Captain Kidd *

I learn something from every apple, and now Captain Kidd teaches what the Brits mean by "pear-drop flavour." My sample grew in Kent, in the United Kingdom. ¶ 

But in the end I chalk this tasting up as anomalous. You'll see why.

The Captain comes in a variety of shapes, not necessarily symmetrical (see photo), but the one I am tasting is distinctly conical with very little ribbing. It is on the small side of medium. 

The streaks of deep red within the red blush achieve a very dark and saturated color. There are crackly, flakey patches of a kind of russet—I think that is what it is—pouring down the side from the stem well. 

If that were not busy enough, there are also small distinct lenticel dots. The stem is also a bit red.

This very handsome appearance would, of course, completely rule out Kidd from ever being put on grocery shelves in the US.

A tiny green worm had hitched a ride in the stem well—a reminder, not that I needed one, that my apple comes from a nursery that grows wood, not fruit for sale.

Peardrops and other conundrums

Inside Captain Kidd I find crisp fine-grained yellow flesh, sweet and a bit floral with that pear-drop thing. 

That is a sweet flavor that somewhat recalls the watermelon-candy note I occasionally have found in some varieties, but more pear like. 

It is also a distinct flavor from actual pear, which is common in many russet apples.

There is also a hint of vanilla and lychee and, from the calyx end, Concord grapes. 

Are these elements of the pear drop, or something further? Do I even have it right about what "pear drop flavour" is? Is is this all a product of my fevered imagination?

A pear drop, of course, is a hard candy. We do not have them in the US. If I had been a bit quicker I would have thought to buy some while in London.

Captain Kidd riding the 14:03 from East Farleigh to Paddock Woods.

The question lingers because Captain Kidd is but a redder sport of Kidd's Orange Red. The two should taste roughly the same, even allowing for regional and annual variations.

But the taste of the Orange Reds I had in 2017 was not like that of this Captain.

No pear-drop, either.

That 2017 apple grew under different conditions, far from England, in Stow, Massachusetts. 

Nonetheless its rich flavors, showing the influence of its Cox's Orange Pippin seed parent, track those described by Orange Pippin, which is based in Yorkshire.

I assume those are the typical flavors. It is this Captain Kidd that stands out as different.

Captain Anomalous

It's not unheard of for me to get a dud. In this case, unfortunately, I only had the one tasting sample.

So. That's what I've tasted, that's what I've learned, and that's what I think. 

Captain Kidd's pollen parent is none other than Red Delicious—an audacious pairing from a great breeder.

Links

• Kidds Orange Red
• KOR at Orange Pippin
• East Farleigh rail information