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nafex - Re: [nafex] Re: Macoun apple

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  • From: Ginda Fisher <ginda@concentric.net>
  • To: nafex@egroups.com
  • Subject: Re: [nafex] Re: Macoun apple
  • Date: Sun, 14 Jan 2001 18:11:02 -0500

I have to second Doug. I haven't grown Macoun, but have picked it in a
number of orchards. This summer we picked huge Macouns that were
growing abundantly on M7 stock. (I asked.) I've often seen them too
small, but never (at a commercial orchard) too few. They are very
popular, so it is hard to find them fully ripe at a pick-your-own place.

I also agree on quality. Grown up here, in zone 6, Eastern Mass.,
Macouns can vie for "best eating apple" in most years. Fully ripe, they
are nearly as aromatic as Macs, a little richer and sweeter, attractive,
and have an incredible crunch. The flesh nearly jumps into your mouth
as you bite it. They are juicy, and store a little better than macs
(not very well).

dwoodard@becon.org wrote:
>
> My personal experience of growing Macoun is next to nil; on tree om
> M7 in its first year of bearing, picked too late.
>
> Around 1979-81 I used to buy Macouns from an elderly couple who had a
> small commercial orchard on the southwest edge of Ottawa. I think the
> trees were fairly old, so they must have been reasonably satisfactory
> in terms of bearing. The quality was consistently magnificent. The
> flavour was very good of the McIntosh type, a little less aromatic
> than McIntosh but a little sweeter, and equal to the very best
> commercial McIntosh I have ever eaten in the McIntosh's home St.
> Lawrence Valley. The texture was the best of any apple I have known,
> super-crisp without being hard. The colour was an apple-breeder's
> dream, a solid bright deep red.
>
> I suspect that Macoun may be too much of a northern apple for
> Virginia, and that of McIntosh types Spartan would probably do well
> there. The best flavoured Spartans I have eaten came from the
> Okanagan Valley which gets very hot, although the nights may be
> cooler than Virginia's. Spartan's pollen parent was Newtown
> (Albemarle) Pippin.
>
> Doug Woodard







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