Royal Russet (Brown Russet)

There are so many colors on this apple that I need two of them to show the full spectrum. ¶ 

Regions with a green tint overlap with gold and brown in various combinations: mustard, yellow, olive, brown, orange. ¶ 

The Royal Russet, also calle the Brown Russet, is an October apple that boasts real fall colors decorated by distinct light lenticel dots, some filled.

These two are medium to large and moderately ribbed, flattened at top and bottom. The stems are thin.

Doing it Brown

Cane sugar sweetness all but overtakes this crisp, juicy apple, which also boasts a good dollop of balancing tart acidity.

For flavors, a fleeting nutty umami note, similar to an Ashmead's Kernel's, and bits of tangerine. There's just a dash of brown sugar in the mix.

The high sugar level reminded me of the Egremont Russet, though Brown's flavors are more intense.

I think that this apple's lively sweet qualities, and its excellent crunch, would win favor with many, if only more people had the opportunity to try it. (Egremont, of course, is sold next to Braeburn in London supermarkets.)

I consider it a very fine russet.  All that sugar must have made it prized for cider in its day.

Brown or Royal?

This apple came to me as Brown Russet courtesy of the grower, Jesse Downs. There is very little online about the Brown Russet: Raintree Nursery says it's also known as Royal Russet, originating in England in the 16th century.

Meanwhile, the National Fruit Collection of the United Kingdom calls Royal Russet the preferred name for brown, but does not have the apple in its collection.

That absence seems odd for an English apple that (maybe) Shakespeare called "Leathercoat"! (Or not: Leathercoat is a different variety*). So perhaps it originated in North America after all.

Before his death in 2012, Collin Mills cataloged Royal Russet as part of his Hortus Camdenenis project.

It is not unheard of for an apple to have more than one name.

*Leathercoat note:

Though the National Fruit Collection says it does not have Royal Russet, it does have Leathercoat, which it calls a synonym for Royal! Both statements cannot be true.

The NFC listing depicts and describes a very different russet from mine. Yet the colored copperplate of Royal that Mills reproduces resembles my apples closely.

On this basis I reject Leathercoat, embrace Royal, and include Brown.