One of my favorites of the industrial apples that are available in the off-season, Pink Lady is named for her distinctive orange-fuchsia blush, which covers an otherwise green yellow. Light lenticels correspond with minor dimples in the surface of the fruit, which runs medium to large and has a soft sweet smell of pear, melon, and cider. The apple feels firm.
Pink Lady's flesh is on the coarse side of dense and a creamy light yellow, crisp (though not breaking) and juicy. Her flavor is sweet with some tartness and offers distinct cantaloupe and honeydew notes, with a hint of orange juice.
This variety has real character but with enough sweetness to put it in the range of popular taste.
"Pink Lady" is actually a brand name; Cripps Pink is the actual name for this variety, a cross of Golden Delicious and Lady Williams originating in Western Australia. Pink Lady is licensed and, in theory, quality controlled in ways that "ordinary" Cripps's are not (though Cripps is patented). In practice (and in violation of the license) they are all marketed as Pink Ladies, at least around here, because that is how they are known.
By these standards my fruit is no Lady, but recognizably the same fruit--perhaps a bit smaller. Cripps Pink is a fine name (and one that honors its breeder, John Cripps), but I'm using the name everyone knows. Sue me. In Britain Pink Lady is apparently marketed to women.
FYI, the Plant Patent for Cripp's Pink expires October of 2010.
ReplyDeleteCripp's Pink also has the unusual habit of easily sprouting seeds inside the core. To start your own seedling apple tree, find a Pink Lady apple that's been there a while (the skin will wrinkle when squeezed). Carefully open the core and most likely one or more of the seeds will already have a well-developed root starting. Plant this 1/4" deep and it will grow rapidly. But alas, it won't bear fruit for years and the apples from it won't be anything like the Pink Lady it came from and will most likely be terrible. But you can graft a good variety to this and have a large, long-lived apple tree.
I've grown to like one of the parents of Cripp's Pink, Lady Williams; it has a dense, sugary sweet-tart flesh and is red with a characteristic verticle white stripe on one side of the apple. It ripens mid-February here in Southern California, which means it is probably much too late an apple to ripen in northern locations.
Thank you, Kevin! For those who missed it, Kevin Hauser is a Southern California grower, nurseryman, and blogger. Read his informative and entertaining thoughts at Apples and Oranges.
ReplyDeleteHow hardy are Cripps Pink apple trees?
ReplyDeleteRe the "hardiness" of Cripps: These are warm-climate apples that won't even ripen reliably in Zone 5 or colder, so winter hardiness is more of a theoretical concern than anything else. As for other dimensions of hardy, I'm just not sure.
ReplyDeleteI am an eater not a grower, so you should probably consult with a nursery or local agricultural extension service. Or ask Kevin Hauser, in the above comments. (I'm flattered that you ask, though!)
It has been a long time since I had one of these, so I bought a few yesterday. The apples are large and the flesh is dense. The peel is on the thick side also and I found them difficult to bite into. The flavor is sweet with a little tart and a nice amount of juice. The flavor is light with something of a light melon or tropical flavor but it is very faint if at all. I am not a fan of these simply because of the dense flesh of them making it harder to enjoy for me personally. Still better than a Red Delish!
ReplyDeleteMatt, what apples do you like in the off-season?
DeleteI ask because although Pink Lady is dense, she is not as hard as many of the durable year-round apples for sale this time of year.
Hardness, like almost everything else, seems to vary depending on storage and handling conditions, but generally I think of Pink Lady as having a little give in her bite compared to most of the other supermarket varieties.
So do you eat apples this time of year and of so what?
I agree that it could just be that the Cripps I got were more dense than usual. Here in Wisconsin I like Melrose for cooking and Honeycrisp for eating through January. February starts the grocery store apples and among them I do no like Honeycrisp since I am spoiled with fresh off the tree H.C's. I pass over the Granny Smith (too tart), the Red Delish (no explanation needed) and the Golden Delish (bland). We have Red Delish off the tree here and they aren't much better. We also get Honeygold off the tree and that spoils me when coming around to a Golden later in the stores. I am new to eating apples this time of year but my favorites the last few years have been Ida Red, Opal, Jazz this year (last year not so much), Sonya is okay, Mcintosh are nice (I get tired of firm sweet apples all the time too) and Fuji. Lady Alice can be good (liked em better last year), didn't care much for the Junami and I would like to try a Cameo again as I remember liking them in the past. Gala's are ok too. The balanced flavor of the Pink Lady was decent but again the tooth of the apple turned me off on the samples I have.
ReplyDeletei have a pink lady apple tree from the apple but im in the uk will it ever have apples
ReplyDeleteAre Pinks clearly for eating as they are? How do they hold up in cooking?
ReplyDeleteI noticed they are very hard to peel and tough to slice. Loved the flavor, but a bit chewy.
These are very good for eating out of hand and are marketed as such.
DeleteLike so many mass-market varieties they are quite dense, though perhaps not as hard as some.
Not everyone likes that. (For more on texture, see here.)
I don't bake much, so I can't really evaluate these as cooking apples. It strikes me that they might make a fine-flavored apple sauce.
If you try them in a pie or tart, let us know how they fare!