We've had tasting notes from all over and check-ins from orchardists and writers far more knowledgeable than I.
Comments appear on the full page for each post that has them. The five most recent comments (excluding my own) are noted in the sidebar as clickable links.
And, though it's a bit of a jumble (not sorted or threaded), the latest comments follow below, most-recent first.
You can jump to the full conversation by clicking the name of the commenter.
Special thanks to all my readers who share their thoughts.
said: “I seen these at the orchard but they weren’t ripe yet. Anything with Sweet16 in it is good. Gotta try it!”
said: “Where you from? Georgetown Kentucky orchard has these. Don’t know about shipping though.”
said: “These are my new favorite. I got a peck of these from a Upick orchard in Kentucky last September. You can definitely taste both Goldrush and Sweet16 in there for sure. Very complex, great texture and juice. I got no floral notes as you described, but did get mostly a citrus zing with that subtle Sweet16 thing yet balanced honeyed melon back end. These were gone within a week in our household. Wish we would’ve gotten a half bushel! Sweet Zinger will have you saying “sweet baby Jesus these are…”
said: “It would be great if this got commercialized. Leave it to the folks who came up with "Ludacrisp" to create a brand based on a rough nontraditional appearance!”
said: “I think this may be what MAIA calls “Scruffy” now.”
said: “I got some incredibly good ones last November (2023) from Fresh Thyme market. They were a solid ** on Adam’s scale. We bought a dozen and we’re gone in 4 days. Sadly, we checked numerous grocery stores in 2024 but nobody had any this year. Must have been a bad harvest this year. I’ll be on the hunt this fall hot and heavy for these bad boys… Once they are on the shelf you better get them all while you can because they go fast! Those things get the juices flowing and get you chasing after the…”
said: “Different genetic markers coming through, just like human siblings can favor each other but look different.”
said: “I have heard this about the redder Honeycrisp variants. Hard to know if poorer eating quality is really bred in the bone, or because they can be (and thus are) picked too soon, or another reason.”
said: “I love your commentary on the red sports and your essay about how the Red Delicious apple was destroyed. In mid-December, I stopped by an orchard in southern MN to pick up some Evercrisp apples (for my children, who like sweet apples) and Ludacrisp (for me and my wife, who prefer apples with a more balanced flavor), both of which are good winter storage apples. In the course of my conversation with the orchardist, he mentioned that he had just purchased a few trees of the new red sport of…”
said: “Is it possible to buy "Papierowka" little tree in the US online with shipping to Tennessee?”
said: “Mine are a little past prime but still good. Wonderful cherry note this year that I'd never noticed before.”
said: “I just pulled a GoldRush and a Blushing Golden out of storage. The Blushing G isn't wrinkled, while the GoldRush is -- but both taste great and are still firm. I need to check my Arkansas Blacks”
said: “My Blacks, and GoldRush, are really the only local apples I've got left that are any good right now (mid Feb.). A few other leftovers are still good for cooking, but not so much for eating out of hand.”
said: “I’m in CT. Got my AR Blacks as drops/gleanings from a distillery in western NY (Catskills) in late Nov. They’ve just been sitting in the cloth bags I gathered them in, mixed with some REALLY long-lasting yellow variety, in the back pantry (unheated)FINALLY getting to making applesauce. They are in very good condition! Taste wonderful. Some have deteriorated past use, but most are fine. Plan to plant one here in a few weeks! Really beautiful apples! Feb. 25 2025”
said: “Well I would love to try those Whitneys someday. Early, you say? That strikes me as niche of opportunity: I do not know of any decent early crabs.”
said: “Hi Adam, Great website! Reading about the flavors of apples in winter makes spring seem closer! Also, I have an apple you may wish to add to your taste tests. Whitney Crab Apple; had my first small crop last year and they are delicious; very small ( 4 bites?) crisp, fresh taste, sweet tart rather than tart, flavor rather like sparkling non alcoholic apple cider, and altogether delightful. Some say due to taste variants there are two types with the same name , one tasting a lot better? If so,…”
said: “> Do not neglect the stem well, which can trap dirt and pesticides.BTW, sometimes some bugs try to overwinter there (or on the opposite side, inside the calyx).”
