Since I lost the majority of my apple crop to a late freeze I kept an eye out for some good road apples nearby and saw one I hadn’t noticed before. While picking another nearby tree last month I tried one of these others and to my surprise it had a good flavor though was still firm and not quite ripe. Nice looking medium sized apples, too. Made a note in my mind to check it out later. Waited too long and someone else stripped it a few weeks ago. But they’d missed a few and when I picked and ate one is was like eating sweet applesauce! both flavor and texture. Figured it should be great for sauce and cider. I came back a few days later with a pole-picker and got a small basket of fruit higher up, leaving a real nice crop even higher up (I’m considering a longer pole). I dutifully picked a few small and damaged ones to toss to the patient cow waiting on the other side of the fence. I’m sure those high ones will be cleaned up fast when they drop – cows on one side of the wire, deer on the other, and birds getting their share, too. I marked a few scions to cut late winter. I have one more seedling to graft.
So I know this is a wild cross, but the fruit is different than most road apples I’ve tasted which usually seem to have a Duchess parentage (lots of old orchards around here). This one has a pink-yellow skin background overlaid with pink/red instead of the more common yellow-green background. Here’s a picture. I’m wondering what the parentage might be so am posting it to see if anyone had a named apple (older varieties – this tree has been there awhile) with somewhat similar characteristics. I’m naming this one “Sweet Cow”. The other tree I was picking is “CowGate” – a scion of which is growing vigorously on a tree in our yard. The cows in the nearby pasture are our closest neighbors for much of the year. Sue
@Sue-MiUPz3
Can it simply be Gala? Just a wild guess. My Gala is on a pink side. It is in a shady part of a tree. If it gets more sun, it is likely to have a redder color.
Sue i found a road tree 3 yrs ago that has colors similar to yours but a more flattened shape. this is the 1st year i got to them at peak ripeness before someone else did, and they were very good. i got about 20 perfectly clean 3in. apples from a small 8ft. tree. i too plan to go back next spring and grab a few scions. this ones tart enough to trigger the saliva in your mouth but finishes sweet. its near a local pond so ill call it the pond apple.
It certainly could have ties to Gala, either as a sibling or an offspring. I looked around at photos of Gala and while none looked just like these there were two sports/offspring, Royal Gala and Sweetie, that looked quite similar. I’m sure there are Golden Delicious and Northern Spy trees around (Gala parentage). It’s hard to guess the age of the tree, maybe 40ish? More or less. But given this is farm country there have been untold apple cores tossed off harvesters and out windows for many decades, not even considering wildlife.
While the shape of Chenango Strawberry is different (these come more to a point at the blossom end) the description of the texture and flavor certainly sound similar, as does the skin color. So many possibilities!
Thanks for the suggestions. Given that this year isn’t much of a “normal” year weatherwise (longer hotter than usual) it will be interesting to see what the fruit is like in future years. I’ll be keeping an eye on it. Sue
