New apple varieties

by Jonathan M. Forester, Posted Nov 10th 2006 @ 7:03PM

It takes awhile to notice them, but new apple varieties are starting to show up on a regular basis.Over the past few years I have been getting to know some of the heirloom varieties like Winesaps that were popular many years ago and now are starting to become so again. Add in the newly released varieties like my new favorite, the Honey Crisp, and I'm starting to get overwhelmed with apples. Did you know that there are over a thousand types of apples grown in the US! Some of the newest apples to try are the Zestar! if you are lucky enough to find it and the SnowSweet. It takes apx. 40 years for a new apple variety to be developed, approved, and make it into the stores. So even when you are eating a new variety it still has decades of history behind it.

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Filed Under: Farming, Fall Flavors, Ingredients, New Products
Tags: america, apples, fall flavors, fruit, heirloom, honer crisp, snow sweet, varieties, zestar

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

11-10-2006 @8:34PM Vesna said... I just wrote an article about an apple orchard near where I live (Madison, Wisconsin) that was published in a regional magazine. They grow over sixty varieties of apples there, including new varieties and heirlooms, too.

I posted the article on my Web site; you can check it out here:
http://ulysses.blogware.com/blog/Vesnaspublishedwork/_archives/2006/10/1/2384947.html
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11-10-2006 @10:33PM Spitzmaus said... My two latest discoveries from the farmers' market are White Winter Pearmain and Rubenstar apples, both of which knock my socks off. The White Winter Pearmain looks as if it should be tart, with pale green, lightly-blushing skin; the reality is a crisp-firm, apple-cidery sweetness. I understand it's one of the oldest English apples, cultivated since @ 1200 A.D. ---------------- Wow... thanks for the info... thats great... I will have to ask my friend who has an heirloom apple orchard is a PhD pomoligest? (sp) about those varietals. They sound really interesting. JMF
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11-11-2006 @12:20AM Becki said... I hope - in vain - to one day see English Russets here in the States. Rough skin; not shiny; dull green/brown color, small to medium size: they seem to fit the bill of being unnattractive compared to that phony, cartoon-like ideal of big, red, shiny apples that some marketing scumbag enforced as the ideal apple for all others to be measured by.
Russets are the crispest, hardest, tastiest, most satisfying apples you could wish for. You really haven't explored the boundaries of appledom unless you've eaten a good Russet. --------------------- my apple growing friend has a few English Russet trees and I love to just stand there and pick and eat those ugly but tasty suckers...Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
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11-11-2006 @9:15AM susan credeur said... I thought my husband and I were the only "Honeycrisp mad" people around. Neither of us particularly like apples but bought some of these for a party and wow,knocked our socks off! Eat 1-2 every day, buy em', don't care what they cost! We're in love. Our Kroger ran out but I found some at Whole Foods and Rice Epicurean in Houston. Terrific stuff-how do I hoard and keep them all year round???
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11-11-2006 @6:26AM Pola said... Vesna Thanks for link! I did not know it blog!
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11-11-2006 @9:27AM Colin said... Honeycrisp are hands down the best. We're crazy over them in our house. We're planning to try making some honeycrisp applesauce soon!

--------------------I found that Honey Crisp hold their form very well and don't break down into sauce without major overcooking... but are great in pies because they stay firm... I mix them with a apple that breaks down when I make baked apple products and get the best of both worlds. Let us know how your sauce works out------JMF
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11-11-2006 @3:06PM Spitzmaus said... For Jonathan and all us other apple-crazy folk, the following resource should prove to be highly informative: http://www.allaboutapples.com/index.ht

Just a few minutes spent on the site, for instance, taught me that the the White Winter Pearmain is merely one of a number of Pearmain varietals.
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11-11-2006 @3:29PM Spitzmaus said... Uh, so much for my copy-and-paste skills! This is the correct URL:

http://www.allaboutapples.com/index.htm
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11-12-2006 @11:52AM wynk said... I've been going crazy trying all these new apples springing up at Central Market. The Honey Crisp apple was really good (and insanely big!). I also really enjoyed the Fireside apple, which was developed in 1943 but was certainly new to me. Excellent sweet taste.

I've also recently inherited a juicer and have gotten really fond of home-juiced apple juice...I can see myself getting very into hard cider-making and becoming knowledgable on all these different varieties as I experiment. :D
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11-12-2006 @4:13PM Adriane said... Becki-

You should try a Black Oxford apple-I've never tried the Russet but the Oxfords are very dense, crunchy, and have a dull green/purple-ish coloring. They've got a great complex flavor that is satisfying without being overt (like macs often tend to be..)

Try em out! They may tide you over until your beloved Russets make it this way :)
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