How did you like the Hudson’s Golden Gem apple? I have a tree in my orchard. I have some apple on it this year and I just tasted it last night. I was wondering what your opinion of it was.
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I’m glad to hear that Smokehouse fared so well. I was already planning to graft two trees to Smokehouse in the spring, but I’d never heard of it faring that well in any taste test. I hope it does as well down here as it does up there.
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John, could you give an idea of how you do your samples. Do you cut slices ahead of time, or as people ask for them? Any suggestions for others who might want to do a small scale tasting. I’m thinking it might be fun at our small Farmers Market. Though i don’t yet have many apples to sell a couple vendors have some and we could combine forces. Sue
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Twice Smokehouse has done very well. Another time not so well.
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We had so many yellowjackets hanging around sample apple slices at the farmers market, so for the apple taste test at the Apple Festival, we brought a plastic cake carrier with a clear lid. We kept the cut up apples under cover except when a tasting was going on. We set up the taste test on a 6’ long fold-up table at the end closest to foot traffic. Our apples for sale occupied the rest of the table. Nine apples fit around in a circle of the cake carrier, and I printed out a label for each variety. It matched the varieties we had brought to sell. The labels included the apple’s name, original location and date of discovery or introduction. I set the labels around the perimeter. I had no idea how popular it might be, so I printed out 30 sheets with test grid. Astute eyes will notice I did a copy and paste from Macoun to Jonagold and did not correct the date. I set out two pens, and that was enough. We brought toothpicks, but ended not using them. Since some varieties brown more quickly than others and since space was tight, I didn’t cut slices in advance. Signs taped to the EZ-Up advertised the taste test, and if someone paused by our booth, I invited them to participate. If they did, I took off cake cover, and going around the circle in alphabetical order, I cut slices and handed them out using my pocket knife – perhaps not the most hygienic technique, but no one complained, not even the organizer from Cooperative Extension. As the participants tasted the apples, I told them the story of the apple, but in a way not to influence the result. A few wanted a second slice, and I was happy to oblige. I used up two or three apples per variety, except the Chestnut Crab. It required five.
When we’ve done the taste tests during our cider pressing gatherings at home, we dedicate the entire 6’ folding table to the sampling and survey. I place each variety on its own paper plate, and I do cut slices in advance and have no cover. I haven’t worry about the yellowjackets. I set out some sheets, pens, and knives. Since I am often doing something else, friends have to cut their own apples and fill out the survey at their leisure. If I’m free, or if I see there are some kids around, I will cut slices as needed and talk about the apples.
Hope this helps.
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We didn’t have many Hudson’s Golden Gems on our tree this year – not enough to bring to market. Tasted one right off the tree. Quite intense and complex, not yet very sweet. Showed great promise, but texture was still hard. We will try again after it has had time to mellow.
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I just picked a few of mine that came off with I pulled on them. It is a softer fleshed apple that I thought it would be with all the russet of the skin. It has a good flavor. It is still early though and this is the first year I had any fruit on it. It was not not too sweet but had a good apple flavor. More apple taste than many of the newer variety of apples out in the market now.
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In 2018, we had our last taste test on October 16. Apple varieties finished in this order:
Northern Spy
Connell Red
Ashmead’s
Stayman
Smokehouse
Briggs Auburn
Wassail (a wild apple tree growing on our property)
Westfield Seek-No-Further
Baldwin
Haralson
It was too early to include Calville Blanc, Winesap, Idared, and Black Twig.
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Thank you for posting that information.
Very interesting list. I have only tasted 3 of the 10 on the list
I really need to get to NY Apple country this fall so I can try lots more.
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Northern Spy is one of my favorite apples of all. I had three apples off mine last year and this year I have about 18 or so. I just picked a couple today and they are delicious. Some are bright red, on the outer edge of the tree, and some are more pale colored ,on the inner part of the tree.
I had been eyeing the Smokehouse as one to plant. I just had not heard of too many reviews of it from people that actually have one.
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Wide spread frost predicted in central New York State between Friday night and Saturday morning.
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Earliest frosts in many many decades arrived last Sunday & Monday nights (30 & 29°). Am wondering how that influences Connell Red. It’s the only apple tree with fruit in my lot. I had thought to strip the tree in 5 more days. Maybe it would be worthwhile to leave half of the 14 remaining on it until Halloween to see how they compare. This is its first crop. I find them pleasantly sweet - had feared they would be cloying - chewy, with only moderate juice, averaging big and less wax than expected so far.
