruit’s nurseries list, they “are no longer a reliable source.”

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The only apples you listed that I’m familiar with being touted as a world class eating apples are Rubinette and Spigold. I still don’t know why Smokehouse was a prized apple, I’m guessing for another use besides fresh eating. Tolman and Westfield are not apples I’ve seen top taste tests although they are still relatively popular heirlooms.

Rubinette was the only commercial and relatively modern apple in your tests with the partial exception of Spigold, so it doesn’t surprise me that it pleased the palates of your customers. They are already used to eating apples with similar qualities. Sharper tasting apples are not something most people are used to.

For the commercial small grower the only taste test that matters is what sells. Years ago, I was on a NAFEX tour in Massachusettes, and the grower of a small pick-your-own orchard said he had to fence off the Honeycrisps until they reached peak flavor- otherwise his customers would pick them clean way before they were ready.

Spigold and N. Spy are both difficult for me to grow in my orchard- they tend to get rots on my vigorously growing trees, Spy has also been a problem at another site I used to manage for the same reason but at others it does fine.

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One of the main goals with our taste tests has been to introduce folks to apples they might never have heard of. Another is to demonstrate the diversity of flavors, textures, colors, shapes, and sizes of apples.

Over the years, some of the heirloom varieties have done quite well in our tests. Westfield has finished quite high some years. Smokehouse has been a winner. A few weeks ago, we included Smokehouse among the apples we brought to market. We offered slices of all the varieties we were selling, and we sold more of them than any other.

A hundred years ago, my grandfather limited the number of Northern Spy trees he grew, also complaining of how difficult they were to grow. So some things don’t change.

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You are a zone colder than me. One thing I believe about heirlooms is that they vary a great deal depending on climate and soil type. When someone or an organization pays to patent a variety, one that often costs many thousands of dollars to produce in the first place, not only must it appeal to the widest range of consumers, but also have a relatively standard fruit quality in the various places apples are grown commercially, along with being reliably productive in a wide range of climates and soils. Thus, the international success of Gala. .

Smokehouse ripens here when it is still warm, and it is soft without any particular distinction I can think of. However, I don’t grow it in my own orchard and only offer it as a nursery tree so my experience with it is somewhat limited, but I find its growth habit challenging.

For taste tests to be valid, you should only identify an apple by number. Is that how you do it? Let the tester decide if the apple is unusual or not.

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Ah, there’s the rub. Our aim is entertainment and education. Validity has been sacrificed. Apples are set out on a table and labeled with name and place and date of origin. Folks can visit at their leisure, so they wouldn’t necessarily be around for the reveal of what variety each number was.

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I was at a NAFEX meeting in Santa Cruz years ago which was combined with CA rare fruit growers. There was a huge taste test and very many varieties picked from different places and different times. I don’t think they identified the varieties, but I don’t think the results were especially informative anyway. There is a huge range year to year site to site and even on the same tree I often find a great range of quality from the same variety. I think a poll of serious apple growers naming their top 10 varieties might be more informative. Especially if it was done regionally.

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We conducted two taste tests this year. The first was held at our annual cider pressing party on October 12. The second was held at the Trumansburg Farmers Market on October 29. All apples tasted were grown in our orchard. Only a few apples appeared at both tests. As in previous years we asked participants to complete a form as they sampled apples. First we asked them to grade them on a scale of 1 to 10. Then we asked them to pick their top three favorites, assigning them 1, 2, or 3. In the last column, we asked them to make comments, but only fewer than half did. Especially at the market, many more sampled apples than actually filled out the forms.

SAGE HEN FARM

At our farm, the 13 apple varieties included Ashmead’s Kernel, Connell Red, Golden Russet, Hubbardston Nonesuch, King David, Liberty, Macoun, Newtown Pippin, Northwest Greening (purchased as Briggs Auburn), Reinette du Canada (the tree’s first year to bear fruit), Smokehouse, Stayman, and Wassail (a tree that was here when we moved in that we haven’t been able to identify).

