North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Ginda Fisher <ginda@concentric.net>]

I once had an overripe Liberty with a strong, slightly odd flavor that I
described as "winey" at the time.  In retrospect, I might call it a
little musky, too.  The flesh had turned to meal, but I thought it
tasted rather good, and thought it would be nice in cider.  Might that
be what you are describing?

Ginda

"victoria l. caron" wrote:
> 
> Hi Bob,
> I guess that description was a little informal eh? Oh well, must be one of
> those "you'd have to have been there" things!
> I go out in the fall and taste a  lot of seedling apple trees that have come
> up around old farms and along roads. I look first of all for apples that
> appear to be scab resistant or that have some other outstanding quality. You
> have to taste a lot of apples when you do this.
> In several places and particularly near two old orchards, one in NH one in
> VT, I have come across that same peculiar taste. At both sites, there was
> more than one tree with this flavor in the apple. Though it is VERY
> distinctive, it does not quite stand alone and may be in both sweeter and
> sub-acid apples. Besides this peculiar flavor, the trees appear to be
> seedlings and the fruit smallish and oblate, red/yellow. Nothing about the
> form or color is distinctive that I can remember, only the taste.
> Flavor is a funny thing. We could all taste these apples and find a 
> different
> way to describe them.  The best I can do is: in my opinion the flavor is
> -'strong'
> -'musky' may be a better choice than 'funky'
> -'vinous' is more acceptable than 'winey'
> - some have been slightly 'dry to bitter'
> It's that 'musky/funky/vinous' part that is distinctive. One site was known
> to have been an old cider orchard (as opposed to today's sweet cider) the
> other was not. Of the trees at the site of the old cider orchard, very few
> there now seem to have obvious characteristics of any antique named
> varieties, unless they are old cider varieties of which I am not familiar.
> Only one, which I am growing now to see if it is Duchess of Oldenburg, is
> close. (Often these old cider orchards were grown from seed, though I got 
> the
> impression that the old timer who put in the original trees here was known
> for having grown "cider" apples, like it was known to be special varieties
> even back then.) The other site has many of the old orchard trees still
> there. Of the six varieties still standing, there is only one which I've had
> no luck ID'ing. I have yet to come across that taste in a named apple 
> variety
> (it is not like Winesap).
> Maybe my description will jog someone else's memory.
> ......................vic
> 
> carolyn wood wrote:
> 
> > Victoria, what kinds of apples were you refering to when you talked about
> > "that funky wine taste"?
> >
> > Bob, Central Utah
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> 
> 
> 
> 
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