My little Apple trees planted in November 2021 had a few good apples this year, the tastiest are Falstaff, they are crisp and juicy but not an apple grown commercially as far as I know.
The information about them says they are a modern desert apple, a cross between Golden Delicious and James Grieve. There is also a Red Falstaff which has a red- flushed fruit. Both are self fertile, easy to grow with good disease resistance, ready in October. The dry weather meant a few fell early which was annoying as they really weren't ready for eating.
The other two Minarette trees I planted in 2021 were Charles Ross which are dual purpose and ready in September. They were created in the late 19th century by crossing Cox's Orange Pippin and Peasgood Nonsuch. There were only a handful of apples and I cooked them up for apple crumble early on.
The other of my young trees that had a few apples this year was the one I wrote about in early October that had been labelled as Bramley but certainly wasn't. It just had 4 red apples that were edible but not wonderful.
What all my trees suffered from this year was the dry spring and summer. I did pour cans full of water on them now and again but it's not the same as a good rain.
There are usually 5 or 6 different varieties available in the supermarkets at this time of the year. Royal Gala, Braeburn, Cox, Pink Lady, Jazz and Golden Delicious. Aldi are good at selling British Apples and labelling them as such and they also sell a pack of 6 that are just called 'Best of British'.
They can vary the variety depending upon what's available. Through October they were selling a variety that I'd never heard of called Zari, they looked really good and I tried them and found they were very tasty. On googling I discovered they were bred in Belgium and aimed at commercial growers looking for a variety to ripen early to mid season.
Their Best of British are now a variety called Red Windsor, which are not so good, a bit too soft and 'clingy' for me so it will be back to the usually reliable Braeburn for me next time I shop.
I'm never without fresh apples in the house - An Apple A Day and all that!
Back Monday
You are obviously a connoisseur!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to try more different sorts that are not in the shops .
DeleteWe used to have a Beauty of Bath eater which was very nice and now have a Bramley. This has been an exceptional year for fruit and we are enjoying the Bramleys in all sorts of ways.
ReplyDeletePenny
Wish my garden was bigger for more trees
DeleteWe had a James Grieve in our garden in London. I loved its fruit.
ReplyDeleteNot one I've seen commercially - wish I could try more
DeleteAnother one never without apples in the house. For some reason though, I can't eat Braeburns these days. They have an unfortunate effect! My favourites are Russets but have to go to Hay-on-Wye for those, as they don't appear on supermarket shelves. I had a good crop of apples from my little orchard, though Pitmaston Pineapple decided not to do much and just a couple of small fruits. I've got a Peasgood Nonsuch, that was slightly better and an Ashmead's Kernel too. The best crop was on my Howgate Wonder, which had its little branches touching the ground with the fruit on them. Others are from supermarket forecourts, with varying success rates. One has tiny fruit - supposedly Discovery, but these are pale green bullets!
ReplyDeleteI'm not a russet fan, tried them many years ago.
DeleteI cook apples in the Remoska with some ginger and put them on my porridge. A favourite lunch is good cheese and a cut up apple. I have also been known to dip apple slices into hummus for a tasty snack. Catriona
ReplyDeleteApple and hummus doesn't sound very good to me - as I really don't like it!
DeleteApples are such a versatile fruit... and so many varieties. You've done well to have room for several different ones in your garden.
ReplyDeleteVery small trees at the moment and there's not really room for them
DeleteYour first post of the A-Z and a very good one, too. Apples are so interesting and so varied. Egremont Russet are available now - I do like them.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how far I'll get with A-Z this year!
DeleteI love apples. Spartan are my favourites. Never see them in the shops now. We used to have a pick your own farm nearby, it's is a massive housing estate now. Are your trees in pots or in the ground? I would like some miniature apple trees in pots but don't know if they are successful. Carole R
ReplyDeleteThe minarette trees are very good, they grow straight up and fruit on short spurs
DeleteAn apple a day continues to be good advice doesn't it. We've got a couple of young apple trees in our new place and like yours they dropped some fruit too early, hoping for slightly better next year.
ReplyDeleteAlison in Devon x
I lived on apples in my 20s when I was trying to lose weight - it put me off for years!
DeleteI do like apple season -- which reminds me -- I need to make more apple bread today!
ReplyDeleteHope the cake making goes well
DeleteYou cannot beat a British grown apple! I have just started eating apples again after a very long break. I think my favourites are Cox's Orange Pippin and Braeburn. Ha! Those red ones are definitely not Bramleys! lol. We had a similar incident, wherein the tree was not a Bramley! I tried everything with it, but it proved useless for absolutely everything: eating, making jam or apple butter, wine, vinegar, apple sauce, all useless.
ReplyDeleteI had some cox's last year from supermarket and they'd been picked far too early and were horrible
DeleteYou sure know more about apples than I do!
ReplyDeleteI've got a book all about them - could have written lots more!!
DeleteYou've got to read The Apple Stone by Nicholas Stuart Gray!
ReplyDelete£500 on Amazon!
DeleteYour apple trees are beautiful and productive.
ReplyDeleteA tasty apple is hard to find in the grocery store so having your own home grown is ideal.
Only enough for a few days but better than nothing
DeleteI am glad that you got some lovely looking apples from your trees.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Just a few - but better than nothing
DeleteI remember going to an apple day at a National Trust property years ago and seeing all the various variety of apples and being able to taste them, buy them and they even had a botanical artist showing people how to paint them.
ReplyDeleteYou have a good selection of apples. Our one tree did pretty well this year considering the dry weather we had. The Aldi Best of British are a good range for the price aren't they.
ReplyDelete