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Falstaff (Red Falstaff) *

Classically shaped apple, red with dark red sripes, hanging from a branch with other apples in the background.

My sample is a small medium, a classically conical apple with very subdued ribbing. It wears a pure red blush with saturated streaks over pale yellow. ¶ 

The tiny light lenticel dots are raised bumps, easier to feel than see. ¶ 

Inside, Red Falstaff's flesh is fine-grained, white, and breaking crisp. 

The sweet-tart balance is very good and showcases a little spice with faint bitter notes, generic citrus peel.

Be a sport

As its name suggests, I am tasting a redder sport of Falstaff. That's a cross between James Grieve and Golden Delicious developed in 1965 by the East Malling Research Station in Kent (according to many internet sources). 

Orange Pippin says (among other interesting things) that aside from color, Red F is identical to the original.

People want red apples, and many commercialized sports are exactly of this nature: redder versions of the original parent.

If we are lucky, such sports do not trade away flavors or texture of the apple that made it appealing in the first place (see, alas, Red Delicious).

Red Falstaff dates from the 1980s.

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