While we’re at it, those Bardsey that fell late in August do not sweeten at all. The seeds develop, but not the taste. All that were picked ripe are really fine.
I slow-baked 20 small Empire for a potluck this evening. My house smells so good!
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No cider pressing party this year, so no apple taste test, but on a smaller scale we did have a taste test of apples baked into apple crisps. Only my wife and I participated. Toppings were all the same for three single variety crisps. Apples themselves were not mixed with sugar or spices.
Northern Spy got top marks from us both for full flavor and excellent texture, with the slices holding their shape.
Tompkins King next. Sweeter, but not as full flavor. Had a softer texture than Spy, but not mushy, so quite good.
Neither my wife nor I especially cared for Bramley’s Seedling. Flavor tangy, but pleasant enough, although not remarkable. Texture was mushy like that of apple sauce – I guess the Brits like it that way, but we weren’t fans.
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Bramley’s are mostly ( if not always) used for cooking. They turn to a mush when cooked. That is the way the Brit’s love their cooked apples to be. Not interested in mushy cooked apples.
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This year I picked HGG just right. Still intense and complex, but powerfully sweet without being cloying. And they had a great crunch. This was the apple we were hoping for.
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Yes I think the American nurseries need to more than just copy/paste in the English descriptions. Americans think of mushy when cooked apples as sauce apples.
One thing they are really good for though is do 50-50 a firm apple and a mushy one. Some of my best apple pies/crumbles have been with a combo like that.
Bramley didn’t grow well for me but the next most popular English cooker is probably Blenheim Orange. It is one of my favorites.
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After a year hiatus, we invited friends over to press cider, tour our orchard, and participate in an apple tasting with 12 different apples. We could easily have added another dozen, but 12 seems a good number for people to test and not be overwhelmed. It matched the number who completed the taste test sheet. Other friends sampled the apples but chose not to write anything down.
As in previous years, we asked people to do three things. 1) rate each apple from 1 to 10. 2) rank in order their top three favorite apples. 3) offer comments about each apple.
These were the apples we included:
Connell Red
Dyer (first year in the lineup)
Grimes Golden
Jonagold
Ladies Sweeting (also new this year)
Macoun
Mother
Northern Spy
Path’s End*
Rambo
Smokehouse
Tolman Sweet (new to the line-up, too)
*Path’s End was also added to the list this year. The apples came from a tree growing on the edge of our woods near where a path comes out into a hayfield. The apples are similar to Rhode Island Greenings, but they have quite variable amounts of red blush, and on some apples the red shades are quite extensive. We don’t know if it was planted as part of an old orchard or is a seedling, but a nearby tree produces very similar apples.
Here are the results.
RATING
No variety overwhelmed the competition. Five varieties averaged a score of 7 or above out of 10.
The highest rated was Grimes Golden with 7.8.
In second with 7.5 was Tolman Sweeting.
Northern Spy was next with 7.4
Dyer and Connell Red both finished at 7.0.
The lowest rated was Ladies Sweeting. Its average score was only 4.1.
RANKING
In addition to rating apples, we asked participants to choose their favorites.
Every variety received at least one vote for First, Second, or Third. The overall winner in my weighted ranking was Connell Red, followed by Grimes and Northern Spy, followed by Dyer and Tolman.
These were a few of our favorite comments, both positive and negative.
Connell Red: Nice all around; starts great, gets sour
Dyer: robust flavor, sweet but much more
Grimes: sweet, but not too; tastes like I imagine fine perfume would taste
Jonagold: sweeter on second bite
Ladies Sweeting: very juicy; dry; off flavor; more like “mysterious maiden”
Macoun: mellow; yum!
Mother: very mild; has a rich, perfumy taste
Northern Spy: lovely crunch
Path’s End: pleasingly tart
Smokehouse: like ginger ale, bubbly and sweet
Tolman: refreshing; weak taste, but good; I could eat it everyday
Photo was taken that evening after everyone had gone home.
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Sounds like Connell Red is a sport of Fireside. I wonder if it was discovered in Connell, Washington, a town in which I once lived.
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The story I heard was that an apple grower named Tom Connell found solid red apples growing on a Fireside tree in his family’s Wisconsin orchard.
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Glad you were able to do the tasting again. Great info.
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