Get out your tiny violins.
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My sole source for Williams Pride, one of my favorite August apples, has none
this year and will be pulling the trees down to grow something else.
The apples are susceptible to bitter pit and just too ornery to grow.
Williams Pride, a Co-op apple, brings rich cidery late-season flavors in the middle of August. It is quite handsome too, with a deep crimson blush, and has excellent texture.There are at two other orchards I know of within 50 miles that at least used to grow this variety, so don't shed too many tears for me on this account.
Still, none of these growers come to farmers market, and as a practical matter I probably won't get to eat many more of these apples in the years to come.
In the meantime, if you see Williams Pride this week or the next, grab a few and think of me.
Links
- Williams Pride
- Bitter pit
- What is in a name
- Not to be confused with this guy
I agree -- finicky! I've been munching on these for over a week and they're pretty incredible in that even though they're not ripe yet, their flavor is incredible. I'm hopeful this year that I will be able to pick them perfectly ripe before they drop. That should give me a thirty-minute window or so!
ReplyDeleteGretchen, the perfect is the enemy of the good! Glad to know some growers have not given up on this great apple.
DeleteCidery is a great description and exactly the term that came to mind munching on one yesterday. I have endless trouble with birds on WP. A very red, early, large, aromatic apple might as well have bird bait written all over it. I'm most excited to use it in breeding in Red fleshed apple lines, because it has some tendency toward red flesh, but generally very high desert qualities and some good disease resistance.
ReplyDeleteThey do sometimes show red streaks in the flesh, but I had never made the connection. A red-flesh with Williams Pride eating qualities would be a real coup.
DeleteI thought I was going to harvest my first WP this summer, just one year after doing the graft, but some rodent beat me to it.
ReplyDelete