Tuesday, November 15, 2016

America Golden Pippin

I got two of these heritage apples while at Cider Days. But it's not completely clear what that heritage is, since there are more than one variety bearing the name American Golden Pippin.

One of my apples is well colored, with a streaky blush covering some 80% of the spring green peel.

The blush includes a particularly dark and saturated crimson spot about the size of the quarter. There's a bit of flyspeck and other defects.

My other sample is mostly green, marked with faint pink streaks and a translucent pink patch on the sunward side.

Small lenticels appear dark green on the unblushed region and tan in parts of the blush, while in other parts they are hard to see at all. There is a swarm of tiny lenticels around the base of the apple.

Both samples are oblate, large medium, and slightly lobed. The calyx is open and the shine is semi-gloss and satin.

The American Golden Pippin has fine-grained off-white flesh, pleasant but not very crisp or juicy, bearing fine old-fashioned flavors. A little honey, vanilla, and toasted grain marries lychee and a floral note. The grassy peel is chewy.

This pippin would be excellent were the texture better, and of course that texture may be a consequence of sampling this apple in November rather than early October.

Apple books describe several American Golden Pippins, none of them perfect matches to mine, though this description from the New England Apple Association comes close.




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