Jersey Sweet

Today's apples are small and medium sized, round with no ribbing but flattened so they don't roll. What looks like ribs in the photo are small bruises. ¶ 

The blush lies streaky red over a green that sometimes leans towards yellow, and the resulting variation in saturation of blush over variable shades makes for a variegated surface, sometimes dull red-green, sometimes orange, or yellow or green.

The large light lenticels recede into this complex background.

My Jersey Sweets were a gift from Jesse Downs of Down Home Farm in Readstown, Wisconsin.

Sweet bites

Yielding off-white flesh, a bit soft, suggests Jersey Sweet may have been off the tree longer than I'd like, but there are nonetheless some strong vanilla and cane-sugar flavors playing well with honeydew melon and even a little pear.

I should like very much to try a fresher one of these!

The smaller of the two was a bit crisper, but less flavorful. So clearly variation is possible.

Of Jersey Sweet, the venerable Apples of New York (1905) says,

It is one of the best of the sweet apples of its season for planting for home use in New York but it has proved unsatisfactory as a commercial sort because it ripens at a time when there is little demand for fruit of this kind, is not a good keeper, is apt to be scabby, and does not always color well.

Thus do many fine old varieties perish.

Its origin is not known but JSweet is thought to be American.

Production note

Ignore the publication date: I tasted these early this month. I can get a little behind this time of year producing final drafts to post!

Links

• About Apples of New York