North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["dwalsh/wchase" <wchase@interchange.ubc.ca>]

Ron,

I'm sort of familiar with a Dutch apple known as Goudreinette/ Houdreinette.  
The
Dutch pronounce the first letter in the back of their throats, very gutteral, 
so
even though I've heard it spoken a hundred times, I'm never sure whether to 
spell
it with a G or an H.
Members of the BC Fruit Testers in this area spent two years on and off 
trying to
track down some G/H apples.

It started when I met an elderly lady of German extract who lived in Holland 
and
then immigrated to Montreal in early 1950's.  She told me the (outstanding) 
apple
of her childhood in Holland was G/H.

Since I'm into apples I told her I try and find some for her.

Well I went on quite a search ... Gold Reinette, Golden Reinette, Belle de
Boskoop.  I kept bringing them to her and she said: "No, that's not the apple 
I
remember".

Then I heard of a home 20 miles away bought from a Dutchman who had grafted 
ten
G/H from scionwood brought from Holland.  I waited until October and got some
apples and indeed, they were the G/H, my elderly friend remembered.   The 
current
owners just let them drop and compost them.  Some of these trees had a branch 
of
what looked liked Alexander grafted onto G/H tree ... probably as a 
pollenizer.  B
de B is triploid.

To me, they look like a B de B, but she said the texture and flavour is 
different
from a B de B.  They are large, russetted, yellowish-green-brown.    They are
coarse-textured, firm, and look just like some of the many variations of B de 
B. I
think it ripens mid-September in this area.  I know that when I go to the 
property
in mid-October (for apples to display at the UBC Apple Festival), they have 
all
dropped.

It certainly wouldn't be my apple of choice.

Since then, a friend who is a Dutchman, brought me to meet a farmer who had 
about
six trees of G/H on his farm.  He had inherited the dairy farm from his 
father was
a Dutchman who brought the scionwood from Holland in early 1960's.  These 
people
squeeze the apples and make a good apple juice, but they don't eat the apples.

To me, they weren't very tasty, but in post-war Holland, they ate tulip bulbs 
so I
can see them eating these apples!

My guess is they are a variation of B de B, but the flavour and texture is
different from other B de B variations in this area.

I, and other BCFT members have not been able to find any mention of G/H in the
literature.

I did ask members of this group if anyone had heard of G/H I think in October 
1998
and again in October 1999, but no replies.

Hope this helps,

Derry

Derry Walsh & Bill Chase  email:wchase@interchange.ubc.ca
Aldergrove,  B. C.,  Canada
phone/fax (604) 856-9316
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Home web page  http://www.interchange.ubc.ca/wchase/HTML
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:     A customer contacted us recently and asked if we could locate an old
: apple variety known as "Goud Reinet" or Gold Reinette. It supposedly
: originated in the Netherlands, but we do not know much more than that.

Ron Joyner



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