Chandler *

This heritage apple is large, ribbed, and lumpy. A streaky red blush mostly covers bright green, and tiny light lenticels are not prominent.

Chandler unbroken has a pleasant cider aroma and a shiny waxy peel.
Its coarse butter-yellow flesh is juicy and crisp, with just a little give.

The sweet-tart balance is right in the zone to showcase flavors of sweet cider alongside something sharper that I will describe, for lack of a better, as pineapple, though that really isn't right.

There is also a little savory quality in the mix and some faint spice, perhaps ginger and pepper.

Chandler fits in somewhere between the vinous McIntosh family and the savory Winesap. It has some old-fashioned-apple qualities and is worth trying if you ever find it. Its texture is also appealing.

Apples of New York (Beech 2:31) traces Chandler to Connecticut in the first half of the 19th century. It has a raft of Chandler-related names: General Chandler, Chandler's Red, Late Chandler, and so forth.

Beach described Chandler as "but little cultivated" when he wrote in 1905; it is probably even harder to find today.