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A chance seedling from Washington State, Cameo is large and tapered with an attractive variegated red blush over yellow.
The many large light lenticels add to the effect, which almost seems to be in motion, flickering across all the shades from yellow to orange to red.
Even after considerable storage, the unbroken apple is firm and quite fragrant, with tropical-fruit notes.
The flesh is a mellow yellow, on the coarse side and crisp. (My sample is a bit tender.) Despite the promise of its aroma the flavor is mild, sweet with a little tempering tartness.
There is a fleeting hint of pear and something creamy, like vanilla caramel.
Wikipedia speculates that Cameo may be a Red Delicious - Golden Delicious cross, which would certainly be consistent with its appearance and taste.
Update: The Cameo hype on this
poorly-designed now-defuncts-but-archived industry web
page
is pure
now only about 85% blather. (They
rewrote it.)
Further Update: This variety was patented as Caudle and originally marketed as Carousel.
Ooh, yum. As a kid the Golden Delicious was far and away my favorite apple. This sound really delicious. (weak pun not exactly intended, but certainly noted and made anyway.)
ReplyDeleteThey're okay, though personally I like your favorite (Ambrosia--a similar cross) better.
ReplyDeleteWorth a tumble, though, especially this time of year.
My local QFC has Cameos at the moment. So I bought and ate one and liked it. Like Adam, I do prefer the Ambrosia, but only slightly. The flavor of the Cameo was much like the Ambrosias I'm eating at the moment, nicely sweet with a jasmine like floral after...taste? aroma? nose? At any rate, very nice taste. The flesh was almost crisper than I like, but not quite.
ReplyDeleteI picked up some organic Cameos this weekend at the grocery store. One in particular that I picked was deeper in color - I just tried that sample. The bite was not crisp but firm with enough juice for my liking. I was impressed with the strength of the aromatics in this apple. It had a really strong taste of violets. It was sweet and enjoyable to the end. The violet flavor lasted and lingered after I finished the apple. It has been a long time since I have tried a Cameo and this was by far the best example I have had to date!
ReplyDeleteRonni, I'd check with local orchards and ask growers at farmers market where you live.
ReplyDeleteSome varieties, such as King Luscious, can get pretty big, but size is also a function of how they are grown.