said: “Hm well I hope that good things will come to those who wait!”
said: “Nine years and almost 3 months after my original comment, I can report that D'Arcy Spice is indeed a very slow grower. I got one from Trees of Antiquity last winter along with a bunch of other apples. Ashmead's Kernal flexed its triploid muscles and topped 7 feet, as did Esopus Spitzenburg. But D'Arcy barely made a foot of new growth from the original 3 foot whip. ”
said: “After years of drought, I found some Braeburns to taste! Country Aire Market in Port Angeles, WA had some organic Braeburns in the store Thursday, and I grabbed 6 or 7 well-reddened ones. The first I tried was a bit over, and soft, but the one I had today was as good as I've ever had. ”
said: “I thought I had commented on this apple before, but I don't see my comment, so maybe I didn't! Anyway, I am with Adam on this variety--nothing memorable the times I've tasted it. ”
said: “Thank you! I do not grow apples (or live in a your part of the world), so the information about growing Boskoop, and also about what they might be like in sunnier climes, is especially interesting and useful.”
said: “Planted this in Sebastopol California seven or eight years ago. Tree grew well and produced steady crops of quite large apples. Excellent snappy texture for crisp eating and each slice tasted as if it been soaked in lemonade. We don’t cook much so we never cooked with it but it was a hit as a fresh eating apple. Quite vigorous. One note, if you are in an area with warm damp summers, this cultivar came down with Apple scab fungus worse than any other tree we’ve got. I thought it was gonna kill…”
said: “Hi all,My two cents. I begin buying apple trees about 20 years ago from Raintree catalog. I thought I would try everything I had heard was interesting and among my choices was Belle. We put it in and it grew quite well and lo and behold in about five years or maybe six it was putting out a huge crop of giant crisp apples. The only way I can describe the flavor is they tasted like they were soaked in lemon juice or maybe lemonade because they’re pretty sweet. Wonderful crisp texture, and since I…”
said: “Very nice”
said: “That is. Let me quote some info from that cumbersome table...* Supposed offspring: Delicious (1880)* Supposed parent: Winesap (1804)* Number of Mendelian errors: 6 (low)* Orientation of the supposed parent-offspring relation: date-based”
said: “Sorry to demonstrate my ignorance, but it's not clear to me that the table shows that. It seems to be a part of a more complex finding than that.However, Winesap was likely present in Iowa in the lat 19th century.”
said: “P.S. Well, according to the same French study (2020; see table: S5)...Apparently, Hawkeye/Delicious is a child of Winesap.”
said: “Best tasting apple!”
said: “Muy interesante.”
said: “P.S.> Duchess of Oldenberg was imported from Russia...Chances are that at first it had been exported from Persia into Russia.”
said: “Love that this post is still active and the blog still running! I’ve recently also become interested the Etter apples. I picked up Wickson, Crimson Gold and Vixen this year from Trees of Antiquity. Will be planting all three this year to compare, but also have been enjoying the Cuyama “whatever they are” apples. Loving the dialogue! ”
said: “Sometimes, plastic net bags are also used (at least, here in Ukraine).”
said: “Just for reference, those cultivar names are really confusing:1) (this one): Duchess of Oldenburg (NFC) / Borowitsky & Charlamoff (GRIN);2) (unrelated one): Geheimrat Doktor Oldenburg (NFC) / Oldenburg (GRIN).”
said: “P.P.S. Those cultivar names are really confusing (no wonder someone mixed it up trying to describe Pinova's pedigree):1) (Pinova's ancestor): Geheimrat Doktor Oldenburg (NFC) / Oldenburg (GRIN);2) (unrelated one): Duchess of Oldenburg (NFC) / Borowitsky & Charlamoff (GRIN).”
said: “Science continues to revise what had been accepted lore.”
said: “To be more specific:Zabergaurenette = King of the Pippins x Dutch Mignonne”
said: “P.S. Here comes the reconstructed heritage (according to that French study (2020); see tables: S3, S6):Pinova = Golden Delicious x (Geheimrat Doktor Oldenburg x Cox's Orange Pippin) = Golden Delicious x ((Alexander x Ananas Reinette) x Cox's Orange Pippin)(Quite cool, indeed).”
