Hamid's Red Pippin

Today we consider a large medium apple, oblate with a slight taper. It is very regular and symmetrical. ¶ 

Hamid's Red Pippin is indeed a pretty red, saturated and deep on one side, over yellow, wearing a russet cap. Small  light lenticels are distinct in the dark part of blush but hard to spot on the other half. 

Taste test

The flesh is breaking crisp, medium coarse, and nearly white, with a pleasant easy crunch. Hamid's has a good sweet-tart balance with grassy flavors that are a little floral. 

There's some generic berry that grows in prominence towards the end of the chew. Nonetheless this never fully comes together for me.

The breeder's art

Hamid's Red Pippin is an experiment by Karim Habibi, who runs Keepers Nursery in East Farleigh in southeast England. It is an open-pollinated Rajka.

Karim named it for his father, who passed away four years ago.

It's not difficult for a nursery owner to dabble in apple breeding. Indeed I suspect that it may be hard to avoid it. 

Karim has been encouraged by its flavor in previous harvests, but warned me the apple wasn't that good this year. I am disappointed to have to agree with him. 

Hamid's is still very much in play. Some inconsistency from a young seedling is not unusual, Karim says, and does not rule this one out.

Update: Just before Christmas, Karim posted a video of his stroll though his seedling orchard—his experiments—in mid September, tasting along the way.

He gets to Hamid's Red Pippin about eleven and a half minutes in. "They tasted better last year," he notes.