Snowsweet again

I had a chance to resample this variety from the University of Minnesota, which has developed so many great cold-hearty apples.

The original review (one star) is here. I found a slightly different flavor profile the second time around. I think this batch may be a little fresher off the tree.

These Snow Sweets are medium to large, oblate with light ribbing.

A red blush mostly covers a yellow-green peel. However the red is always a little translucent, and the green in the background lends a bronze brown cast.

There's a light dusty bloom, and close inspection shows many light lenticels that are not otherwise obvious. All in all, the physical beauty of this apple is subtle.

A short slender stem barely clears the top of the apple, and on the bottom the calyx is closed.

Crisp white flesh, fine grained, suggests McIntosh, but sweeter and much less tart. Still it is balanced enough to showcase a little vinousness, spice, cane sugar, and some appealing coconut.

The last lends a luscious quality to this apple's palette of flavors. In my original review I characterized that as "something lush...not quite caramel;" in a bit of a flight of a flight of fancy UMinn describes it as "almost buttery."

(Notice how we apple describers sometimes hedge our bets with phrases like "not quite" and "almost!")

The crunch is breaking, if slightly tender, and very good. Like many apples, Snowsweet is naturally slow to oxidize.

Snowsweet is the trademark for Wildung, a Connell Red x Sharon cross. Both of the parent apples have McIntosh parents, accounting for the Mac-like qualities.

I like to retry apples from time to time. It reminds me of how much my impressions can be influenced by transient factors such as freshness or when picked or how handled.

All my reviews are based on experience, but some record of the natural variation in fruit qualities is, I hope, an antidote to any tendency to pronounce, to imply authority beyond that experience.

For yet a third bite of this apple, see this review from The Fruit Gardener.