said: “> Orange Pippin says this apple "tastes of nettles when straight from the tree," which raises the question: You eat nettles?Unfortunately, that text is no longer at the site; probably, the original review was written by some hardcore vegan (yes, the common nettle is really edible!).BTW, I've noticed the pictured apples look somewhat similar to russeted specimens of Belle de Boskoop. Curiously, they are both triploid and actually share some old cultivar called Dutch Mignonne as…”
said: “I wish there were more Etter varieties out here. I have become convinced that this Crimson Gold was the other one.”
said: “The proverbial apples-to-strawberries comparison!”
said: “Out here they are something I look for every August.”
said: “Gravenstein applesWell, we live in Sebastopol the absolute heart of Gravenstein worship. And I will say this, each to his own, but I just don’t get it. They’re OK for fresh eating right off the tree within a very narrow two week window. Outside of that they quickly turn Mushy and mealy. They aren’t particularly dramatic in their flavor. Kind of mild, medium sweetness medium acid. Not bad, but not truly memorable like some of the other apples in this blog. I think they’re popular in this area…”
said: “From my personal experience...* Sometimes there's even a taste difference between apples picked from different branches of the same tree... and that's how breeders find new sports :-)* No, the normal use of pesticide sprays doesn't affect fruit taste;by normal usage, I mean:1) recommended dosage that doesn't cause chemical burns;2) fruit should be harvested only after expiration of the recommended post-treatment waiting period.I do agree with Adam: the post-harvest handling,…”
said: “In case the embedded link did not work in the previous post: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/strawberrychat/episodes/Strawberry-Production-in-the-Northeast--Interview-with-Dr--Marvin-Pritts--Episode-17--May-1-2024-e2j6if1”
said: “Here's a link to a recent 'strawberry chat' with guest Marvin Pritts of Cornell. If you go to 43:20 of the presentation, Dr Pritts discusses quality differences in strawberries between different cultural programs - organic, conventional, and variations. I know it's not apples, but this scientific study reflects my experience with tree fruit.”
said: “Hi guys, I am looking for the Etter Crimson Gold & Greenmantle isn't selling any apple trees as they have retired from bench grafts of apples. Greenmantle did send me to Trees of Antiquity in Calif. who sells most of their Etter varieties. I have ordered & planted Katherin, Waltana, Amberoso, & Wickson. They were out of the Crimson Gold & I will try to re-order later this year. I will keep looking & crossing my fingers, Gary”
said: “You know, that is a really good question, probably deserving a full blog post.Apples of all kind are handled differently, from harvest to storage to retail point of sale.Any differences in taste and texture that I have experienced (but not tracked) are minor, and I assume they have to to with handling rather than use of chemicals.An organic apple is not likely to have an artificial wax applied. These waxes can have a bitter disagreeable taste. They also help to preserve the fruit quality, which…”
said: “Is there a difference (taste-wise) between Organic and Non-Organic apples?”
said: “The August debut of Williams P is one of its many virtues.”
said: “Unfortunately, in my area, Kidd's O.R. isn't easier to find than Cox's O.P.”
said: “Not a big fan of Gala (an ordinary sweet dessert apple), but apparently it's one of the most popular commercial apples grown here in Ukraine (including for export).* Ripe ones with red stripes on yellow background can be quite decent, aromatic ones.* There are some deep red sports out there, e.g. Gala Schniga SchniCo red. Somewhat more crisp and balanced for my taste.* Underripe, greenish ones are bland (with some astringency) and, IMHO, suitable only for cooking.”
said: “Well, my friends are tired of me raving about our gold rush Apple trees. But they’re always asking if we have any left over that we could give them when October rolls around. These are bar none the best apples we have grown out of all 27 varieties in our little hobby Orchard. And we have some famous apples to compete with them. Honeycrisp, Golden delicious, Hudson‘s Golden, Belle de Boskoop,Johnagold, Ashmead’s Kernal etc. If you give someone a slice of six or seven different apples, when they…”
said: “That is a challenging question. Perhaps Kidd's Orange Red? A little.”