For the 1 to 10 rating section, based on average score, the top finishing apples were:
Golden Russet 8.6
King David 7.9
Wassail 7.7
Ashmead’s Kernel and Newtown Pippin 7.5
Reinette du Canada and Hubbardston Nonesuch 7.1
Tolman Sweet 6.0

In the ranking of top three favorites, all apple varieties received at least one vote. I used a simple weighting method to determine the top choices:
First: King David
Second: Wassail
Third (a tie): Ashmead’s Kernel and Newtown Pippin

Here were a few of the written comments:
Ashmead’s Kernel: Excellent character, intense flavor, acidic, wood texture
Connell Red: Meh, low acid, a little peary, sweet but lacking character
Golden Russet: Very sweet but has more to it, very flavorful; low acid but character with some spice
Hubbardston Nonesuch: Great apple, sweet, hint of greatness
King David: Good balance, juicy, rich
Liberty: Bland this year, past prime, sweet, yum
Macoun: Not very rich, almost balanced but more sweet, off-year but good
Newtown Pippin: Lively tart/sweet, one nice apple, yum
Northwest Greening: Very mild, meh, not much taste, bland but apple-y
Reinette du Canada: Sprightly, tart, sour, great balance of flavor, flavorful, different texture, a little astringent
Smokehouse: Balanced, good flavor but mealy, odd flavor, lost its crisp
Stayman: Great balance, good flavor, tarter than sweet but very good, yum
Wassail: Spicy, citrusy, lots of character, tart but not overwhelming, very flavorful and unusual

Notes: Liberty, Macoun, and Smokehouse ripened earlier than normal by a few weeks and didn’t keep as long as normal. The “yum” comments came from the same 7-year old. We have included Wassail in previous years without it getting such high marks as it did this year. No idea why.

TRUMANSBURG FARMERS MARKET

The eight apple varieties included Blacktwig, Calmoutier (discovered on a farm in Amish country in Ohio. It is pronounced Cal-MOOSH. Genetically, it is a Golden Delicious, but it looks and tastes different), Dyer, King David, Ladies’ Sweeting, Reinette du Canada, Stayman, and Zabergau Reinette (like Reinette du Canada, the tree’s first year to bear fruit).

For the 1 to 10 rating section, based on average score, the top finishing apples were:
Blacktwig and King David tied for first 7.8

Calmoutier and Ladies’s Sweeting tied for third 7.4

Zabergau Reinette 7.2

Dyer 7.1

Stayman 6.9

Reinette du Canada 5.8

In the ranking of top three favorites, all apple varieties received at least one vote. I used a simple weighting method to determine the top choices:

First: Blacktwig

Second: King David

Third: Calmoutier

Here were a few of the written comments:

Blacktwig: Nice flavor, sweet (multiple times), soft, different but pleasant aftertaste, brings me to the dark woods and back again safe and sound

Calmoutier: Tart, unique, schmecht nach apfelchip [tastes like apple chips — comment from a couple visiting from Germany], let’s me know love still lives

Dyer: Sweet, not as sweet [as Blacktwig], more like pear, good with cheese, good in pie, I would share with Mark Knoffler

King David: Bright, subtly tart; makes me want to bake a pie, tasty, spritely, full of awe

Ladies’ Sweeting: Really nice, sweet indeed, sweet but there’s more, sweet only, moist and crisp, cook with it, a lady by any other name might not smell as sweet

Reinette du Canada: Not my fave, sweet, sour, weird skin, not crisp enough, alas no

Stayman: Light, crisp, bland, stay where you are

Zabergau Reinette: Sour, good and tart, drying, complex, unusual and good, the subtilty escaped me

Notes: At our booth, we made room for the apple taste test using eight varieties. Based on previous tastings at the market, we’ve determined that any more would have required more time than many shoppers would be willing to spend. Several participants started completing the form but didn’t finish, so eight might have been too many. We brought no apples to sell at the market, so tastings were only for fun. A few folks were disappointed that they couldn’t buy any. The most common comment was “I’ve never heard of any of these apples.” Zabergau Reinette was the least tasted. Since this was the first year that our Reinette du Canada tree bore fruit, we only had a few apples, and the apple we used for the first test was in better shape than the ones we used at the farmers market. Its ratings understandably declined. Several made the comment that they liked them all. I had a great time, and it was a great way to end our farmers market season.

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Identified this year as a Baldwin. In a side by side comparison, they shared same skin coloring, taste, size, flesh color, and ripeness.

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When do you pick King David?

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This year on October 13 and 20. I’ve picked as early as October 11, but no later than October 20.

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People don’t eat most of their apples in OCT. I think a more useful comparison would be from a taste test in January, although for a small commercial orchard there may not be much business then. Apples are my primary winter fruit. When I still have ripe stone fruit on my trees I only eat apples out of curiosity and I’ve no practical use for apples that don’t store well, like Macoun or Cortlandt although both are delicious off the tree and for a couple weeks after harvest.

I’m now done eating almost all my peaches, nects and plums from my storage fridge and it is now full of apples with a box of Korean Giant pears (for my wife’s Kimchi) and a few European pears which didn’t perform well for me this year, for some reason.

