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This large glossy apple is apparently a bit fragile, showing many small dings and bruises despite being well packed for its trip from Minnesota.
Somewhat lopsided, Regent is round and a little conical. You really have to peer at it to find any ribbing at all.
Tan lenticels, mostly small, speckle the streaky red blush, which covers a glossy peel that runs from green yellow to a light spring green.
The apple has a faint sweet aroma. Regent's appearance makes me think of the Mac family and so I am hoping for a nice snappy crunch.
Biting in: Not bad! (But not a Honeycrisp-grade crunch either.) The crisp yellow flesh, more fine-grained than otherwise, does not shatter in your mouth but makes a nice retort, and is pretty juicy too.
There’s a hit of B-vitamin savory that is especially obvious on the first bite, and the peel is quite chewy and persists until the end, not in a good way.
In between is a well balanced bundle of fruity flavors: hints of plums and cherries, a bit of melon and, faintly, pineapple, and a nod towards floral. Sometimes the B-vitamins crop up mid bite, sometimes not.
Regent's flavors hang together well. The overall effect is well-balanced and easy to eat, with a laid-back crunch.
The University of Minnesota introduced Regent, a Red Duchess x Red Delicious cross, in the 1960s. It is rated as cold-hardy up to Zone 7.
B-vitamin savory? Oh boy. That one a stretch. Vanilla. Check. I get it. Melon. Im there. Honey. Of course, falling in line.
ReplyDeleteBut vitamin B? My taste buds needs some schooling :)
Brad
Wow! Fantastic Blog. So glad I found you :) Just moved to a new province and looking around for local orchards. Missing the well known ones we left behind, and my favourite seller of Cox's Orange Pippin. I will definitely be looking here when confronted with strange and new to me varieties. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteKate,thank you! It is always hard to find a good source for Coxs, so I invite you to post a comment under that or other apple once you locate a source in your new home.
DeleteI once lived in Minnesota and worked at a nursery there that produced fruit trees. While Regent was developed by U of MN it is not real popular there. The issue is it is only suited for growing in SE MN due to hardiness issues as one parent is Delicious. I was not so impressed for fresh eating (just ok) but this variety is perhaps the BEST pie apple. Super distinct flavor when used in a pie.
ReplyDeleteIn SE WI where I now live it grows fine and yields a heavy crop every year.
It is actually a cross between haralson and mcintosh
ReplyDelete@Anon, would that be per the gene analysis by Luby et al. earlier this year?
DeleteGene sequencing is upending many ideas about apple ancestry—sometimes contradicting the records of the institution that bred them!
Yes. I have 12 trees mostly univ. of MN varieties, and found that research article very interesting, showing you never know what you might get. I have even started some seedlings to see what I might luck into, being inspired by skillcult videos.
DeleteRegarding Regent, it has become my favorite apple i grow because of its flavor, long storage, annual bearing. And its balanced yet unique flavor does not diminish or change in storage like many other apples do. One weakness is some wet years it can get scab.
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