Adam's Apples

Ashmead's Kernel, Roxbury Russet, and Golden Russett. When you see these three gentlemen, you know that the heart of the harvest has arrived. Join me for a taste.

They make a distinct family of apples, yet all russets are not the same. The Golden and Roxbury varieties are so alike that some growers and sellers mislabel them (to my confusion ). So, let's set the record straight. On our left sits Roxbury Russet, an oblate, slightly ribbed medium-sized apple. Sometimes know as the Roz, this is one of America's oldest cultivated varieties.

A month after reviewing an apple sold as a Golden Russet, I began to suspect I'd had the wrong fruit (as explained here ). That was in 2008. I've since reviewed the real Golden Russet (obviously different) but remained unsure what the original apple was. It's now clear that the first apple was a Roxbury Russet. Indeed my own description —larger than most russets, somewhat oblate, with piebald russetting—is characteristic of the breed. I saw this confusion again this fall from another seller. (Meanwhile the first grower sold both Golden and Roxbury this past year, and got it right.) Maybe the natural variation in the appearance of these two varieties is great enough that either can sometimes resemble the other. The Roxbury Russet I reviewed in the fall of 2009  (right), with russet that is fuller and tawnier than most, looks a bit like a Golden (center) in ways my 2008 Roxbury (left) does not. ...

In season, Bolton Orchards ( map ) presses this elegant varietal sweet cider from the Golden Russet. This clear amber liquid is surely filtered, althou h the label only notes that the cider is UV pasteurized and has a little preservative added. There is absolutely no residue, and the cider is as transparent as filtered apple juice. This cider's flavor and aroma are both sweet, light, and with strong pear notes. Had someone told me this was pear juice I'd have believed it. Compared to regular pressed cider, GR cider is lighter and milder, as its appearance suggest. Like other cider, however, it is best served cold to mute an intense sweetness that would otherwise cloy.

I finished the season in November with a stash of apples that I hoped would keep well: Baldwin, Golden Russet, Arkansas Black, and Blushing Golden. These varieties all have reputations as good keepers. Some are said to improve with age. Macoun: not exactly a keeper but in my rotation By supplementing them with supermarket Macouns that have been carefully stored, I have enjoyed an agreeable and varied apple diet. Rather than periodically revise my reviews of these fruits ("two months out and still crispy!"), here is how this experiment has fared.

Got a few more of these at Red Apple Farm and they are in better shape than the one I initially reviewed, which may not even be a Golden Russet at all. These apples are coppery brown almost all over except around the crown and in streaks radiating down the side. A few have slightly larger unruseted patches. They are small (or on the larger side of small) and slightly ribbed, with open calyxes The flesh of Golden Russet is crisp and juicy, creamy yellow, and coarse. Clean sweet-tart balance with a little bracing acidity, notes of cane sugar, vanilla, lemon, and pear. Nice!

I now suspect that my original Golden Russet review may have been based on the wrong apple. In any case, it does not describe a representative sample of this variety, several of which I have been enjoying since Thanksgiving. Consequently I plan on retitling have retitled my first review "Mystery Russet" and will post have posted a new Golden Russet description shortly . This russet from Kimball I originally bought an apple so labeled from Kimball Farm at the Arlington Farmer's Market in October, and wrote up a review accordingly. I'd have bought more than one but was back then was straining to taste as many of the then-dizzying number of varieties as I could. That apple was interesting but a little mealy. I did the best I could with it.

This may be a Golden Russet, as advertised when I bought it. Or it may be something else. (Any theories, anyone?) In any case it is not a representative sample, as I later discovered when I bought a second batch of Golden Russet apples from Red Apple Farm in Phillipston. That story is here and the true Golden Russet review is here. My original review follows. This russet variety runs medium-small, a bit large for this kind of apple. Patches of rusty-brown russet sit atop the Golden Russet's spring-green skin, small continents and archipelagos of vegetation upon some fantastic planetoid. The russetting does not cover everything but is present in the brown lenticels.