Barnack Beauty *

These run medium to large, round, unribbed, and with a modest conical taper. They are just a little flattened at the poles.

The stem well is shallow and the larger apple has a "Roman nose," a fold that juts like a little causeway into the moat around the stem.

There manages to be a tiny crown of russet about the top too, brown copper.

The orange-red blush is streaky and subdued, but covers the similarly subdued green peel nearly everywhere to some extent. Barnack has many small light lenticels that are not at all obvious against this background.

In hand, the Beauty is a nice firm compact apple with a wide-open calyx and the faint scent of cut grass.

The Beauty is firm but yielding, substantial but with a subdued crunch. The flesh is fine-grained and light yellow with some green highlights.

The apple is tart, though there is also sugar in good measure. Flavors include sweet grass and a little grain, spiciness, and generic citrus. The finish is clean and mildly astringent.

Barnack Beauty originated in Barnack, England, about 1840 and is esteemed as a cooking apple.

Salt Spring praises this variety extravagantly. From the description, however, I wonder if they do not actually have Barnack Orange, Beauty's offspring (by Cox's Orange Pippin).