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Today's variety, Duchess of Oldenburg, runs medium-sized with a pinkish blush in pronounced streaks over yellow green.
The apples are ribbed and wear many green lenticels a little darker than the skin. My tasting sample has a little russet in the stem well, and her calyx is closed.
The Duchess is renowned as a cooking apple, especially if picked a little early (as I suspect mine may have been).
But what would you have me do? Suppose I did cook some into a pie (or a pancake). Yummy for me, but there would be no frame of reference to compare these apples with the other sixty-odd varieties I've reviewed.
So I'm just going to stick to my old habits and eat this one raw.
Munch we must
The sweet-tart balance falls, for once, on the tart side. This might not please some, but I find it refreshing.
There is also a hint of lime and a little acid. (Since these are not unusual notes in an apple that is picked a little early, I can't know if they are truly characteristic.) I also got a flash of vanilla.
I am sure the tartness shines in cooking.
Duchess of Oldenberg was imported from Russia "about 1835." (There's a nice description at Vintage Virginia Apples, though Virginia seems to have gotten the dates wrong.)
Like many summer varieties, Her Grace oxidizes quickly.
We have one Duchess tree at Backyard Orchard. It's always the first apple to ripen, and it's tart and mealy as hell. Definitely a cooking apple.
ReplyDeleteThat's what they say! Nathan also blogs about his orchard.
ReplyDeleteSince you were brave enough to try D/O raw, may I suggest you look this August for Nutting Bumpus? It is both my fruit comment moniker & a seedling of D/O, looking & acting much like its seed parent with greater sweetness (or less acid). I grafted Nutting Bumpus this year for my yard & will report in the fullness of time about it.
ReplyDeleteWell, Nutting Bumpus, I am not afraid to try Nutting Bumpus! The trick will be to find some.
DeleteFYI "Nutting Bumpus" was DNA tested in 2019 and proven to be identical to Duchess of Oldenburg and not a separate variety.
ReplyDeleteWould you have a link or cite you could share?
DeleteWestern WI: Hi Adam, here is a link to a non-scientific write-up of the study. https://www.mofga.org/resources/maine-heritage-orchard/apple-dna-testing-2/ From what I can see the NB in THEIR COLLECTION was the same as D of O, ("A specimen in the collection that was thought to be Nutting Bumpus, an Aroostook County variety, turned out to be Duchess of Oldenburg (pictured here), an old variety of Russian origin" picture caption)but that is very different from saying that in general, they are the same. I think you'd need to compare a bunch of different trees of each. If they are "exactly similar" in one orchard, then it might just be that that orchard/collection got them mixed up. . .
DeleteIt's also not clear if the 2019 testing originally cited by "Unknown" refers to the MOGFA test, although it very well might (as the article notes, MOFGA began testing in 2019).
DeleteThere are certainly examples of samples getting confused, even at places like Cornell.
I've enjoyed only one D/O so far: breaking flesh quite like Honeycrisp (before I knew there was a connection), juicy and tart. Light flavor. Maybe I can get a boxful next summer now that I've located a source within driving distance. In the meantime, I will try again to graft Nutting Bumpus, which is reputed across the country as a bit sweeter & one zone less hardy than D/O.
ReplyDeleteThat is interesting, NB. I don't think I would seek this one out for eating out of hand, but there is nothing wrong or nasty about the Duchess either.
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