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My Hauer Pippin is, unfortunately, almost certainly too early, but with that warning I shall share this placeholder against the day when I have a peak sample to taste.
Mine is an oblate apple, a bit bulgy and closer to medium-sized than to large. Ribbing is only evident in faint bumps at the base.
Hauer's blush is a dull wash of red splashed across a saturated spring green. Lenticels are light on the blush and largely dark, probably with russet, elsewhere. There is a ragged circle of russet in and around the stem well.
This apple feels quite firm. There is no aroma, and the calyx gapes.Inside hard dense fine-grained flesh is white tinted green, suggesting immaturity. Hauer's flavors are very mild, however, sweet with hints of white table grapes, cucumber, and squash. Its flesh oxidizes very rapidly.
I am clearly not seeing Hauer Pippin at its best, but while I cannot recommend its pre-ripe state the apple is pleasant enough and shows promise. I should certainly like to revisit a mature example some day.
Various sources call Hauer a "very late" apple that "needs such a crazy long growing season" that "we may never properly ripen" it.
The Santa Cruz (Cal.) Sentinel tells the story of how Peter Hauer found this variety, nicknamed the "Christmas Apple," by the side of the road in neighboring Apatos in the late 1890s.
(Aleta Watson tells a different story: that Hauer bred the apple and called it "Moonglow." Here's another version of that story.)
Fittingly my HP grew at an orchard at the University of California Santa Cruz. It was picked, for the record, not around Christmas but in late September.
We happened across these Pippins at the Santa Cruz farmer's market last week (in February), sold by an organic orchard. I immediately noted how quickly the flesh oxidized. The flavor was simply outstanding, generally sweet but well balanced. The worker told us these were George Washington's favorite apple. That may not be true (methinks someone is confusing these with the Newtown Pippin?) but they are certainly one of mine.
ReplyDeleteLucky you! I am not surprised that later examples of this apple are better than the one I tried.
DeleteAs for George W, no, he was a good hundred years ahead of Hauer's time.
I would like to hear from anyone who has grown and fruited Hauer Pippin in climate zone 7. I did many bench grafts of HP after learning about the apple in a book by a famous apple authority who called it a late fall apple. That's like saying New Year's Eve comes in late fall.
ReplyDeleteI've never had one that was remotely ready to eat. Just not in the right place at the right time.
DeleteIn Santa Cruz CA, we had a small Hauer Pippin tree, and could pick the fruit from Oct on. In February I would find them on the ground, very yellow, wet from rain. They still tasted great, and in fact seemed to get sweeter the later they were picked.
ReplyDeleteNow in Western WA, we have planted another Hauer Pippin. Here it doesn't ripen as early, and we have not yet been able to get it as sweet. This year I'm going to let some hang on the tree as late as possible, until the birds start sampling the fruits. But it is a prolific annual bearer, has a dense skin that seems to deter the horrible apple maggot and even the codling moth, doesn't get much if any scab, and the fruit keeps well in our garage until March. So maybe not one of the aromatic flavorful apples here, but one of our staples through winter and into spring. It cooks beautifully, especially with cinnamon and a bit of lemon or apple cider added.
@FC, thanks for this story! Seems like even in Santa Cruz they are an awfully late fruit.
DeleteWhere are you located? I just grafted some of these Hauer sticks.
Delete@Gil: FCdaisy from Santa Cruz (where I got mine). I am in Massachusetts.
DeleteWe have a Hauer Pippin in Pullman, WA (eastern part of state, 2400' elevation) and have just done a first pick of a roughly 8-10-yr-old tree. This is its largest harvest yet. Despite my best efforts with dormant oil spray there is a lot of coddling moth damage; maybe one-third of the apples escaped. As of early November they are not quite ripe; we'll leave most of the fruit for a later picking. Right now they are very firm and crisp and tend to be small. We need to be more thorough on mid-season thinning. Interesting apple and I'm have to have it in the back yard.
ReplyDeleteI may never taste a really ripe Hauer.
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