Prairie Spy apple

[marknmt]

The last times I commented on this unusual apple was to note how disappointed I was in it:

Prairie Spy apple taste test & comments

I’ve never heard much discussion of this apple, although I brought it up once (probably on the GW board) and I hope to hear from others on it. My frankentree gave me only three of these last fall, and I sampled one (disappointing) and bagged two and threw them in the crisper drawer. About six weeks ago I ate one and it was terrible- tasted like some kind of paint remover or something. But PS is known for being great keeper that improves with age, and I’ve eaten them in the past and found them …

Informal apple taste test comments

The fruit has been coloring and sizing up pretty nicely in the last two-three weeks and I decided to test five of the varieties. I picked a couple of Pixie Crunch, a Karmijn d’ Sonneville, a Prairie Spy, a Winesap, and a Yellow Delicious. We’d tried the PC before and it was quite good, but these had hung on the tree a couple of weeks long er (and had colored up considerably more.) We left those for last, and finally skipped them for now, but we’re looking forward to them. The PS wasn’t ready,…

But this year looks to be better. Just had one right off the tree and we both enjoyed it- noted its “different” taste. Since its known for good flavor and is supposed to improved with storage I’m encouraged.

I’m not going to try to describe the taste, partly because it has proven to be so variable thus far and also because I’m not quite sure how to. For right now I’ll stick with “different” and maybe “assertive, spicy” and dodge anything else. But the texture is tight, firm close. It’s known as a great storage apple, so I’ll save the rest for spring, and see what that does for the texture.

I think it’d probably make a fine cooking apple but I haven’t tried it. I’d love to get others’ experiences.

[smsmith]

I just ate my first Prairie Spy of the season. It had a bit of bird damage, so I picked it and took it home. Cut out the damage and enjoyed it. It was a nice mix of sweet and tart. Nice crunch, juicy. I’m not the best at describing flavors, but their is a unique taste at first crunch of each bite. Maybe a hint of cherry?

The apples are huge, that’s for sure.

[marknmt]

My PS are going to have to come off of the tree today ahead of the big chill, but I’m sure that they’re nowhere near ready. I guess I’ll stash them in the back corner of the fridge and see what they look like in April.

[smsmith]

The seeds in the one I ate were all brown, so I went back and picked the rest. We’re not getting the snow that those in parts of MT, WY, SD, ND may get, but the temp is supposed to drop well into the 20s. They’re in the crisper now and will likely stay in there for maybe a month or so. I don’t have a lot of other fruit this year, so they’ll get eaten up quickly. I would like to try and keep one until March just to see how it compares.

[smsmith]

Took the first Prairie Spy out of the crisper today. I put them in there on 10/9. It is crispy, juicy, and quite tasty. There is a fruity flavor that I can’t quite describe…maybe almost peachy? At some point when I have more of them, I’d like to make a single variety sweet cider with them and see how it turns out.

[marknmt]

Glad you like them- I haven’t tried mine yet. I’ve got a ton of apples that aren’t known for keeping, including some wonderful Karmijn de Sonnaville and maybe a couple of Rubinettes, and bags and bags of Liberties. Also some Jonagolds and two very red Fujis, but those are good keepers and I’ll leave them for now.

I hope the cider works for you if you do it. I can’t imagine that it wouldn’t.