Many popular apple varieties today did not exist a hundred years ago; and some popular varieties a hundred years ago are seldom seen today. Both now and then, there were lists of which apple varieties were best for different uses. Today lists often refer to apples for eating, and cooking or baking. A 1924 list refers to apples for cooking, dessert apples, and cider apples. Were dessert apples ones that were particularly good to eat raw?
Yes, I think the “dessert” apples are good raw! And I am surprised Empire didn’t make the cooking list. They will turn applesauce pink and are also good to eat. Now, many of these are called heritage and you pay more (if you can find them). Thanks for the List, I had forgotten about Baldwin and will ask for them at my local orchard market.
Delightful! There were many I didn’t recognize.
Funnily enough, Blenheim, Golden Russet and Ribston are considered eating apples here – when you can get them. The rest I don’t know. I’m so upset that many traditional varieties are no longer available. Instead, we have insipid new varieties foisted on us, like Jazz. Is it the same in the US?
Apparently so!
Oh no! Bad news all round
Unfortunately, many of the growers in the larger commercial orchards are growing varieties that ship well, not necessarily that taste the best.
Sadly, that sounds about right. I saw in the supermarket last week, when English apples are at their best, apples from New Zealand, where it’s not apple growing season at all just now. Madness.
The local growers have gotten really good about keeping their apples by controlling the ethylene and temperatures in the storage units and they are good until about February or March, when they get soft and mealy. Then, I avoid them until the new harvest starts. Just not a pleasant experience!
Quite!
I had not heard of most of those, possibly because living in a small town always meant just one variety of apple. I am always curious when I see a different apple in one of the bins and have no idea when it was developed.
I found this century-old list of apples fascinating, Sheryl. I recognized a few names of today’s apples, but most of them are no longer available. A few years ago I found a farmer at our local farmer’s market who sold Spitzenburg apples and they were so delicious, eaten raw. But his Spitzenburg trees were very old and eventually it stopped producing. Great post for our autumn months.
That is a large variety of apples that we don’t see, especially here where they are all brought in. When I was growing up in PA we went to the local apple orchard to get apples and cider. They always gave us a free glass of cider.
My guess would be that.
We have Northern Spy in the market but I can’t find my favorite eating apple – the Mutsu aka Crispin. Of course that apple is from Japan and didn’t appear in the US until after WWII when it was smuggled in as a cutting by a serviceman who happened to live on an orchard… Growing up we always got Winesap apples for cider and cooking – they weren’t great keepers but they had an amazing flavor!
I like a crisp apple so i like a lot of the newer varieties but Granny Smith and jonathans are good too.
cheers
sherry