said: “Hi thank you for this great blog. Apples will save us!Just a note on Williams pride. I bought this apple 10 or 11 years ago from Raintree nursery. We have a terrible problem out here in coastal Sonoma County with Apple scab, a fungus disease that comes with the fog. Purdue university developed a line of scab resistant apples. It was a noble and intense effort that lasted for years and they came up with I think nine or 10 varieties. Williams pride was their pick for an early disease-resistant…”
said: “I call 'em as I see 'em.On he other hand, Hawkeye.”
said: “AR Black is not for everyone.As it happens I am eating mine NOW and this is probably peak. Getting some fabulous cherry flavors I'd never seen before. Still so, so dense: not, as I said, for everyone.”
said: “I grew one of these near the coast in Sonoma County. The tree grew well and set good fruit every year but no one seemed to want to eat them.Beautiful, great decorations, but compared to the other apples in our Orchard with 22 varieties it was the least favorite for fresh eating. I have to admit we never tested its famous storing qualities, and that may improve the flavor. But I have to agree, after that first disappointing bite, the astringent dryness sets in and eating the rest of the apple is…”
said: “Deep red colors help masking the bruises and other defects, indeed.”
said: “Red-fleshed russet—what an audacious idea! Just picturing the visual contrast between peel and flesh.I actually prefer Golden to Roxbury, all else equal, but they are very close.”
said: “Love to see the russet appreciation! I'm trying to breed some red fleshed russets up here in Niagara Ontario.. tasted my first Roxbury Russet here this year and it might've been better than our golden russets .. but I'm growing out a bunch of russet seeds and making as many directed crosses moving forward as possible! LETS GROW!”
said: “I feel validated by this post. Every single time I’ve had one of these, it’s mushy, often brown, and somehow bitter.A cardboard apple indeed.”
said: “> some wonderful new flavors courtesy of its maternal grandparents, Cox's Orange Pippin and Duchess of OldenbergAFAIK, it descends from somewhat different "Oldenburg":Pinova = Clivia x Golden Delicious = (Geheimrat Dr. Oldenburg x Cox's Orange Pippin) x Golden Delicious(apparently, "(Privy Councillor) Dr." and "Duchess" are not the same)P.S. Can you suggest somewhat similar-tasting, but a little bit more acidic?(Actually, Pinova is one of the few…”
said: “IMHO, this article is a good example of how to handle the names of the sports:just add the original cultivar name (in parentheses) to the title.”
said: “If you get a reply, I count on you to mediate...what could go wrong? ”
said: “That is generous, second @anonymous. Alas, anonymous commenters won't be notified of replies, and it has gotten a lot harder to leave a comment in any other way!Here's how to comment from your Google account and get notifications.”
said: “If anonymous that wishes Simirenko sees this please reply and I'll make arrangements to send scion wood - I have it, altho I don't find it as compelling as this review. ”
said: “Thank you! I regret not providing a complete Marxist critique, but am pleased when people tell me they enjoy the blog.”
said: “Good morning!Alas, this isn't so much about the constraints capitalism inflicts on apple choice - though I do agree, and find it interesting - but I wanted to contribute some more far-reaching feedback. My partner and I recently found your blog whilst poking about the internet for apple information and reading through it together has been a real delight. Thanks for all your years of work, and the joy it's brought us!”
said: “As a last resort for professional plant breeders, some scions of Reinette Simirenko (PI 483257) can be ordered from USDA NPGS.”
said: “Thanks for valuable info!Could you please add something like "(pre-Red Delicious)" to the title of this article?(IMHO, it would be easier to find this article in the index...)”
said: “That's interesting.IMHO, somewhere in the current blog post, you need to put a hyperlink to that Hawkeye article, to increase visibility ;-)”
said: “> always thought that the name "Papierówka" was related to the thin "transparent" skinGood idea!Actually, I'm not a big fan of this apple and don't know for sure what kind of legendary paper resemblance is meant by that name :-)Nevertheless, apparently it's one of the most important early varieties of European heritage;according to a French study (2020):White Transparent = Aspa x Saint Germain”
said: “From my supermarket apple experience, the ones with a blush (faint pink, usually) are the best-tasting (balanced) ones.Evenly colored (plain green, but turning yellow after a while) GD's are rather bland, IMHO.”