My best storage apples are Goldrush and Pink Lady. I also store Jonaprince and old strain Yellow Delicious mostly for cooking. I bet sweet lovers would adore Jonaprince if you grew it, it is not a sport of Jonagold, apparently, but a seedling child that tastes and looks a lot like Honeycrisp, with similar rot issues. It’s better for common storage for me than Honeycrisp, if only because my fridge is full of stonefruit when Honeycrisp is ready to harvest.

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Most apples in NC ripen the last week of August through mid-September.

Any ripening date information that is a decade old is out of date here. Fall-Winter-Spring nights are much warmer than they were 30 years ago. Below zero temps in NC were fairly common in the 70s-80s-90s. I believe the last time it has dropped below zero in the Piedmont of NC was in 2000.

Ark Blacks are waxy by Thanksgiving if picked the last week in October even if placed in residential refrigeration. Christmas is the end of the road for eating out of hand. Only the latest ripening apples make it that far.

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Reads like new bred types are needed. Later ripening like Granny Smith that generally doesn’t ripen properly where it’s grown commercially, although I’m not saying Granny itself can thrive in high humidity. If it could, I assume it would already be an apple of choice there. What about Goldrush and Pink Lady?

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Our Goldrush tree had an off year, but it is a favorite. I would recommend it as well. What has surprised me about the variety is that it was developed in Minnesota, where, with its shorter growing season, it must be very difficult to get fully ripened fruit.

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Goldrush was developed at Perdue University in Indiana. I guess you conflated it with Honeycrisp, another special apple that failed to generate royalties for its creators. University breeders lack adequate promotional funding because government sometimes ignores the fundamentals of capitalism. Promotion is as important as quality for success. Lack of promotion has held back Ruby Queen, the wonderful J. plum from ever reaching the popularity it deserves, IMO. It is my favorite J. plum, hands down.

The way I keep Goldrush annually productive is to vastly reduce the flower clusters before or during bloom. Way too time consuming for commercial growers. It also helps increase their size, which was a key factor in undermining their commercial viability.

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No. I just remembered wrong. Still, Purdue isn’t the balmiest zone.

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I’m not one to get swept up in fad scenes, or rush to taste every new apple.

Headed up to Cana VA to check out what was being grown, sold. I wanted somewhat fresh, locally grown apples, not Washington or midwest apples. Apples clearly taste different in different soils and regions.

Fiver varieties were chosen.

Ambrosia
Evercrisp
Crimson Crisp
York Imperial
Stayman.

The family was gathered up before breakfast this morning to sample. The ranking was unanimous.

1st place, Evercrisp

2nd place, Stayman

3rd/4th tie, York Imperial-Crimson Crisp

5th place, Ambrosia.

The Evercrisp is a near perfect apple. It looks like a real apple, not a frankenfruit experiment. It has the flavor vibe of a very high quality heirloom with the modern juicy but firm texture. It may have had some texture elements of a Fuji, but the flavor was more like a Black Twig.

This crop of Staymans were very good. A very close second to the Evercrisp.

The York Imperial is kinda chewy like some limbertwigs, but lacks the pop. This crop did have some flavor complexity, but the flavor is very weak. These somewhat latent flavors may come alive if baked or cooked. I will find out. Definitely a processing apple and not a fresh eating apple. I suppose it has the toughness to be a commercial apple.

The Crimsom crisp had too much treble in the tartness. Perhaps they weren’t ripe enough. No depth, not enough balance.

The Ambrosia belongs in a Miami night club for those without money where folks wear tacky clothes. It may have been past its prime.

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Being a successful pop star does not make you a world class artist :wink:. Evercrisp was bred to have the texture of Honeycrisp and the sweetness of Fuji.

Almost every day through Oct, at least, I will sample an apple I consider near perfect, some lean on the tart side, some on the sweet. I just finished a Suncrisp apple from today’s harvest that was as good as anything. Tart-sweet, very crisp and juicy with a very interesting aromatic profile.

I can not choose any apple as the GOAT. Perhaps when you are the mother you don’t like to pick favorites so much… all my children are special and smarter than average… if you know the joke.

As I’ve said, my most important apples store extremely well as I’ve read does Evercrisp. I decided not to grow it because the one I tasted from a farm stand (just to sample it) was more sugar than flavor to me. But NY is a completely different environment than VA. I also didn’t like the requirement of joining the Midwestern Apple Growers Association although the fee is reasonable. I much prefer paying royalties per tree for new types.

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