Gold Rush: king of the keepers

Half a year after picking, the Gold Rush apple is a fabulous, fabulous keeper.

I liked this apple to begin with, but confess I really did not know what to make of claims like this one from a grower:

We grow and sell hundreds of bushels of Goldrush every year directly to consumers who proudly show us samples of Goldrush they picked at our orchard the year before. (Emphasis added.)

Well, now I am a believer. I've just had one of these gems that had been waiting patently under no special conditions in a bag in my refrigerator. It was crisp, richly flavored, complex, balanced, and even a little spicy after 6 months.

Arkansas Black and Winter Banana are two hard-core winter apples, or keepers, that fare well over time. They are eatable in April but really peak in January or February.

The fruit in your supermarket also dates from last fall, but has been stored under high-tech controlled conditions, perhaps with a chemical aging inhibitor. And be honest: By April many of those apples are tired and old.

I know of no other variety that eats as good as Gold Rush after so much time using standard household storage.

Gold Rush is also extraordinarily welcome in April, when even the supermarket varieties are fading and the recent harvest from New Zealand and Chile has yet to reach New England. This apple knocks the socks off of anything else you can get right now.

I just wish I had a bag of them.

Here's my original review of Gold Rush and a later comparative assessment of its keeping qualities.

Update: Just finished my last of these on June 8. Past peak but still phenomenally good. Not at all mealy; a little rubbery though still crisp.