North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Ginda Fisher <list@ginda.us>]

On Jan 17, 2009, at 9:50 AM, Alan Haigh wrote:

> The matter of the quality of the Liberty apple has come up again  
> lately on list and I always enjoy putting in my 2 cents, being  
> excessively in love with my own opinions.
>
> I believe that this apple has lost in the court of public opinion as  
> far as becoming an important commercial apple, at least here in NY  
> state.  Growers just haven't had that much luck marketing it- not  
> that it doesn't have its fan base.  There are always some who  
> consider it to be a great apple and I envy those people in a way  
> because it is such an easy one to grow- a reliable annual producer  
> with great disease resistance.
> . . .

Liberty is not my favorite apple, either.  But I think the flavor is  
very good.  At its best it is slightly better than a Macintosh.  I  
went to an "apple day" at Terhune Orchard in NJ several years ago, and  
they had about ten cultivars available for a blind taste test.  They  
were all pretty good apples.  Liberty won that day.  So its taste is  
widely popular.  (And the Macs were never very good there because NJ  
is too far south for them, and they got mealy before ripening  
properly.  Liberty seems to be less picky.)

I didn't choose it for my yard because:

1)  I can buy excellent Macs (and some Libertys) at farmers markets in  
season, so there's no real value to me in wrestling with a tree.
2)  It has a fairly narrow picking window.  Pick too early and the  
fruit is markedly inferior to a good Mac (similar to a Mac picked too  
early).  Pick too late and it gets mealy and the aromatics can get a  
little weird.  I was concerned that I might ruin a crop if I was out  
of town that weekend.  (I might be exaggerating the delicacy, but it  
does have a shorter "best by" window than most.)

But I am a suburban hobby-grower looking primarily for variety.  If I  
had more land and less income, and less access other grower's crops, I  
would certainly include Liberty.  It's a tasty apple for fresh eating  
and cider, and it's relatively easy to grow.  IMO it hasn't won a  
place in the market mostly because it's not different enough from  
Macintosh to catch the public's interest.

Ginda Fisher
Eastern MA, zone 6