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This large-medium - sized apple is conical and distinctively ribbed: one jutting corner of my sample cleaves the air like the prow of a ship.
The peel is delicately colored with green streaks over a lighter green, but
some samples have a small fragile pink blush. There are light lenticels, and
my sample has flyspeck, sooty blotch, and a corona of russet flairing out fron
the stem well.
Simerenko's calyx is well open, indeed I can see the stamens clearly. There is only a very faint sweet aroma.
Inside is firm, dense white flesh, delicately tart and well-balanced. There's citrus, a little like tangerine, and spice, and a very satisfying crunch. Also a sweetly vegetable note.
This is a great apple, with a pleasing texture and harmonious flavors.
Given the color and other characteristics, some comparison to Granny Smith may be helpful. Compared to Granny, this Reinette is not as tart, has some different flavors, and is perhaps a bit crisper, but the quality of the flesh is similar.
Cosmonauts took Simirenko into space, lending popularity to the story that
this variety originated in the garden of Ukranian pomologist Leo Simirenko in
1895.
However, some sources report that this is the same apple as Wood's Greening, which was widely described forty years earlier in North America.
So, is this a cold-war propaganda rivalry taken into the orchard? Simirenko himself apparently left the door open to the possibility that his apple originated in the West.
I love the wonderful shape of this second sample, though it is not typical.
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The photo shows a bit of blush (which is faint anyway) along the bottom right side. (As usual, you can click the photo for a close-up).
Such stories of questionable provenance are not uncommon. Many "Russian" tomato varieties actually originated in the US as well. Heck, at one point, the Soviets even claimed Russia invented baseball!
ReplyDeleteAlso -
"Peal" is what a bell does.
"Peel" is what an apple has.
Thank you for pointing that out! I go cross-eyed proofing my own fingers sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI bought a Reinette Simirenko tree last year. I was kind of hoping for a Granny Smith substitute. Granny Smith is one of my favorites, if not my favorite, but probably wouldn't survive an Iowa winter. Thanks for the photos and description.
ReplyDeleteI've had a RS (W's G?) tree for around 20 years, bought from an nursery in the San Francisco Bay area. The tree bore early and generously and the apples are superb for eating and cooking. Rich, complex sweet-tart flavor; excellent keepers.
ReplyDelete@anon: This is a very classy apple. I'm sorry I couldn't get any this year.
DeleteLev, not Leo!
ReplyDeleteIf grown in Iowa Simirenko variety should be grafted on hardy stem builder as it tends to overbear and less hardy then Golden.
Izumitelnoe (about 145 DAF, bred in Rossosh) variety is Mac x Simirenko cross is a good option for colder/shorter growing season areas, lets say up to southern MN.
Hi Adam,
ReplyDeleteWe've enjoyed your blog for many years, in fact more than a few cultivars in our orchard were planted as a result of favorable comments you had made. (And so far, no disappointments.)
If you are having trouble getting ahold of Reinette Simirenko, let me know - we have two well producing trees (on G30 and S4) in Iowa, and would be happy to send you a box! Sort of payback for all the good information.
Jerry Fottral
Swisher, Iowa
Jerry, thank you. Those are great apples that I do not get too often.
DeleteI am flattered and pleased to know that this blog was a useful guide when planning your orchard. In fact, as far as I am concerned, that pays all.
But if you find yourselves with a bounty you would like to share this fall, please contact me at the email on my profile page.
I run across this article while looking for an apple variety I used to eat growing in the Crimea (a peninsular in the Black Sea, Russia) to plant it in my backyard in South Cal. I thought this apple was a Russian (Ukrainian) variety which also follows from the name. To add to the discussion, this apple variety (in my Russian childhood) is very different from the Granny Smith apples. Simirenko is much more sweeter, juicier and crunchier. The appearance is also different indeed.
ReplyDeleteThanks to the blog I now will look for Wood's Greening and may be get better chance finding a nursery selling it.
P.S. yes, there is an old Russian game that is very similar to baseball. And it existed well before the US.
> Russian (Ukrainian) variety which also follows from the name
DeleteGood point: Simirenko is indeed a Ukrainian surname.
> the Crimea (a peninsular in the Black Sea, Russia)
Occupied by Russia (but originally Ukrainian; BTW, that entity currently known as the "Russian Federation" has stolen many other things from another entity, called nowadays "Ukraine", including its old name)!
> an old Russian game that is very similar to baseball
If you mean lapta, then it's just one of many historical bat-and-ball games (and just another Russian chauvinist argument).
To add to my comment, I had no luck finding Wood's Greening anywhere even in the virtual space of the Internet, not to say in the nurseries. At the same time Simirenko is listed as an apple variety in this XIXth century Canadian catalog of 1899, and there is nothing like "Wood's Greening" in it.
ReplyDeletehttps://books.google.com/books?id=zA01SfTiAaEC&pg=PT197&lpg=PT197&dq=Reinette+Simirenko&source=bl&ots=-os3G5P3vd&sig=iCVHiAwazy8C8y85pQwaAl55cP8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiujuC0utDfAhXzwMQHHSgPBYY4HhDoATAFegQIAxAB#v=onepage&q=Reinette%20Simirenko&f=false
So now I feel as stupid as those people who believe Russians hacked their President election. I did believe for a moment Russians "hacked" this apple variety. Well, I think you guys have to get used that world existed long before you, and may even live along with you... There are other countries and there may exist apple varieties that are NOT American!
While I do not claim to know the truth of it, there is evidence to support the idea that this apple and Woods Greening may be the same. I cite some if that above.
DeleteOddly, the link to the "Canadian catalog of 1899" leads to a self-pubished e-book called Please God, Don't Call Me to Preach, by Clay Norris Wells, dated 2004. It appears to be a personal memoire.
Hi Adam,
ReplyDeleteI also as Irina tried to find Wood's Greening anywhere in the US or Canada. Unfortunately, no one ever heard about it.
I also grew up in Crimea. The climate of Crimea is unique, and probably one of the best on the planet for growing fruit trees. Varieties of apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, mulberries are countless there. It's because people always lived there, and the culture of growing fruit trees goes on from father to son, from generation to generation. There are a few cities in Crimea that are called eternal. I grew up in one of them - the city named Kerch. People live there continuously for more than 2500 years. In my childhood in almost every homestead tasty and unique fruit trees had been grown. They were never registered as varieties. They simply were grown as family's trees by many generations being renewed becoming old. Among the all wonderful apples that grow in Crimea Semirenko apple was my favored. I doubt very much that American people would miss such great variety if it ever existed in US.
Post above is mine. Strange, but I've posted it through my Google account. However, I see that is was posted from "Anonymous"
DeleteValeria
Hi Valeria! You make a good argument.
DeleteIf it's Wood Greening, why don't we hear more about Wood's Greening than we do?
It is a very fine apple.
Hello, This post was written a long while ago, has anyone been successful at finding this apple tree in the US or Canada? My mom is reminiscing about her childhood in Moldova, and is really wanting to find this tree to plan. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. Thank you
ReplyDelete