said: “And that French study (2020) confirms Golden Delicious as offspring of Grimes Golden!”
said: “P.S.> BTW, it's an offspring of Esopus Spitzenburg.Confirmed by that French study (2020).”
said: “They originated in Canada not New England ”
said: “Zestar is really annoying in that it flowers ridiculously early in my yard. I still haven't had a chance to try a single apple, despite the other two grafts on the tree having fruited for 3 years. Zestar blooms its head off and then doesn't set fruit. I finally tried my hand at grafting (aiming at more early bloom varieties) to accommodate the rogue thing. Lo and behold, the grafts took, so here is hoping that maybe this year or next I'll finally get a chance to try it :-)Glad to…”
said: “I have always thought that the name "Papierówka" was related to the thin "transparent" skin ;-) But it is also true that they turn dry when overripe. An old favorite nonetheless!”
said: “Indeed, it's a quite curious modern British apple cultivar.Modern variety, but bearing classically styled russet apples.Bred by H. Ermen, who was a proponent of own-root fruit trees.”
said: “Something like that: Herefordshire Russet is a modern British variety (and somewhat rare one).”
said: “Which one?”
said: “Well it may be an outlier, but the Herefordshire Russet is pretty recent.”
said: “Reminds me of a kids book ”
said: “As far as I understand it, the modern apple breeders have used to perceive the russeting as a bug, not a feature...Hence, the new sports of heritage apples usually get redder and smoother.(Meanwhile, the pears look somewhat more conservative, for unknown reasons).”
said: “Yes exactly! Take some of the marketing mojo that came up with "Sweet Cheeks," (rebranded as "Wild Twist" for perhaps obvious reasons) and similar nonsense and pitch those suave, suede, sophisticated russets.”
said: “Every year when I go to the farmers markets, it's the russeted apples I'm looking for. Golden Russets are good, and my favorites are Ashmead's Kernel and Hudson Golden Gem. I like Bosc pears, too, so that comment was interesting. I suspect that what we need to get russeted apples into stores is a marketing organization for them.”
said: “I think this interesting take is largely true, but there are some exceptions. When I was growing up there were no clementines or pluots, for instance. For apples, there has recently been tiny Rockit and a slew of red-fleshed apples.Still most of the new varieties are a parade of minor variations from Fuji and Honeycrisp.”
said: “I had a friend who did a stint in management consulting. He worked in packaged foods. The big lesson, he told me, was that by far the easiest way to get a sales lift was novelty, thus the endless stream of weird flavors of Cheetos. And yet somehow that basic lesson doesn’t get applied to fruit.”
said: “I'll bet those 12 varieties are mostly pretty similar, too!”
said: “I was in the Okanagan for a few days this fall, right at the time when the farmers markets were shutting down for the season. They were selling organic apples, all varieties, for just about 50 cents/lb. I bought a few Aurora apples that were left in one of the bins. I was interested because of their deep, rich, yellow hue, and I had not heard of them before. I'm always trying new kinds of fruits and vegetables, and I'm glad I did. They were the best tasting apples that I have…”
said: “(And Simirenko is actually from Cherkasy region, but anyways...)”
said: “Huh, that's cool! (I'm from Vinnytsia).”
said: “Where in Ukraine? My father's family came from a town near Ivano-Frankivsk.”
said: “Completely unrelateds welcome! I like Pink Lady too, one of the better choices available in markets in the off season.”
said: “These things are inevitably mediated by taste. I think my readers understand, for instance, that what I call well balanced is going to be a good bit less sweet than a Honeycrisp.I suppose it would be possible to cook up some scientific metric of PH vs Brix, but that is beyond me and in any case I'm mostly about qualitative description and assessment.”
said: “Well that sounds great, all the best for your trees!”
said: “Granny is a very different apple.”
said: “And here are some nice apple photos from the fruitID project...* Nonpareil* Margil* Ribston Pippin* Rosemary Russet* Cox's Orange Pippin”
said: “> it certainly can be a bit acid-forward, fresh...But not like Granny Smith, I presume? :-)”
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