The appearance of this apple, subdued yellow-green mottled by russet, with a splash of translucent red blush, is not promising.Belle de Boskoop is a large medium-sized apple with a slight amount of ribbing and a sweet cider aroma.
Light lenticels are not obvious except where russeted over.
Her flesh is a bit yielding, light yellow and halfway between fine and coarse-grained. The flavors are generally pleasant, for there is a decent amount of tartness to balance the pure cane-sugar sweetness.
However, despite a hint of pear, something almost savory, and some lively spicy notes, this apple never really comes together for me. (But, here's another opinion.) I wonder if cooking, or fermentation, unlocks this apple.
This Dutch variety (Boskoop is about 20 miles north of Rotterdam) originated around the middle of the 19th Century. Apples of New York did not like it much, though Yepson is a bit kinder.
Belle's flesh oxidizes very quickly.
My samples looks quite different. Mine is faintly complete russet with reddish hues in the background. No yellow background either. Does yours have the 3 pronounced ribs on it? Basically like how northern spy has 5 ribs this has 3...ill take a picture of mine tomorrow. There are different modern sports of boskoop, Im positive mine is pure...I will be in town (boston) this week...maybe we can have lunch? If not I still have to send you some heritage Maine apples and some other oddities at a later date once I visit a friend who has them. He will be moreso inclined to give me fruit once he knows it will be bogged about!
ReplyDeleteI tasted BdB for the first time today. In looks, much like your sample. In flavors: sweet, tart, a bit of astringency, a hint of cinnamon or allspice, with flesh consistency similar to your description. I thought it would be grand in pie, if I had more than one on hand. A NAFEX member, Richard Ossolinsky, who keeps an orchard near the shores of Maine, says some years his BdB have definite cinnamon taste. Seems to be dependent upon conditions. The apple I tried was grown north of Spokane, WA, (which tells me I could grow it in my back yard, if room can be found) and this year was odd. Spring arrived about 4 weeks later than ever, but plenty of hot days in August seem to have compensated.
ReplyDelete@Nutting: I felt that this apple had some similar eating qualities to those of Calville Blanche d'Hiver, which is an extraordinary baking apple.
ReplyDeleteIt's certainly a stretch to judge baking apples by their uncooked tastes and textures, but tempting in this case.
@Hawk, re ribbing: Not pronounced, and not 3 big lobes or ribs either. But I only had a few samples from which to choose. I'm sure these things vary.
(Now Calville--there's a ribbed apple.)