Aside from Tolman’s Sweet, what other apples have a prominent suture line? With Grime’s Golden already in my line-up, ordering a Tolman’s Sweet seemed a bit redundant. That being said, I think the suture line is a striking and interesting trait.
Winter Banana has one.
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Glockenapfel sometimes has one.
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I saw one on a Braeburn this year…but never had previously. Just an odd occurrence.
(I have Tolman …has not had fruit…grafted it on G30 in 2017…if it blooms I’ll let it bear a couple this next year.)
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Interesting. The suture line seems to be listed as a defining characteristic for Tolman Sweet in the descriptions I’ve read, but I have to wonder whether it is a physiological thing rather than a true trait? Will be interesting to see how many do/n’t have suture lines if your tree fruits next year, @BlueBerry .
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I don’t expect every apple to have the ‘suture line’.
But, stay tuned.
I’ve eaten a lot of Tolmans. I estimate that over 75% have a prominent suture line.
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I have sometimes seen this on IdaRed.
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The apples that most all have them would be Tolman Sweet.
My Winter Banana apples do not have them.
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Ah! Got to looking…I have presumably an Arkansas Black that has the suture line…sort of russet like the stem cavity.
(If I can find someone that has a smart phone, maybe I’ll try to post it.)
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That is true. I had a Arkansas Black apple tree at one time and some had suture lines on them.
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That’s so interesting! I would think on the darker apples it would be less visible.
I think I have a quarter or half peck of apples coming my way for Thanksgiving. I’m definitely going to check them all for suture lines and will report back on which varieties I see them on!
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We sampled the following varieties in a tasting kit from a local orchard today and did not observe any suture lines:
Porter’s Perfection
Northwestern Greening
Black Oxford
Roxbury Russet
Winter Banana
Newtown Pippin
Haralson
Northern Spy
Calville Blanc d’Hiver
Winesap
Kerr
Golden Russet
Honeygold
Keepsake
Fireside
And for the curious — our top three (tastewise) were Porter’s Perfection, Kerr, and Black Oxford. Newtown Pippin and Golden Russet were runners up but getting quite soft. Northern Spy also earned high marks.
I still have 2 quarter pecks waiting in the fridge at home but the varieties weren’t labeled. There may be some overlap with the tasting kit varieties, so I’ll compare pics & tasting notes to ID if I find a suture line.
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